Uploaded January 2018 | Updated September 2026, 37 minutes ago
After the horrific shooting in Las Vegas, the impulse of politicians is to lower flags, offer moments of silence, and lead somber tributes. But what we need most of all isn’t mourning, but action to lower the toll of guns in America.
We needn’t simply acquiesce in this kind of slaughter. When Australia suffered a mass shooting in 1996, the country united behind tougher laws on firearms. The result is that the gun homicide rate was almost halved, and the gun suicide rate dropped by half, according to The Journal of Public Health Policy. America’s gun homicide rate is now about 20 times Australia’s.
Skeptics will say that there are no magic wands, and they’re right. But it is unconscionable for politicians to continue to empower killers at this scale.
After the horrific shooting in Las Vegas, the impulse of politicians is to lower flags, offer moments of silence, and lead somber tributes. But what we need most of all isn’t mourning, but action to lower the toll of guns in America.
We needn’t simply acquiesce in this kind of slaughter. When Australia suffered a mass shooting in 1996, the country united behind tougher laws on firearms. The result is that the gun homicide rate was almost halved, and the gun suicide rate dropped by half, according to The Journal of Public Health Policy. America’s gun homicide rate is now about 20 times Australia’s.
Skeptics will say that there are no magic wands, and they’re right. But it is unconscionable for politicians to continue to empower killers at this scale.
