Recent Mass Shootings Have Legislative Impact

By Mimi Lebeau ‘24
As the number of mass shootings continues to rise, the majority of Americans have become increasingly discontent with the laxity of current gun restrictions. However, despite the record-breaking numbers of shootings in recent years, state and federal governments remain resistant to tightening their gun policies. 

63% of Americans are dissatisfied with the current gun laws according to a Gallup poll,  the highest percentage since Gallup began tracking this data in 2000. This percentage also grew seven points from 2022 to 2023, the greatest increase in seven years.
In each of the past three years, there have been over 600 mass shootings (a shooting in which four or more people are killed). With these dramatic numbers, there is an obvious question: why has virtually nothing been done to prevent future shootings?
“Every recent mass shooting in America has been followed by an increasingly familiar political drama: Democrats call for new gun-control measures…Republicans counter that the right to possess firearms is enshrined in the US Constitution and that new gun-control legislation would be counterproductive,” wrote BBC journalist Anthony Zurcher. “Then, because of the nature of US government, little changes on a national level.” 
“You know, the political reality right now is that there is little support to address gun violence through major legislation,” said NPR news reporter Barbara Sprunt. “And the prospects with a Republican-controlled House and just a very narrow Democratic majority in the Senate, it makes any, even a targeted bill, hard to advance.”
Sophomore Solomon Langer said, “The gun crisis is due to an overwhelming mental health issue in the US. There shouldn’t be many restrictions on gun laws because it is our 2nd amendment right as an American citizen to own one but there should be certain “check-ups” on the gun owners to make sure they are mentally and physically stable and to make sure they did not illegally sell it or give it away.” 
 Nevertheless, despite polarization in Congress, President Joe Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland are helping Congress to renew and make permanent the Undetectable Firearms Act of 1988 which will expire in December of 2023 unless Congress intervenes. The law bans guns made of polymers or of other materials that cannot be recognized by metal detectors, allowing gun holders to bring their firearms into secured areas.
Despite Democrats’ clear effort to enforce tighter gun restrictions, with the fairly even split in Congress, the fight for or against legislation on gun control has come to a stalemate as neither side is able to get the majority needed to pass their laws. Therefore, the responsibility for setting up gun laws has fallen onto individual states which generally have more clear majorities than US Congress, allowing them to more easily pass legislation. 
In states with Democratic majorities, more restrictions have been placed on gun ownership in recent years. States such as New York, Connecticut, Maryland and California have passed state legislature limiting magazine size, the sale of certain guns and closed gun-show loopholes which previously allowed people to bypass restrictions on gun purchases by buying from a private seller. 
However, due to the federal filibuster, a parliamentary procedure that requires 60 of the 100 Senators to approve a law in order to pass it, it becomes difficult to pass federal gun laws. “Keeping children safe should not be this difficult,” said junior Aliza Bieber. “In order to protect children the federal gun laws need to be passed.”
Since the school shooting in Nashville, Tennessee earlier this year, in which three students and three faculty members were murdered, the state of Tennessee has done nothing to prevent such an event from recurring., “there is no way to ‘fix”’ gun violence,” said Representative Tim Burchett (R-TN). “We are not gonna fix it. Criminals are gonna be criminals.” 
Comparably, following the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas in 2022, where 19 students and two teachers were murdered, state legislators have turned their focus to better training public safety entities in Texas. 
While the delay of the local police and medical department’s response certainly contributed to the death toll at Uvalde, “the inadequacy of the public safety entities’ response has completely distracted from the true killer: automatic assault rifles,” said junior Talia Perlstein. “Although it is definitely important to ensure that such safety precautions are intact, the issue is more deeply rooted in the lack of restrictions on guns.”