We all know the tragic routine:

1.) An aggrieved/mentally ill person murders multiple innocent people and often himself. 2.) The community/nation struggles to find a motive 3.) Families are devastated by the tragedy 4.) Politicians rail against “the evildoers” and offer their thoughts and prayers. 5.) A press conference is held promising to find the motive and demanding tougher security in the future. 6.) Friends and family of the shooter express shock that such a nice person could do such a thing; or that they tried but were unable to get him psychiatric help. 7.) We learn that he legally bought his weapon(s) or was given one though he had a history of mental illness. 8.) Republican lawmakers warn we have to arm ourselves, harden our society, accept this new violent reality for the sake of the 2nd Amendment. 9.) Democratic lawmakers warn we need to ban assault weapons and large munition magazines, pass universal background checks and red flag laws for the sake of the 1st Amendment. 10.) Nothing happens. 11.) The dead are buried and out of the news. 12.) Americans become more afraid of other Americans with guns. 13.) Another aggrieved/mentally ill person murders multiple innocent people, and often himself …

This horrific routine, which weighs on all of our hearts. is about to get much worse. Since taking office last January, Donald Trump has sought to dismantle all gun regulation, appearing to promote a pro-violence agenda in America. He has issued executive orders to reverse rules to regulate ghost guns, to close the gun show loophole, to ban bump stocks (which he banned in his first term) and to classify certain dangerous weapons.

He has eliminated the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention and the Surgeon General’s advisory that gun violence is a public health crisis. He and his fellow Republicans are pushing to change the National Firearms Act and eliminate “a deadly weapons tax” that will wipe out $1.7 billion from the budget. Finally, at the center of the President’s agenda is the passage of the Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act which would force states that currently ban such permits to honor them.

Once upon a time in America, public safety was more important than partisan politics. Once upon a time, both Republicans and Democrats supported sensible gun regulation, as well as a ten-year ban on semi-automatic weapons. Today, even after the recent mass shooting in New York City and a subsequent mass shooting in Nevada, Republicans in Congress are poised to push through measures that make it easier and cheaper for anyone to get an assault weapon — the mass murderer’s gun of choice.

Both President Trump and V.P. Vance have often said that mass shootings are now just “a fact of life” in our country. Both men know that this was not true when they were growing up. Anyone looking at the stranglehold the NRA has on our elected, knows better. Anyone looking at the far right’s weaponization of the 2nd Amendment for political ends, knows better.

Perhaps it’s time for each of us to ask ourselves: Do I truly believe that mass shootings are just “a fact of life”? If the answer is “yes,” then you must be prepared to live with ever-increasing restrictions on your freedom, as well as ever-increasing violence and insecurity for your children, your grandchildren, your country.

The alarming number of gun-related deaths (we out-number all other industrial countries combined) is no more a permanent “fact of life” in our country than child labor once was, or slavery, or the disenfranchisement of women, or our rivers catching fire, or lead poisoning our children. Though progress may seem slow at times, America has a long history of working to create a safer and more just place to live in this world.

All of us grieve for the innocent victims of the latest mass shootings, for the shattered families and communities. All of us, whatever our politics, know in our hearts it doesn’t have to continue this way. Let us work together and demand that our elected officials support sensible gun policies that put public health and safety first.