Sombre

Sombre.

After mass shootings, such as the ones in Dayton, Ohio, El Paso, Texas, and in Gilroy, Calif., content from the public as well as conservative figureheads often blame a secularizing society and the decline of traditional values.

Sombre is the state of our morality if, on one hand, we can attribute mass shootings to a decline in religiosity while concurrently supposing that any Deity will condone the forced and illegal separation of children from their mothers. The former might be true (though not the independent cause) but the latter, never.

Even if mass shootings can be attributed to a decline in religiosity, and acknowledging that border security is, indeed, an important need, one cannot claim to possess a moral high ground if that same individual supports, either explicitly or by complicity, the forced and inhumane separation of children and parent seeking safety. Forced separation of families and enforcing border security are completely independent.

To be clear, I believe that religiosity has declined and perhaps to society's detriment. But the argument blaming a lack of religion for gun crime is flawed. Evangelical Protestants consistently oppose stricter gun control laws and even support looser gun laws. Comparatively, other Americans including Protestants, Catholics, and the nonreligious, consistently favour stricter gun control laws. Importantly, these findings remain even when numerous demographic characteristics, along with gun ownership, are controlled for.

Now my feelings on public accessibility of guns notwithstanding, no one is going to take your handgun away. 'Red flag' legislation supported by Trump, with majority of Americans supporting the necessity of universal background checks, only allows, after strict due process, guns to be removed from an individual who is either a threat to self or others. Additionally, I am of the opinion that if an individual is worried by what a universal background check might reveal, this would be an indicator in the negative of one's fitness to possess a firearm.

What I hope for is that the name of God will not be invoked at whim. What I hope for are morally consistent individuals who stand up against all injustice not just when it suits them or aligns with their personal preferences and political party/ideology. What I hope for are common sense, even non-extreme solutions to a problem that we can control. What I hope is that we are increasingly willing to sacrifice our wants for a collective good. Because we are, indeed, our brother's keeper. 221 days into the year, 254 mass shootings, 8,958 gun deaths, 17,720 injuries, with children comprising 2,249 of deaths and injuries, is exactly that number too many.