Right and Left React to the Church Massacre in Texas
|
Version 0 of 1. The political news cycle is fast, and keeping up can be overwhelming. Trying to find differing perspectives worth your time is even harder. That’s why we have scoured the internet for political writing from the right and left that you might not have seen. Has this series exposed you to new ideas? Tell us how. Email us at ourpicks@nytimes.com. For an archive of all the Partisan Writing Roundups, check out Our Picks. Hans Fiene in The Federalist: Mr. Fiene criticizes those on the left who say that instead of “thoughts and prayers” the nation needs stricter gun control rules. More specifically, Mr. Fiene, a Lutheran pastor, explains how secular progressives might miss the comfort Christians gain through prayer, even in tragic times. Read more » _____ Jacob Sullum in Reason: Mr. Sullum, writing for the libertarian Reason magazine, points out that both Devin Kelley, whom the police identified as the gunman in the mass shooting in Texas, and Dylan S. Roof, who was found guilty last year of killing nine parishioners in South Carolina, slipped through a system of background checks meant to prevent them from buying firearms. The problem, he points out, is not the lack of screening, but the efficacy of the system. Read more » _____ David French in National Review: When confronted with an incomprehensible evil like the shooting in Texas, Mr. French writes, prayer is not only rational, but it is also effective. Especially if you are someone who believes “that God intervenes in the affairs of men.” Read more » _____ David Faris in The Week: Americans have become so used to mass shootings that the national response to such events has become depressingly rote, Mr. Faris writes. The left will call for stricter gun control while the right will offer condolences to the victims while standing behind Second Amendment protections, and soon enough, the country will move on. He points out that “only when we reckon with the human costs of our indifference and decide to act” will this familiar cycle end. But this day, to Mr. Faris, seems far away. Read more » _____ German Lopez in Vox: The shooting in Sutherland Springs has introduced a favorite talking point of the National Rifle Association into a real world situation: whether a “good guy with a gun” is the best antidote to a “bad guy with a gun.” Mr. Lopez takes on that argument. First, he cites research that shows a basic fact about gun deaths: “Where there are more guns, there are more gun deaths.” Second, he points to statistics that show how “It’s way more likely in America that someone will shoot and kill another person in the course of committing a crime than will do so in self-defense.” Finally, he also notes, most of the time, a “good guy with a gun” responds to a mass shooting too late. By the time the armed neighbor shot at Mr. Kelley, he writes, 40 people had already been shot. Read more » _____ Melissa Jeltsen in Huffington Post: Written in July 2016, after the Bastille Day attack in Nice, France, this article by Ms. Jeltsen draws out a common trait shared by many of those who commit mass violence: a history of domestic abuse. Read more » _____ Kurt Bardella in USA Today: Mr. Bardella is a former spokesman for Breitbart News and Republican politicians like Representative Darrell Issa of California and former Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine. He has previously written about his break from the Republican Party, which you can read here. He is unconvinced by the sincerity of President Trump’s reaction to the shooting, writing that while Mr. Trump blamed “mental health” for the shooting, he also “signed into law a bill that rolled back regulations that made it harder for people with mental illnesses to buy a gun.” Read more » _____ Want the Partisan Writing Roundup in your inbox? Sign up for the Morning Briefing Newsletter or the What We’re Reading Newsletter. Have thoughts about this collection? Email feedback to ourpicks@nytimes.com. |