Inaction on gun violence cannot continue

Robert Darrow, visiting faculty in Politics at Mount Holyoke College, has written an editorial decrying the inaction of Congress on gun violence.

In a recent editorial, Robert Darrow, visiting faculty in Politics, condemned Congress’s inaction on gun violence.

Darrow is an alum of Michigan State University, which was the site of a mass shooting in February 2023. Three students were killed, and five people were injured. Lawmakers promised gun control reforms after the shooting, but none have materialized.

Writing for the Detroit News, he argued that “Americans are desperate for leaders who have the courage to lead. Every time there is another school shooting in America, the exasperated chorus grows louder: the people want Congress to do something, anything.”

He said, “When politicians fail to deliver basic goods like public safety, citizens stop trusting their government, and after a long train of abuses, they understandably lose faith in the entire system. The uniquely American epidemic of gun violence is sadly just one of the deadly social diseases national leaders have allowed to fester and metastasize.

“Our elected officials have an alarming tendency to follow public opinion rather than attempt to shape it. In this instance, it would be a marked improvement to simply pass the measures 90% of Americans already support.”

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