President Biden took to the podium this past Tuesday and went on to give arguably the most solemn address of his administration thus far. The source of this gravity goes back to the day prior, Monday, March 22, when at approximately 2:30 p.m. MDT, a lone gunman entered a King Soopers supermarket in Boulder, Colorado, and began to open fire, killing 10 individuals. These horrific events have sparked a resurgence in one of the oldest arguments in American history: the question of gun restrictions and control. Now the many sides of this debate are being echoed everywhere from the federal government down to college students.
While the events of last Monday will always carry an unimaginable toll for the people of Boulder, it is the decisions of the coming weeks that could have an impact on the rest of the country. The Quad reached out to West Chester students, staff and residents to grasp the immediate sentiment of the public as well as the degree to which they think action should be taken. The following comments were all given under the oath of anonymity.
“I feel hopeless. When will we value lives more than gun ownership? Assault rifles should be harder to get than they currently are. There are so many loopholes in background checks and many politicians don’t seem to care enough to change that.”
“I either have to numb myself to the headlines (which come all too often) or sit with the news long enough to feel how horrible the situation really is; either way it’s terrible.”
“It makes me feel like we could be doing so much more. How many more people have to die for us to address contributors to mass shootings like gun control and access to mental health services? I expect the U.S. government will not change anything, though leaders may make it sound like they are. Unless we push for justice and emphasize the importance of stricter regulations for everyone, I expect we won’t get much more than a statement of solidarity via social media.”
“It’s upsetting that as the country starts to open up again, mass shootings are what we revert back to. Yes, I support the second amendment, but I think we need stricter gun laws set in place. Guns should be registered, but at the same time it isn’t fair for wealthier people to be able to pay for the $200 registration. Everyone should have affordable access to a registration if guns are supposed to protect us from the government.”
We need stricter gun laws (I’m not saying take everyone’s guns, but simply check more thoroughly, implement longer wait periods, meaning no impact on well-minded/law-abiding people) to help stop these tragedies.
President Biden’s initial response strived to highlight the grieving process, his determination for action and commitment to the people while promising to “use all the resources at [his] disposal to keep the American people safe.” The President continued with a plea to Congress, “We can ban assault weapons and high capacity magazines in this country” said Biden. “I got that done when I was a Senator. It passed; it was a law for the longest time, and it brought down these mass killings. We should do it again.” The law Biden is referring to is the Federal Assault Weapons Ban of 1994, which was signed into law by President Bill Clinton the same day it scraped through the Senate on a 52–48 vote. The bill was only set to last for 10 years, and, since expiring in 2004, has repeatedly failed to be renewed. To the President’s credit, a study done by New York University back in 2018 did suggest that “mass-shooting fatalities were 70% less likely to occur during the federal ban period.”
Biden’s address calls to mind-chilling similarities that track with what is possibly the most morbid tradition imaginable. Almost a decade ago, back in the winter of 2012, the country saw the events of the Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting. 26 dead, 20 of which were children between the ages of six and seven. The nation cried out for change. President Barack Obama promised “meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics.” The days to come saw only the creation of a gun violence task force led by then Vice President Biden, an assault weapons ban in New York, universal background checks in Connecticut and the introduction of another universal Assault Weapon Ban Bill (2013), which was swiftly defeated in Congress.
Matthew Shimkonis is a second-year History major with a minor in Journalism. MS925373@wcupa.edu