Every New Yorker, regardless of their background, should feel outrage and shame over the attempt made on Donald Trump’s life in Pennsylvania on Saturday.
There is zero justification for political violence in this country. Despite the passions a man like Trump evokes, in America, we ought to be able to judge him and other politicians seeking our support through ballots, not bullets.
Sadly, we know that Trump is not the first political figure to have been targeted by violent individuals in recent years. Political violence is bipartisan, and it is usually carried out by deranged people who hear the impassioned rhetoric from one side or another and choose to lash out.
New York is Trump’s birthplace and a heavily Democratic state. Our elected leaders, despite their many political differences with Trump, spoke out in unison after the failed assassination attempt to condemn it in the strongest terms, and offered their prayers for Trump and his family. It was the right thing to do – and an example for all of us to follow.
Why have we endured as a democratic republic for 248 years? Because we have refused to let the violent actions of madmen define our society and our debate. Through the years, we’ve encountered such peril before, and have turned it aside by refusing to embrace violence as a means to achieve political ends. Let us resolve our differences through peaceful campaign and debate, not the darkness of demonization and violence.
Saturday’s shooting marked a troubling confluence of both political violence and gun violence in America.
The neutralized culprit in the assassination attempt, a 20-year-old man, apparently took aim at the former president with an AR-style weapon. Other killers have used such assault weapons in the last two decades to slaughter innocent people at concerts, movie theaters and schools.
Despite the carnage, time and again, Congress has repeatedly refused to outlaw the sale of AR-style weapons, largely due to Republican opposition and lobbying from gun owner groups such as the National Rifle Association. New York’s assault weapons law is one of the strongest in America, but the continued lack of a national assault weapons ban keeps all of us in danger.
We almost had a former president and Republican presidential candidate killed Saturday at the hands of a 20-year-old assassin who wasn’t old enough to buy a beer, but yet managed to get hold of an AR-style weapon anyway. Enough is enough; it’s time for bipartisan action.
We urge New York’s Democratic and Republican Congress members to join forces and power through Congress this year an assault weapons ban. The easy accessibility of these guns on the open market constitutes a threat to both national and presidential security. It is vital that they get this done now.
