After the Mayhem, Politics as Usual

After the Mayhem, Politics as Usual



Colorado is now reliving, in the trial of James Holmes, the 2012 shooting at a movie theater in Aurora in which a military-style assault rifle was used to murder 12 people and wound 70. Yet even in this painful moment, the new Republican majority in the State Senate seeks to repeal one of the gun safety laws enacted after the massacre.

The law, enacted a year after the shooting, banned large rapid-fire ammunition magazines that hold more than 15 rounds. Despite the tragedy, repeal of the ammunition limit became a priority among Republicans, who gained a majority in the Senate last year. They voted to repeal the limit in March. Fortunately, the Democratic House did not follow suit. “We’re not going backwards,” the House speaker, Dickey Lee Hullinghorst, vowed. The standoff dramatized the disconnect between state politicians in thrall to the gun lobby and the carnage suffered by their constituents.

In Wisconsin, the Legislature is in the process of passing a bill that would eliminate the current two-day waiting period for a gun purchase — a repeal sought by the gun lobby, but opposed by citizens concerned that this will worsen the risk of impulsiveness among buyers intent on suicide or community mayhem. In Texas, lawmakers have approved open carrying of firearms in public. In North Carolina, lawmakers want to weaken penalties on gun owners who violate a ban on carrying guns in restaurants, and to punish doctors who ask patients about guns as a safety issue.Photo

An AR-15 rifle like the one used by James Holmes in his attack on a Colorado movie theater.CreditAlex Brandon/Associated Press

A few states have passed universal background checks since the shooting of 20 schoolchildren in Connecticut, but legislatures overall seem determined to approve the concealed carrying of weapons, supposedly to help guard against civil disorder.

The idea that this improves public safety is firmly rebutted by the latest figures from the Violence Policy Center, a gun safety research and advocacy organization, which found that at least 743 non-self-defense deaths since 2007 were attributable to individuals with permits to carry concealed weapons. These included 222 suicides. Twenty-nine of the incidents were mass shootings of three or more victims that resulted in 139 deaths. The death toll for law enforcement officers was 17.

The assault on gun safety has exasperated law enforcement officials like the Milwaukee police chief, Edward Flynn. “We’re the only place I know where it’s a misdemeanor to carry a gun illegally, but a felony for a second rap for carrying pot,” he said, pointing out the disparity favoring gun owners. “Would you tell me how that makes sense?”