There's no excuse for opposing more gun safety to keep guns out of criminals' hands

After witnessing recent shocking gun shootings in Chicago, we have to ask: How many more deaths and injuries will it take to change the minds of those who oppose efforts to reduce gun violence?

Across the nation, the number of willful, malicious and accidental shooting deaths was lower in 2023 than in the previous three years, according to the Gun Violence Archive. But the U.S. gun homicide rate is now 26 times that of other high-income countries, Everytown for Gun Safety reports.

When other nations can keep their residents so much safer, it's clear that those who oppose gun safety in the United States share responsibility for much of the carnage. The actions of conservative members of the U.S. Supreme Court, their allies in Congress and state legislators who oppose gun reforms spread fear, heartbreak and death across our country.

We saw evidence of that again last week, when police say habitual criminal Cordarrow Thompson likely used a weapon modified to act like machine gun when he killed off-duty Cook County Sheriff's Deputy Rafael D. Wordlaw. At least 69 shots were fired in less than a minute, police said.

By all accounts, Wordlaw, 31, was an exemplary man. Police say he died as he came to the aid of a friend who was being robbed at gunpoint at a Woodlawn gas station. Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx said Wordlaw had a "personal mission … to make people feel safe." Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart said Wordlaw was "someone who always was there for everybody else." Wordlaw had a large extended family, and his father was a Chicago police officer.

And what was the U.S. Supreme Court up to as criminals use devices such as "switches" or "bump stocks" that essentially turn their firearms into machine guns, giving victims such as Wordlaw little to no chance? On June 14, it struck down a rule banning bump stocks. Did the court not care that on Oct. 1, 2017, a Las Vegas gunman used firearms with bump stocks to kill 58 people and wound more than 500 at a Las Vegas music festival? Did Congress not care when it failed to enact new legislation to ban bump stocks?

Those who should be finding ways to protect Americans are failing. As a result, one Chicago tragedy follows another. More than 100 people were shot and 19 were killed over the Fourth of July weekend in Chicago. On July 27, a 3-month-old infant boy, Jeremiah Carlos, was injured in a shooting on the Southwest Side. A 3-year-old boy was injured by gunfire Thursday evening on the Northwest Side.

Those who resist making America safer have an obligation to stop.

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