In the aftermath of the May 24 Uvalde, Texas, mass tragedy, the same old question comes up: When will it stop?
The wish, of course, is that hopelessness will give way to unconditional optimism. But the answer to the question is both obvious and dismaying. It won’t stop until we change and make it stop.
While Republicans are still obstructing any major gun control laws, Democrats seem resigned to waiting for them to come around. But mass shootings won’t stop happening in schools. They won’t stop happening in grocery stores and churches. They won’t stop happening if we arm teachers, talk more about mental health, or go through the perpetual charade that is a congressional debate about background checks. And where are the “good guys with guns”?
Simply put, America is condemned to a future of mass bloodshed that is hopefully preventable but realistically inevitable. This statement may seem pessimistic, but to argue otherwise is to indulge in Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
We live in the most well-armed country in the history of the world. There are more guns in the United States than there are people. No, it won’t stop.
