A 20-year-old man attempted to assassinate former President Donald J Trump yesterday, firing multiple rounds from an AR-15-style rifle from a rooftop some 400 feet from where Mr Trump was speaking at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. His right ear was injured by gunfire, and a full recovery is expected.
Secret Service counter-snipers killed the shooter within seconds, and Mr Trump spent the night at his home in New Jersey. I am thankful the attempted assassination did not seriously hurt the former president.
A man sitting behind Mr Trump was killed, and two other people were injured and were in stable condition at a local hospital at the time of this writing.
President Joe Biden has called for an independent review of security protocols at the event, but former Secret Service agents have spoken on TV to say that a political rally, where candidates, including candidates who are also former presidents of the United States, like to be close to those in attendance, uses different security protocols from other events where the protectee would be guarded more closely.
Politicians on both sides of the aisle have gone on the record as saying that (a) there’s no place for political violence in America and (b) this is not who we are as a nation. I think both statements reflect a bit of denial. It’s not who I or a bunch of people I would consider “reasonable” might want us to be as a nation, but suggesting it’s not who we are is a little disconnected from the evidence.
First, violence against politicians has undoubtedly been a part of our history. I visited Ford Theater in Washington last year, seeing the balcony where President Abraham Lincoln was shot, and it’s clear that politics has motivated violence on a few occasions in the US, especially during divisive times. If we can be united as Americans and human beings, this statement might come closer to reality.
As for part (b), maybe this is who we are. Guns passed motor vehicle accidents as the leading cause of death among children and adolescents about four years ago, according to research published in The New England Journal of Medicine.
So, as politicians call for unity, for finding common ground, let’s talk about the common ground of keeping students safe from gun violence by enacting reasonable, middle-ground gun safety legislation. Let’s talk about meaningful immigration reform. Let’s discuss ensuring no child goes hungry or loses access to healthcare and wraparound services.
