Over at The Washington Post, the Pennsylvania senator writes about how he changed his mind about guns after Sandy Hook. Here is a taste:
I’m a U.S. senator who has done something rare in today’s politics: I’ve changed my position on our nation’s gun laws. After doing so, I didn’t burst into flames or get run out of town. That’s how I know others can choose to do the same.
As a lifelong Pennsylvanian, I have always had an abiding respect for one of the commonwealth’s longest and proudest traditions: top-tier hunting. Every year, hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians head to the woods to hunt white-tailed deer, wild turkeys and more. The practice is passed down in families from generation to generation.
I came to Washington in 2007 with the firm belief that to support and honor Pennsylvania’s deep-rooted hunting culture meant that I should not support restrictions on gun sales or increased regulations.
Then, in 2012, Sandy Hook happened.
Twenty 6- and 7-year-olds and six educators were killed in their school by a 20-year-old with an assault rifle, just before Christmas.
I will never forget the shock, horror and grief of learning that 26 families would never see their loved ones again. I was struck by the stark realization that we did not have to live like this. The idea that more than two dozen students and educators could be slaughtered in a matter of minutes because a 20-year-old had virtually unfettered access to weapons of war was too much to bear.
So I changed my position. Now it’s time for many of my colleagues in the Senate to do the same.
Our country cannot continue to surrender to the idea that gun deaths are inevitable or unavoidable.
Too many politicians in Washington will tell you there’s nothing we can do to stop this. They want you to believe that the most powerful nation in the world cannot prevent fourth-graders from being shot in their school, or Black Americans from being gunned down at their neighborhood grocery store. They argue that the gun violence plaguing cities such as Philadelphia simply cannot be solved.
Don’t listen to them.
Read the rest here.