A mass shooting on Tuesday at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, which left 21 dead, including 19 children and two teachers, has rekindled a heated debate over how to prevent a tragedy like this from happening again.
As after past mass shootings, elected officials appear divided over arms control reform. President Joe Biden last week urged Congress to “keep weapons of war out of our streets,” gaining the support of many Democratic lawmakers at the Capitol. But some Republican members of Congress, such as Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, have dismissed the need to drastically strengthen weapons. Laws since the reform could prevent “law-abiding citizens” from acquiring weapons, they argue.
Despite the apparent disagreement, a bipartisan group of senators is discussing potential legislation that could include extended background checks and red-flag laws that keep guns out of the hands of people determined by authorities to pose a threat.
Meanwhile, some Republicans proposed alternatives, such as armed guards and other security guards in public places, as well as expanded mental health services. Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford, a Republican, had a broader view and told reporters that attacks like Uvalde’s come from “cultural issues” that the law has “zero chance” to fix.
The proposals provoked the disapproval of some Democrats, who accused Republicans of diverting concerns about the availability of firearms.
Evidence shows that gun control laws offer the most direct and immediate solution to mass shootings, gun violence experts told ABC News. They affirmed the value of a broader approach that includes mental health services and a change in cultural customs.
“From a purely rational and problem-solving perspective, everything should be on the table, including stronger gun control,” Daniel Webster, a professor at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg, told ABC News. School of Public Health.
The states with the lowest gun death rates are the ones with the strictest gun laws, according to research from the Johns Hopkins Center for Armed Violence Solutions. In particular, the most effective reduction in deadly mass shootings results from policies that require licenses for gun buyers and restrict high-capacity magazines, a 2020 study co-authored by Webster found.
The sheriff’s crime scene tape is seen outside Robb Elementary School while state soldiers guard the area in Uvalde, Texas on May 24, 2022.
Allison Dinner / AFP via Getty Images
He and other experts have criticized several proposals to limit mass shootings in schools, such as armed guards, narrow and fortified entrances and training camps.
“All of these solutions are geared toward accepting that someone with a gun will come into your school, so let’s be prepared,” he said.
In the days following an attack on Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in 2018, then-President Donald Trump suggested arming teachers. In 2012, after the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, then-vice president of the National Rifle Association, Wayne LaPierre, said: “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. ”
Mike Lawlor, an associate professor of criminal justice at the University of New Haven in Connecticut and a former Democratic state lawmaker, told ABC News that he questions the effectiveness of an armed officer or professor in stopping mass shootings.
“If someone shows up ready, willing, and capable of being killed and has an AR-15 and, in some cases, body armor, what will that guy do?” said Lawlor.
School safety measures implemented over the past two decades have shown no empirical evidence to reduce armed violence in schools, according to a 2019 study published by researchers in the journal Violence and Gender.
On Wednesday, Senator Cruz told Fox News in an appearance that schools should address mass shootings by limiting entry and exit to a single door, where armed police can guard against an attack.
The proposed one-door solution raises fire safety issues, Webster said. Nor does it take an expansive or systemic approach to the causes of mass shootings, he added.
Webster referred to a mass shooting last week at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, that left 10 dead, all black, and three more injured.
“This can happen in a supermarket or a church. We can go on and on about the configuration, “he said.” People who want to protect the status quo make this problem as limited as possible and develop the most limited solution possible. “
Another proposal that has gained momentum after the shooting in Uvalde is the expansion of mental health services. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott this week attributed the mass shooting at Uvalde to mental health issues and vowed to boost mental health programs.
Mental health advocates criticized Abbott for taking resources out of agencies that oversee mental health programs.
Experts said an expansion of mental health services could help address mass shootings, especially among young people facing mental health problems amid the pandemic.
“Teenagers in particular are really struggling from a mental health standpoint and need a lot more than they are getting,” Webster said. “These public health approaches can go a long way in preventing these horrific tragedies.”
An important part of the adult and adolescent population has suffered from mental health problems. Approximately 49.5% of teens have experienced a mental health disorder at some point in their lives, the National Institute of Mental Health found in a 2020 survey. the adult population suffered from some form of mental illness in 2020, according to the survey. Advocates have said that people with mental health problems are more likely to be victims than perpetrators.
Lawlor, a professor at New Haven University, said mental health programs should take a proactive approach to helping identify students at risk for violence.
A security guard is next to a retail store in New York City on June 11, 2020.
NurPhoto via Getty Images, FILE
“It’s one thing to have services available, but someone has to connect someone,” he said.
Another view of armed violence treats the problem as a symptom of a broader cultural issue that cannot be addressed by legislation, as proposed by Lankford, the Republican senator from Oklahoma.
Experts acknowledged that the problem is due in part to cultural values, especially the culture of weapons in the United States. Lawlor attributed the continued popularity of gun culture and the prevalence of guns in part to the marketing of gun manufacturers.
“It’s a historic culture of the United States (cowboys, the wild west and it’s in the Constitution), but this phenomenon of deliberately and aggressively flooding the country with weapons is relatively recent,” he added.
Ron Avi Astor, a professor of social welfare at the University of California, Los Angeles, who specializes in school violence, told ABC News that the divisive culture around guns impedes agreement on tangible solutions, including gun regulations.
“Public health is, first and foremost, education,” Astor said. “I don’t think we should approach it as a second amendment or not as a second amendment. This is a hole that leads us nowhere.”
He added: “I would like us to find common ground (Democrats, Republicans, gun owners, non-gun owners) to use at least the weapons responsibly with the same regulations as other materials and dangerous things in the houses of the people “.