Kimberly Atkins Stohr: We Live In A Society That Believes The Right To Carry Guns Is Like A Religion Unto Itself
PBS NEWSHOUR: New York Times columnist David Brooks and Boston Globe columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr join Amna Nawaz to discuss the week in politics, including the tragic school shooting in Minnesota.
AMNA NAWAZ, PBS NEWSHOUR: Kimberly, we reported earlier Governor Walz seems to be suggesting he’s going to call a special session to try to address this. We don’t have details beyond that. But does the Democratic response, in particular, does it feel a little more muted to you this time? KIMBERLY ATKINS STOHR, BOSTON BLOBE: I feel like all of it is muted. I think that Americans who are sending their children to school to start their school year are hearing about the thoughts and prayers and these ambiguous actions that may or may not be coming, and they are gutted by that, because they know that none of that protects their children. I think that this is not about trying to prevent the last shooting and figuring out what led to that one. It’s about, how do we change the culture in America surrounding guns? Because this does not happen other places. It does not happen in other countries that have much more lax gun laws than we do on the books. This is about a society that believes that the right to carry guns is something like a religion unto itself. And that’s from messaging that comes from Republicans about the Second Amendment and how any measure that is commonsense that is meant to prevent guns from getting in the hands of people that shouldn’t have them is somehow not just unconstitutional, but sacrosanct in itself. Until we can change that, until we can loosen the grip of the gun industry, the lobby here in Washington and across states, this will not change and children will continue to die.
