Change the script in the aftermath of gun violence

Stop doing the same thing and expecting a different result

I had planned to write about other things today, but it is pointless to think about anything but the rampage of violence over the 4th of July weekend, not only in Highland Park and other areas of Chicago, but across the nation.

Gun violence is not just a stand-alone issue of grave concern, it is also an indicator that American society is not well. A society that cannot protect its schoolchildren, cannot protect shoppers, cannot protect people sitting innocently in their backyard, and now, cannot protect people celebrating our history and democratic values in a cherished public ritual, is one that will ultimately lose faith in its governing institutions.

Our society has fallen into a too complacent set of rituals in the aftermath of these events that, until the bipartisan gun violence legislation signed just last week, produced mostly three decades of inaction. We need a new set of actions that are bolder, braver, faster, more direct.

Here are some suggestions:

First, President Biden should travel to Chicago tomorrow. He should march along the Highland parade route with local leaders, clergy, police, citizens and mourners (if they wish). It is critical to reclaim this public space. Don’t worry, the Secret Service will lock this place down.

He should then travel across town to Parkway Gardens housing complex, where five young men were shot late at night on July 3, and do the exact same thing.

Rich, poor; white, Black; midwest, east, southwest, and so on - there is a national coalition of communities that yearn for meaningful responses to this scourge.

While there, he needs to avoid the usual bromides “we must take action,” “let’s go back to the 1994 Crime Bill,” and so on. Instead, he needs to explain the stakes in the same terms as when he started his campaign for the White House. Addressing gun violence has to be about a “battle for the soul of the nation.” Perhaps, just perhaps, doing so can build broader political support a genuine movement for change.

Second, Congress should convene a bicameral meeting of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees with the CEO of YouTube, the host SINCE OCTOBER of a video that could not possibly have been more predictive that its creator’s mental state was dangerously calling him to engage in a mass shooting. In one of them, he raps “"Like a sleepwalker unable to stop and think, my actions will be valiant. And my thought is unnecessary. I know what I have to do." Here is some of the imagery in this video:

Google’s market capitalization is $1.435 trillion — I don’t care how many people they need to hire, Google and other platforms need to find a way to find content like this and notify law enforcement. Congress can also pass a law requiring Google to have the capability to identify content highly predictive of violence and provide timely notification law enforcement. Such a law would be fully consistent with the First Amendment, as there would be absolutely no infringement on the speaker or Google’s right to free speech. Congress should also immediately amend Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act to strip mega-platforms of civil immunity for hosting content like this. Maybe such a law could be challenged under the First Amendment, but if I were in Congress, I’d pass it and let the Supreme Court tell me it is unconstitutional and why.

Third, while I support the process that resulted in the recent bi-partisan legislation, those who favor continued in-action on stronger measures to get weapons of war out of the hands of mentally unstable young men, should be held accountable for their positions. The House should bring up a set of measures in individual bills - such as a ban on sale of AR-15’s and similar weapons to those under 21 - and have separate votes on each. Send them to the Senate. Have them called up and let’s have a debate and a vote on a motion to proceed to each bill. Let those who want to filibuster stand up and explain why people who can’t buy a beer should be able to buy these weapons of warfare. This is how to provide accountability.

Finally, while there is a lot more that should be done legislatively to address gun violence (and if you are interested, spend some time with the life work of my colleague, Sanford School of Public Policy professor emeritus and Stockholm Award winner, Phil Cook), seriously addressing this problem also requires us to take a hard look at what is happening to young men in American society. I am far from an expert on this issue, but just from my study of radicalization to violence, my time spent reading white supremacist Reddit chats, and my reading about the “incel” movement, I’ve seen enough to conclude that we have deep seated sociological and psychological dysfunctions permeating subsections of America’s young male population. This problem should rise to the level of appointment of a bipartisan presidential commission as well as a comprehensive study by the National Academy of Science.

I do fear that we will have many occasions to revisit this topic in this newsletter.