Second assassination attempt against Donald Trump amid anger and gun violence | Editorial

Two months ago, the Secret Service failed to protect former President Donald Trump from an assassination attempt. Fortunately, the assassination attempt failed at least in part because local police spotted the gunman, who fired too early and inaccurately. On Sunday, the Secret Service managed to spot a gunman and shoot him before he could fire a shot.

That may not be the most important thing to say about what appears to be a second assassination attempt on the Republican presidential candidate – the most important thing is about where we are as a society. But it is necessary context for politicians and self-appointed experts who complain that the government is not doing enough to protect Mr. Trump.

We all need to be aware of the reality that neither Trump nor Vice President Kamala Harris are president of the United States. Our nation does not have the same interest in protecting them as it did in protecting current President Joe Biden – or as it did in protecting Trump when he was president, or as it will have in protecting the candidate who is elected in November and takes office next year.

Just as it is not reasonable to assume that we will have enough voting machines and poll workers to ensure that no voter has to wait in line to cast their ballot for the next president, it is not reasonable to assume that we will ever have enough Secret Service agents to ensure that no one with a gun comes anywhere near a candidate. This is especially true when candidates are speaking in public places or playing on golf courses that are easily accessible to the public.

This is certainly not an endorsement of political violence. It is the same kind of reality check that Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance provided when, in the wake of the Georgia school massacre this month, he said school massacres are “a fact of life.” As long as our nation worships guns and anger, it is not realistic to suggest that attempted murder would be any less a fact of life than these school massacres.

It is up to all of us to change that.

Our state and federal politicians must promote gun safety and stop the glorification of guns. That means closing the loophole in Charleston that has allowed too many people to illegally purchase guns without a background check, including the evil man who used that gun to murder eight worshipers at Emanuel AME Church. That means closing the loophole at gun shows by requiring those background checks on all gun purchases. Banning “bump stock” devices that turn regular guns into machine guns. That means states must stop passing—or, as in South Carolina, start repealing—laws that encourage people to arm themselves in public and to stand their ground in any situation where the most paranoid people feel threatened.

No, these flaws in our laws do not encourage murder, but they do contribute to a culture in which people see physical violence as the answer to whatever they perceive as a problem. That's a dangerous way of looking at the world for anyone, but especially for people who are particularly angry – and that's what social media, cable TV, and politicians seem to constantly encourage us to do.

While we wait – and wait and wait – for our politicians to do something, there is something we can all do to calm the mood. That is what many promised after the first attempt. And that is what few have done. How many more attempts will it take?

We would be shocked if anyone reading this editorial went on a rampage, and we are convinced that few people would say to their faces the sort of things that pass as acceptable political and social commentary on the Internet today.

Yet many of us post provocative comments on social media that normalize anger and even violence. Even more of us post even more provocative comments—which over time brutalizes our politics and our society and makes violence seem a little less extreme than most of us have been taught to believe.

We need to stop and think about our actions—and our general views about what is and isn't acceptable in political rhetoric, online communication, and, yes, everyday conversation. If we are people of faith, we should think about what our faith says about the evil that words do. And remember that most of our most important religious texts were written in a time before words traveled around the world instantly, and before there were weapons that could mow down dozens of people in minutes. Whether we are people of faith or not, think about what anger is doing to our politics and our society.

At the very least, consider that if one candidate can become a target, everyone can become a target – just like children at school, families at the supermarket, and couples walking in their neighborhood at night. The time each of us has here on earth is short. We must profess peace and nonviolence in our actions and words.

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