After the Nashville shooter kills 3 adults and 3 children, politicians will fire blanks

The reason nothing will be done to prevent gun violence following the horrific killing of three adults and three children at The Covenant School in Nashville, was brutally and succinctly explained earlier this month during a taping of The Problem with Jon Stewart.

Before we get to that, however, we should run through what has become our standard national reaction to mass shootings.

It begins, of course, with politicians who don’t want to do anything about gun violence expressing shock. Although, really, is anyone shocked?

Then, these same politicians, who do not offer solutions, offer their thoughts and prayers.

As details of the event are gathered and we collect information on the victims and the shooter, there will be politicians who suggest that something must be done.

We'll grieve Nashville long enough to forget

To which the politicians in the pocket of the gun lobby will say we must not act in haste.

They’ll say we must not be driven to action by an emotional response to the killings. They’ll tell us we must give victims’ families and their community and ourselves time to mourn. To grieve.

By which they mean time … to forget.

The 28-year-old shooter killed by police in Nashville was said to have entered the private Christian elementary school with two semiautomatic rifles and a handgun.

The assailant was a former student of the school.

According to the Gun Violence Archive there were 647 mass shootings last year, part of a 12-month period when gun deaths of all manner totaled 44,307, close to what it would mean if the entire population of Prescott was wiped out.

So far this year there have been 129 mass shootings.

The horrid need for a school shooting database

According to a website that keeps track only of school shootings, there have been 87 in the United States so far this year. Imagine that: we are a country where the K-12 School Shooting Database is actually a useful and necessary resource.

Perhaps because firearms recently became the biggest killer of children in the U.S.

Another view:We overlooked the worst parts of Nashville shooting

This is where, Stewart, the comedian, social activist and former host of The Daily Show, comes in.

Earlier this month, Oklahoma State Sen. Nathan Dahm agreed to appear on The Problem with Jon Stewart. The pair spoke of legislation proposed by Dahm that would loosen (even further) firearms restrictions in his state.

From what do children need the most protection?

At the same time, Republicans in Oklahoma, like Arizona and many other states, have proposed bills to restrict drag show performances. This came up during the discussion between Dahm and Stewart, with the Republican politician saying that anti-drag show laws are necessary to protect children.

Stewart pointed out that the leading cause of death among children in the United States is not drag shows and asked Dahm if he knew what was.

“I’m presuming you’re going to say it’s firearms,” Dahm said.

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“No, I’m not going to say it like it’s an opinion,” Stewart said. “That’s what it is. It’s firearms. More than cancer, more than car accidents, and what you’re telling me is you don’t mind infringing free speech to protect children from this amorphous thing (drag shows) that you think of, but when it comes to children that have died, you don’t give a flying f--k to stop that … .”

It takes federal law to curb gun violence

President Joe Biden, after calling the Nashville killings “sick,” “heartbreaking” and “a family’s worst nightmare,” called – again – for Congress to pass an assault weapons ban.

For there to be any progress in curbing gun violence there will have to be federal laws. The hodgepodge of laws in the states, ranging from strict to nearly nonexistent, makes it too easy for bad actors to get any weapon they want.

Biden said, “It’s about time that we begin to make some more progress.”

But we won’t.

Republicans in Congress will block any legislation from passing. They’ll claim they’re protecting what they believe to be the right to own assault weapons under the Second Amendment.

The real reason for blocking any common sense gun proposal, however, is the money they get from the gun lobby and the support of that lobby’s voters.

Which is just another way of saying that when it comes to children, they don’t give a flying “f”.

Reach Montini at ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Nashville shooting leaves 6 dead, while politicians fire blanks