David French is a conservative commentator I enjoy reading, even when I disagree with him, because he always has a great appreciation for the rule of law, defending classically liberal values, and seeing his opponents point of view with civility and grace. He makes a strong case for universal background checks and red flag laws, and there may be enough senators to get this past the filibuster. If this is the effort Sen. Murphy and Sen. Cornyn will hammer out, I’m all for it.
The goal has to be a both/and approach to reducing gun violence in this country. We absolutely should be pushing for greater and more powerful gun control and do so from the long view standpoint that the pro-life movement used to eventually overturn Roe. Wage a 30 year battle for hearts, minds, and institutions to change and embrace either a more restrictive interpretation of the Second Amendment or jettison it entirely. It will realistically take decades for this country to get to that point, but it’s worth the long game to move the Overton Window on guns.
We should be doing the work to make the maximalist position against the proliferation of so many guns in America the future majority and doing all we can in the meantime to reduce gun deaths in the here and now. If that means both working with Republicans and settling for smaller victories, so be it. If these half measures can save even one life, they will have been worth it.
There is also the aspect of building positive momentum. Passing these smaller laws now will prove to the skeptics that these laws when properly implemented and enforce actually work and save lives. That builds a bigger constituency for more regulation going forward and a stronger case for its efficacy. The assault weapons ban was easy to get around and less effective at stopping mass shootings or reducing violence than its authors anticipated. Rather than waste political capital trying to revive it, we should look at red flag laws, banning under 21 gun sales, universalizing stricter licensing requirements, and making it much harder for people with criminal or mental health histories to buy a gun. Nick Kristoff claims these modest reforms would still save 15,000 lives a year and cut gun violence in half.
In the meantime a red flag law as French and other conservatives support, an under 21 ban as Republican Adam Kinzinger floated, and universal background checks are low hanging fruit that can still save lives. Nearly all of the worst mass shooters would have been caught by a background check, caught by a red flag request, and the two recent killers (and nearly all school shooters) were under 21. It may not get all the guns of our streets, but they could have saved the lives lost in Buffalo and Uvalde, so it’s worth it to try.
