Eight people are dead after a mass shooting at an Indianapolis FedEx facility Thursday night, and five others were transported to the hospital with injuries. It’s a familiar story, but one no less tragic for the grieving families, or traumatic for the families that gathered in a hotel conference room waiting for news of loved ones, as survivors weren’t allowed to use their phones in the immediate aftermath of the shooting.
Here’s how familiar. This is, according to CNN, “the country's deadliest shooting since 10 people were killed March 22 in a grocery shooting in Colorado.”
Since 10 people were killed March 22, which was six days after eight people were killed in Atlanta-area spas on March 16. This FedEx warehouse shooting occurred on April 15. That’s a month.
But that’s not all:
Something is so broken in this country.
As of early Friday morning, an Indianapolis police spokesperson said, “Preliminary information at this time is that the shooter took his own life.”
Republicans continue to oppose any of the most basic fixes to U.S. gun laws, including universal background checks, while gun manufacturers have immunity from liability and are exempted from regulation by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. And Republicans don’t just oppose stronger gun laws, they are committed to filibustering everything, even the universal background checks that have overwhelming public support, or closing the “boyfriend loophole” by taking guns away from abusive unmarried partners.
President Joe Biden recently took executive action on guns, saying “Gun violence in this country is an epidemic. Let me say that again: Gun violence in this country is an epidemic, and an embarrassment.” But Congress needs to act, and that means Senate Republicans need to stop filibustering, or Senate Democrats need to abolish or reform the filibuster.
