Your thoughts and prayers won't solve America's gun problem; legislators can

A nation is traumatized this week by the horrifying news of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

It’s hard to be a parent and not to fear your kids being shot at school after this terrifying incident.

It’s the deadliest school shooting since 2012, when 26 people — some as young as kindergarten — were shot and killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

Last year, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott bragged in a tweet about signing a law that allows Texans to legally carry guns in public without license or training.

Today we see the outcome of the law.

Days before the massacre, Salvador Ramos, the alleged shooter, posted on his social media accounts pictures of his two new assault riffles. It’s not confirmed whether either was used in the incident, but this law allowed an 18-year-old to easily purchase guns that might have been used to kill innocent kids. Almost a whole class that won’t be graduating with their friends.

The Robb Elementary School massacre followed two other recent shootings. One was a racist attack at a Tops supermarket in Buffalo, New York, where 10 Black people were shot and killed. The other is the Laguna Woods, California shooting that took place at Geneva Presbyterian Church as it hosted a Sunday service for a Taiwanese congregation. One person was killed and five others were injured.

Both shootings were motivated by hate, investigators have said, so mental illness is not the lone problem we are facing.

Ohio's gun law allowing conceal carry without a permit will not help

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on March 14 signed a similar bill allowing those 21 and older to carry a concealed weapon without a permit or training.

This will not help Ohio become a safer place for minorities to practice their religion, go to school, or simply buy groceries. This will not make Ohio safer when violent or unstable people can carry concealed weapons. And this will not make the job of law enforcement easier.

Several studies linked the loosening of gun laws to the increase in gun violence.

For instance, the Center for American Progress reported in a 2019 study that the adoption of right-to-carry laws was associated with a 10% to 15% increase in violent actions.

House Minority Leader Allison Russo issued a statement criticizing the decision.

“Removing these responsible and reasonable precautions compromises the safety and security of our communities and law enforcement," Russo said in the statement. "SB 215 completely betrays Ohioans who have called time after time for commonsense gun safety legislation, not extreme bills that endanger the lives of our children and families.

"Republicans have made it crystal clear that they value the approval of the gun lobby more than the lives of Ohioans and the police officers who protect our communities every day,” she said.

How many must die before gun laws are strengthened?

How many mass shootings must happen before our lawmakers take action for gun control?

There have been 27 school shootings in 2022, according to Education Week data. How many children must die?

Having gun control is not impossible. In the wake of the 2019 shooting in New Zealand at two mosques in Christchurch, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern urged the parliament to ban almost all semi-automatic weapons and assault rifles.

“We saw something that wasn’t right, and we acted on it, and I can only speak to that experience,” she said on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert."

“When we saw something like that happen, everyone said never again, and so it was incumbent on us as politicians to respond to that,” she said.

Reinstating training and permit requirements to carry weapons is the least lawmakers can do for now. It’s the happy medium between public safety and constitutional rights.

Parents don’t need your thoughts and prayers. Parents need to kiss their kids goodbye before going to school knowing they are in a safe place.

Shams Mustafa is a freelance journalist for the Wooster Daily Record. She came to the U.S. from Egypt and lives with her husband and children in Orrville.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Without gun control, parents live in fear of sending kids to school