Gun control legislation is once again on the table after two mass shootings in a week, one in Uvalde, Texas and another in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In a primetime address on June 2, President Biden called on Congress to take immediate action on gun control. He offered several potential policies, including bringing back the Federal Assault Weapons Ban that expired in 2004. If such a bill could not be passed, Biden said, the age to buy certain weapons could at least be raised from 18 to 21. Among other ideas he discussed are expanded background checks for gun buyers and removing legal immunity from gunmakers.
The good news is that bipartisan talks are occurring. A group of Republican and Democratic senators is working on a bundle of restrictions they hope will receive support from both sides of the aisle. Republicans have suggested support for modest new measures, but whether anything will come of it is the real question. The pattern is all too familiar: a tragedy happens; politicians promise to do something about it; time passes. Then another tragedy happens and the cycle repeats.
It’s not just the politicians who are frustratingly inconsistent. In the wake of shootings like the ones in Uvalde, support for gun control among voters typically increases, only to dip in the weeks and months after – then rise again in response to another shooting. Take recent polls from Civiqs, an online polling company that surveys hundreds of thousands of Americans on a daily basis. Since the Orlando nightclub shooting in 2016, the percentage of respondents who favor gun control has fluctuated in response to other shootings – reaching a high of 58% after the shooting in Parkland, Florida (the deadliest school shooting in American history), then dropping down to a low of 49% in 2020, then ticking up again to 54% in the wake of the Uvalde shooting.
Even the voters who claim to support gun control legislation may not take action when they have the chance. In 2016 four Democratic-leaning states had a question on the ballot that would enable them to enact expanded background checks. Polling showed that voters were overwhelmingly in favor of the legislation. In California, polls had expected support at 91%. When it came down to count the votes, the actual support was a shocking 30% lower, at around 63%. Similar disparities were seen in the other states, with actual support being far lower than expected support in each case. The reasons for these disparities can only be speculated. Even with recent events, voters who are currently expressing their support for gun control in polls may not express that same support at the voting booth if new legislation is brought before them.
So what will we do about guns? Perhaps another question to ask is: what have other countries done about guns? In response to a mass shooting in Nova Scotia in 2013, the Canadian government banned more than 1,500 “assault weapon” models and placed restrictions on the kinds of bullets people could buy and use. In the United Kingdom, in response to a mass shooting in Scotland in 1996, the government enacted some of the toughest gun control laws in the world, generally prohibiting civilians from owning multiple kinds of guns. In Australia, after a mass shooting in 1996, all semi-automatic rifles and semi-automatic and pump-action shotguns were banned. The Australian government also collected thousands of unlicensed firearms from civilians. Licensed gun owners are now required to take a safety course. In all three countries, firearm homicides are much lower than in the United States.
Our Congress seems unique among its peers in being incapable of enacting legislation around this issue. As easy as it is to blame Republicans, everyone shares some of the blame, including voters. Claiming to support gun control in polls, they frequently fail to vote for the right candidates or the right legislation when push comes to shove. But another disturbing reason for our collective failure to act may be a sense of fatalism. Do voters actually believe anything can or will be done? As the cycle of shootings and political inaction continues, grief and resignation follow as the dominant moods.
Our elected officials will be working this month on a series of bills couched under the “Protecting Our Kids Act”. If Congress cannot pass these pieces of legislation, the likelihood is they’ll be shelved until another mass shooting occurs. Democrats who allowed these bills to be forgotten will renew their efforts, while Republicans who were in opposition will only continue to avoid discussion or compromise. Voters will watch this happen. But they do not need to be idle about it. Midterm elections will be held in November. If the majority of Americans want change on this issue, they must make their voices heard at the ballot. They must vote in candidates – both Republican and Democrat – who make working together on these issues a priority. If we as voters fail to do this, we are liable.
The difficult thing about democracy is that citizens are far more responsible than we often want to admit – but with these responsibilities comes a good deal of power to enact the laws we want to see.
