America isn’t polarized about guns — most Americans want more gun control.
Much is still not known about Saturday’s shooting at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania, but it’s clear that the incident placed the stupidity and hypocrisy of America’s gun culture in high relief.
Trump was nearly assassinated while addressing the rally. One spectator seated in the bleachers near him, Corey Comperatore, 50, was killed and two other spectators were critically injured and are currently hospitalized. The shooter, identified by the FBI as Thomas Crooks, 20, was killed at the scene.
That the glorification of guns erupted (again) into violence at a political gathering was always a case of not if, but when. Trump and his acolytes have infused their rhetoric with violent imagery.
They endorsed the tactics of the violent mob that stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021; Trump himself promised to pardon those who have been convicted of federal crimes in connection with the insurrection.
Not three weeks ago I wrote about two developments that hinted, if hazily, that the long arc of our debate over guns might be trending toward rationality.
One was an “advisory” from U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy identifying firearm violence as a public health crisis. The other was a Supreme Court decision upholding a ban on gun ownership by domestic abusers.
The instant reaction by the gun rights lobby to Saturday’s shooting shows that the obstacles to that trend remain powerful indeed.
Calls to tone down the rhetoric of the presidential campaign were heard from both sides of the aisle. But not proposals to ban weapons such as those reportedly carried by the shooter, much less to tighten the laws and regulations on gun sales.
Here’s an aspect of America’s relationship with guns relevant to Saturday’s shooting: The vast majority of Americans are fearful that political violence could affect the outcome of our elections. More on that in a moment.
The weapon used by the apparent shooter Saturday was a semiautomatic AR-15, law enforcement sources say. To experts in mass shootings, this was almost predictable. The AR-15 was used in 10 of the 17 deadliest mass shootings in America since 2022, according to a roster published last year by the .
The death toll from those shootings was 207. Nevertheless, Republican members of Congress paraded around Washington last year with lapel pins bearing the weapon’s silhouette, handed out by a congressman who owned a gun shop. Among those wearing the pin was Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), who was photographed with it on Feb. 1, 2023, two days after a mass shooting in her home state left 11 people wounded.
Some features of the aftermath of Saturday’s shooting are also predictable.
There will be pleas by the gun lobby not to “politicize” Saturday’s incident, as if gun control isn’t a political issue. But don’t be misled: Republicans and the right wing started politicizing the shooting within minutes.
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