Day 646: Yet another mass shooting. Trump’s solution: even more guns.
The United States has a unique problem among world-leading nations: mass shootings. Another one occurred Saturday morning, this time at a synagogue in Pittsburgh that killed 11 and injured six, including four police officers. The crime, which appeared to be due to anti-Semitism based on the alleged shooter’s words at the scene and social media posts, is yet another senseless act of violence carried out with firearms.
Donald Trump’s reaction? Pushing for more guns while tamping down the idea of any legislation.
Trump ignores two ridiculous points by claiming that armed security could have stopped the shooter.
- Police responded to the synagogue very quickly. They were wounded and ultimately the situation only ended when the shooter gave himself up. Armed security was there and still couldn’t stop the shooter from inflicting additional terror through no real fault of their own.
- Trump’s idea is to arm every area where people congregate — public and private — in America. That’s the only logical inference from his statement. Places of worship, malls, parks, schools: the list could go on forever. In all of those places, armed guards have already failed to prevent mass shootings. The cost to adequately blanket any location with enough armed guards to stop any potential chance of a shooting is untenable. Malls would need to hire dozens more armed guards. Cities would have to find the budget to double police forces.
So rather than address logical gun reforms and potentially save lives across the country, Trump is content to continue to make excuses for shooters in an effort to cozy up to the NRA (and its money) and his “no gun restrictions of any kind” base.
On yet another day in the U.S., thoughts and prayers have failed to be enough to fix a uniquely American problem.
646 days in, 816 to go
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