Critics cite lack of gun control debate after Atlanta shootings, say it’s about who is ‘relatable’

The shooting in Boulder, Colorado and the Atlanta area last month, which left 18 people dead, has reignited the political exchange around gun control.

But this discussion should not overshadow the stark contrast in the political response to the two attacks or in the media coverage.

After the shooting in Boulder on March 22, in which an assault rifle was used, President Joe Biden called Congress must take action to ban them and close the background check loopholes. Lawmakers have intervened with official statements and media appearances denouncing gun violence.

The week before, however, after the Atlanta-area shooting on March 16, where six of the eight victims were Asian women, critical discussions arose over hate crimes, racism and misogyny – and almost none. on firearms and gun control.

Gun control supporters point out that racial disparities in the two shootings – all of Boulder’s victims were white – likely played a role in the difference in reaction.

“What we see now is no different, frankly, from what we see every day,” said Greg Jackson Jr., national director of advocacy for the Community Justice Action Fund. “When minorities are affected by gun violence, it is seen purely as a challenge of crime, a challenge of hate, but not necessarily the public health crisis that it is and the response that is needed to address it. as a crisis and not as an individual impact. or individual incident. “

The mission of the Community Justice Action Fund is to tackle the overlap of gun violence and targeted hatred towards specific groups. It was founded by Amber Goodwin, a political organizer formerly of the Gabby Giffords gun control group, following the mass shooting at a black church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015. Goodwin said that she had insisted on implementing gun control. organization that intersected gun policy issues with issues of gender-based violence and racism.

Work in the gun control movement cannot focus solely on the Second Amendment, she said. Giving the identities of the victims of the Atlanta shooting, the conversation cannot be all about gun violence or just sexism and racism, she said.

“It’s been a constant struggle to make sure we’re not just talking about these buckets of violence that also doesn’t include thinking about it from a gender justice issue,” Goodwin said.

The lack of conversation about guns after the Atlanta shooting surprised David Inoue, executive director of the Japanese American Citizens League.

“Why is there this lack of coverage that this was a mass shooting? And whenever there is a mass shooting, it’s always one of the first things we talk about, ”he said.

The fact that the suspect purchased the handgun used during the hours of filming before the attacks adds to the question of why gun reform was not an immediate part of the conversation. Actions like imposing a one-week waiting period, says Inoue, may have helped prevent the shootings.

“When you hear the police say this guy had a bad day, maybe if he had to wait a week, that bad day wouldn’t have gone the way it did,” said Inoue. “He should have waited a week, he would have calmed down. And this is a perfect example of where rational gun control could have really made a difference.”

But Goodwin says the response to the Atlanta shootings, particularly the lack of a political response, is typical when communities of color are targeted with gun violence.

“When there is a mass tragedy, there is always a political response. When there is violence in our communities, the answer is, “What did these people do, why were they there? Like last week, people first said, “Why were these women here? It doesn’t matter what they were there for, it doesn’t matter what the occupation was, ”Goodwin said.

“Why is the answer when it comes to communities of color always a response to giving it back to the people who have been affected to solve the problem?” She said. “Why aren’t we humanized?”