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Following last week’s horrific mass shooting in Lewiston, the new speaker of the U.S House of Representatives said Thursday that this is “not the time to be talking about legislation.”
Well, with all due respect to Speaker Mike Johnson, now is exactly the time for talking about policy solutions to try to avoid future tragedies like this one. This is true at the federal and state level. No legislation is going to end all gun violence in Maine or around the country, certainly not with millions of guns already in circulation, and with the fundamental and undeniably important right for individuals to bear arms.
All rights are limited and inevitably must be balanced against others, however. It is possible and necessary to better balance gun rights with the right for everyone to not be brutally murdered while simply going about their lives. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness surely include the right not to be gunned down during a bowling night or a cornhole tournament.
Please recognize that the elected officials and party organizations telling you this is not the time for politics are themselves engaging in a political act. Of course, this is a time to mourn, pray and support victims and their families. But that needed collective response should not be used by those in power as a rhetorical tool to further inaction, on this or any other issue.
U.S. Sen. Angus King has been rightfully fond of quoting Abraham Lincoln that, “The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present.” We implore King, U.S. Sen. Susan Collins and all other lawmakers who have opposed recent versions of an assault weapons ban to reconsider their stance, as U.S. Rep. Jared Golden has, and find a way to craft a workable and passable version of this legislation.
King told The New York Times on Friday that he is working on a forthcoming bill that would focus on what a gun does rather than “what the gun looks like.” Collins and King both support banning bump stocks, which can essentially turn semi-automatic weapons into automatic weapons.
U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree has long supported an assault weapons ban. Such a ban existed for 10 years starting in 1994, and somehow the Second Amendment was not set on fire. Some types of gun crime were reduced, a Republican president signaled support for extending that ban, and some Republican lawmakers, including Collins, voted to extend it. Maybe a subsequent proposed assault weapons ban considered in 2013 wasn’t exactly right. And sure, people sometimes misunderstand the capabilities or definitions of assault weapons. These are not insurmountable details, however, and details can no longer be allowed to lead to more deaths.
We ourselves have been hesitant at times to lean strongly into some potential gun reforms, seeking to find the constructive middle path amid entrenched sides of the debate. This is not the time for moderation, however. The debates of yesterday, which have disproportionately elevated the voices of a vocal minority of Americans who would do nothing to stem the tide of gun violence, are insufficient for the needs of today and tomorrow.
It is time to do the obvious things that can save lives and preserve Second Amendment rights at the same time. It is time to ban high-capacity magazines of more than 10 rounds. On Friday, Collins expressed support for banning “very high capacity magazines” and King has supported magazine restrictions for years.
It is time to close background check loopholes. It is time to institute red flag laws — real red flag laws — around the country. It is time to upgrade Maine’s yellow flag law, to make sure that people who have made shooting threats and go to psychiatric treatment don’t then have access to guns. It is time to ensure that systems in different states and at the federal level, including the military, are sharing the necessary information to keep guns out of the hands of people already prohibited from having them. It is time to fully understand that enforcing laws on the books often also means improving the laws on the books — that is not a binary choice.
Johnson also said last week that the problem isn’t guns, “the problem is the human heart.” Well, we see plenty of heart in Golden taking responsibility in relation to assault weapons and pledging to work toward a solution. Lawmakers must use their hearts and their minds to do the obvious, and often incredibly popular, things.
Last week’s tragedy in Lewiston showed us some of the worst of humanity. It was also a window into the human capacity for awe-inspiring bravery. Thomas Giberti, manager at the bowling alley in Lewiston, has been credited with saving at least eight and maybe as many as a dozen children there. “That’s what heroes do,” his nephew told BDN reporter Julia Bayly. He has been recovering after being shot seven times in the legs.
Auburn City Councilor Leroy Walker has described how his son Joseph Walker, a manager at Schemengees Bar and Grille, grabbed a butcher knife in an attempt to save others before being killed. “He died as a hero,” Walker told NBC News last week.
We are not asking elected officials to be heroes like Giberti or Walker. We are simply asking them to pursue policy solutions to a policy problem. We are simply asking them to do everything they can to save more children, and Americans of all ages, from future gun violence. We are simply asking them to do their jobs.
People shouldn’t vilify gun owners or even guns themselves, which can be critical tools for law-abiding citizens. But we all should vilify the way that villains get guns, and demand an end to the inaction from powerful people that continues to allow that to happen. Now is exactly the time to be having this conversation.
