A tentative bipartisan agreement in the Senate on gun violence would strengthen federal background-check requirements for purchasers under 21, incentivize states to create red flag laws, prevent domestic abusers from obtaining firearms and create other reforms. If approved, these smallest of baby steps would be the most significant federal gun legislation in almost three decades — a depressing statement about the gun culture’s iron grip on Congress. But it’s a valid endeavor, as long as it goes down as the start, not the end, of gun safety reform in America.
The pattern of dysfunction has cycled for a generation now: A mass shooting spawns demands from Americans that Congress act. Democrats offer reasonable remedies like banning assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines. Republicans reject any action at all, terrified of enraging gun extremists who don’t comprise a majority of their party (or even a majority of gun owners), but can sway GOP primaries through their organization and fervency. So nothing happens and the issue sinks from public debate. Then the next mass shooting happens, and the whole process repeats itself.
That tragic pattern may yet repeat itself again in the wake of the recent back-to-back mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas. Democrats have an effective one-vote Senate majority, which isn’t enough to overcome an inevitable Republican filibuster of any new gun restrictions.
