Truly Being “Pro-Life” Would Mean Enacting Strict Gun Control Legislation
Mary Lauren Veazey (PPS ‘25)
A week after three 9-year-old children and three adults were shot and killed at an elementary school, Florida governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill that would allow Floridians to carry concealed weapons without a permit or training. In the time since I began writing this article, five individuals were killed and nine wounded by a gunman in Louisville, Kentucky, my home state.
Integral to the platform of Ron DeSantis and many Republicans is being “pro-life,” broadly referring to opposition to abortion. Official Republican National Committee documents claim to “assert the sanctity of human life.” But the actions of lawmakers on the right tell a drastically different story, one that shows little regard for human life. If these legislators truly valued life as they so espouse, they would support commonsense gun laws, specifically assault weapon bans and red-flag laws. In a country with more mass shootings than days in the year, this legislation is imperative. Research on state gun control reveals a correlation between the strength of gun laws and rates of gun violence, implying the need for national gun control policies. We are in the midst of an epidemic — not of a traditional infectious disease — but one of gun violence.
Assault weapons, semi-automatic guns with large magazine capacity and rapid rates of fire, have been used in the seven most deadly mass shootings in the past ten years. There is no reason that civilians should be able to purchase these military-grade weapons of mass murder: the federal government must institute a ban on assault weapons. And research has indicated that such a measure would work. From 1994 to 2004, the United States enacted a ban on assault weapons. An analysis of mass shooting fatalities between 1981–2017 revealed that mass-shooting deaths were 70% less likely to occur when the federal ban was in place.
Beyond assault weapons bans, “red flag” laws are a proactive measure to prevent guns from getting in the wrong hands. Why does it not raise alarm bells when an individual buys more ammunition than soldiers have when they go off to war? Why is it not questioned when mentally unstable individuals purchase assault rifles, as was the case for the Nashville perpetrator? Red flag laws allow police to remove firearms from individuals perceived by a judge to be a danger to themselves or others. A growing body of research suggests that red flag laws do prevent firearm mortalities, the most significant effect being on suicides. The Violence Prevention Research Program at UC Davis examined California’s red flag law, known as a gun violence restraining order. They discovered that the law intervened among 58 mass shooting threats, findings that indicate the law’s success.
However, the responses to mass shootings of many on the right are either to silence conversations surrounding gun legislation or to increase the presence of guns. During calls for stricter gun control in the Tennessee House in the wake of the Nashville shooting, Republicans expelled two Democrats from the legislature. On March 31, Texas senator Ted Cruz tweeted: “when you go to the bank and you deposit money in the bank, there are armed police officers at the bank. Why? Because we want to protect the money we save. Why on earth do we protect a stupid deposit more than our children?” 10 days later, an armed assailant killed five individuals at a bank.
Schools, churches, grocery stores, public parades, banks — none of these locations are exempt from mass shootings. The underlying problem is not the location or the level of security. It’s the easy access to guns in the United States. Last year, following the mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas, PBS News asked each U.S. senator what actions should be taken on guns. The response of 31 Republican senators was “no response at publishing time.” Their silence speaks volumes.
Being pro-life would mean enacting legislation that truly protects human lives. Sound research has indicated that strict gun legislation, including assault weapons bans and red flag laws, are effective: why are we not listening to the science? How did we get to a place where guns are the leading cause of death for children? Until commonsense gun laws are passed, the words “pro-life” used by many on the right are empty and hypocritical. Protect life by passing commonsense gun laws: I long to see a day where families, communities, and our country are not ripped apart due to preventable acts of gun violence.
Mary Lauren Veazey (PPS ’25) is from Fort Mitchell, Kentucky and is a Public Policy Undergraduate at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy. This piece was submitted as an op-ed in the Spring ’23 PUBPOL 301 course. This content does not represent the official or unofficial views of the Sanford School, Polis, Duke University, or any entity or individual other than the author.
