All These Foolish Republicans Willing to “Consider” Gun Control Ignore the Biggest Threat to Children – Opinion

After the massacre at Uvalde Elementary School in Texas, political talk has shifted to gun control. In order to safeguard the children’s lives, it is imperative that we get rid of all the dangerous firearms. And, as is always the case, some Republicans have come out to openly state they’re willing to “consider” or “discuss” the Left’s ideas on gun control.

This is an absurd exercise. As previously discussed, the Republicans you see loudly doing this are the foolish “above it all” Republicans like Adam Kinzinger and Bill Cassidy. And, as my colleague Bonchie explains, the Democrats are already telegraphing that what is being proposed simply isn’t enough.

To engage with Democrats in this matter with the expectation of reaching a compromise and negotiation is foolish. This is an issue that they view as an election matter. They are trying to portray Republicans as out-of-touch, dangerous extremists by making this the latest of a string of evil guys.

Chuck Schumer shouts loudly from the Senate Floor that Americans support gun control. But no Democrats are honest enough to admit that although the overall idea of reform is well-received, certain measures don’t always do so. There is also the 2nd Amendment which renders any comparison with other countries futile. Those countries don’t have a right to firearms. Democrats won’t say it openly (very often), but in truth, they see a fundamental right to firearms as a mistake that should be rectified.

Democrats are right that it is too common. At some point there needs to be more to thoughts and prayers than that, so some form of action must be taken. Prayer vigils can bring communities together, but can’t undo what has been done.

The prayer vigil at the Uvalde County Fairplex begins with a hymn, “I Need Thee Every Hour.” pic.twitter.com/lJlh5G6bf7

— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) May 26, 2022

But the Democrats were extraordinarily quick to jump on gun control after this shooting, despite the multiple issues that have come to light about the shooter’s mental health and local law enforcement’s inability to act that made the situation as deadly as it was. Their mistake is believing that banning more firearms is the solution.

Columbine occurred while there was still a gun ban in place. The Democrats advocated for restrictions on handgun sales after that. It didn’t stop anything. Problems remained well into the current. There are far more pressing problems than just the availability of guns and their access.

Particularly, the mental health problem needs to be dealt with in more detail. The world we live in is one of increasing isolation and decreasing social interaction. This is especially true for our children. Even when they’re hanging out together, they prefer to stare at their phone screens in silence. They are in gaming lobbies and online servers rather than spending time outside — or, at least, out of the house.

This isn’t a new phenomenon, but it was greatly worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns and forced isolation. The politicians ignored evidence that showed children weren’t as at risk as adults for the disease, preventing them from achieving their social and emotional goals. The result was that children became isolated from their peers and social circles. They’ve lost emotional and academic development. Their school-required social skills went unlearned.

We need to be more vigilant about school safety, but we also have to offer more social and emotional support to our schoolchildren. Our students need help.

The problem with modern education is that the professionals who are meant to be there and support our students are so bogged down with bureaucratic work that they don’t have the time to actually care for our kids. Education has been reduced to a transactional profession. After you have completed your year, you will be asked to return to school.

Counselors? Are you a counselor? You can find people who have that title as test administrator, scheduler, or makeshift administrator when nobody else is available. But the people who are actually there to be counselors don’t get as many opportunities to do that work. Even those who are capable of counseling children occasionally don’t get enough time.

There are many social stigmas that still surround the need to speak with someone.

Someone like Uvalde’s shooter, Buffalo, slips by the cracks. They quit going to school. The signs they start showing are that they have become isolated from society and turn to the internet for support. Although they display erratic behaviors, no one notices.

There are many types of guns and kids involved in these attacks, from Columbine to Uvalde. Each makes them tragic. However, they share one thing in common: They are all performed by individuals who are truly and deeply disturbed. That isn’t an excuse, but it is a sign that there is something we need to focus on more than the political talking points argued time and again about guns.

That money was supposed to be used to assist states and localities in recovering from COVID-19. It would be a good idea to use this money for more funding of mental health professionals on campuses and social workers. Instead, why not put more effort into building community in our schools and classrooms? Why is it that each and every time we have one of these events, the mental health aspect gets ignored except to say we need “Red Flag” laws?

Those laws, by the way, focus again on the guns and don’t actually address the mental health aspect (not to mention the due process issues involved with such laws) of these tragedies.

So, rather than seeing Adam Kinzinger or Bill Cassidy say “Sure, let’s talk about gun control,” we need a stronger push to look into the increasing (and frankly dire) mental health crisis among our children. That is the epidemic the supposed adults in the room keep missing, and it’s the greatest threat to our students’ health and safety.