I do not particularly call for gun control. First of all, Second Amendment jurisprudence is what it is, and seems unlikely to change. Second of all, any proposed legislation has to actually help solve the problem. All too often, after a horrible event, we hear people say, "We have to do something." No. We have to do something that works.
But mostly, my rationale is cultural. There are many, many law-abiding gun owners in this country, and many of them have been conditioned to believe in a terrible angry fear that we are coming for their guns. Would anything genuinely good happen if we actually were?
There can only be one truly positive way forward. We must meet their fear with love, again and again and again.
I haven't forgotten that just yesterday I questioned the value of this very approach. Sometimes it feels so toothless and naive. But what else is there?