Charlie Kirk, conservative activist. Minnesota Representative Melissa Hortman. Hortman’s husband, Mark. All three politically assassinated in the past three months. Earlier this spring, an arsonist attacked the residence of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro’s home while he and his family were sleep. President Donald Trump has survived two assassination attempts.
America, like most nations throughout history, is no stranger to political violence.
However, just because we aren’t immune, it doesn’t mean we should tolerate it. According to a researcher at the University of Maryland, there have been an estimated 150 politically motivated attacks across the country in the first half of this year, double the amount of the prior year. Hortman’s colleague, state Senator John Hoffman and his wife were injured by the same suspect who slain the Hortmans. The growing discontent with the political system and policies is palpable across the country, and in a nation that has more guns than people, this brand of civil unrest is terrifying.
It is a heartbreaking trend, and one that requires dousing the flames of political division while also having serious, honest, and frank conversations about the rise of domestic extremism. Our political leaders do not do the nation or the memory of the victims any favors by leveraging these horrific tragedies for political gain. It’s dishonorable. Heightened partisanship and vitriol make for great headlines and line the pockets of those who profit from discord, but it’s not a sustainable or democratic way to govern. Domestic extremism doesn’t simply or neatly follow the hard lines of right or left politics. These individuals are typically influenced by a mix of different extremist ideologies and it’s critical to understand these nuanced roots. Our political leaders also need to heed the call that an overwhelming majority of Americans, including responsible gun owners, want to end the epidemic of gun violence with common-sense policies.
So many of us, myself included, carry the weight of gun violence into classrooms, houses of worship, and any setting where people gather, like Utah Valley University where Kirk spoke before he was killed. We are living through an era where mass shootings, exploited and manipulated by the gun industry, have created a normalcy that is anything but. I ask, with all honesty and a keen sense of curiosity to why we’ve fallen into this trap of normalcy bias: why haven’t we done anything, beyond thoughts and prayers, to confront this epidemic?
We don’t have to live through this as if it were normal times or accept that mass shooter drills are a basic component of the education system like tornado drills or standardize tests. We don’t have to be held hostage to the notion that we are so divided as citizens that assassinating political figures is the only reasonable step to improve the country. That type of thinking is fanaticism. We’ve engaged in long, bloody wars over fanaticism. It should have no quarter in our nation. We don’t have to listen to the endless streams of deceptions from pundits and celebrity-obsessed politicians who would rather improve their reach and influence than doing what’s best for the country.
We can tell our children that this was the moment when it felt like everything was falling apart but instead of destruction, we chose unity. We ignored those who sought to label us as political enemies and overlooked differences in ideologies and found common ground. We pressed our leaders to let go of the calcifying bonds partisanship and they listened. When they stood and spoke the Pledge of Allegiance they meant every word, and enacted policies that proved it. We can tell our children and our neighbors that we were faced with a year when politicians and activists were slain, and we cried: no more. No more.