Liberals and conservatives must stop fighting and find solutions to gun violence | Opinion

When I was in grade school, we had tornado drills. These days, my children — our children — have “active shooter” drills. Let that sink in.

We demand that our children practice hiding from people we know may come to kill them. And yet when it actually happens, over and over again, even here in our own backyard in Tennessee, we can’t seem to break free of the partisan battle lines honed for years by political operatives and media outlets who profit from division and outrage.

I am a longtime conservative who came up through the ranks. I paid my dues and worked closely with elected officials. I’ve been in public service myself, and I own guns and wouldn’t hesitate to use them to defend my loved ones. I’ve been a member of the NRA. But we’ve reached a point where we must revisit our culture of guns. Enough is enough.

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We cannot ignore the reality of this cultural moment

The issues are complex, and there’s plenty of fault to go around. The loud extremes on both sides revel in toxicity that chokes out rational thought and common sense. Liberals seem willing to disregard the Constitution and often display little understanding of the very guns they demand to regulate, making it all too easy for conservatives to dismiss them.

For their part, conservatives refuse even to engage in debate for fear it’s a trap toward eliminating guns altogether.

Liberals respond with contempt, portraying conservatives as loving guns more than children. Conservatives point out that bad guys don’t follow rules anyway, so why make it harder for law-abiding citizens to protect their families? After all, guns don’t kill people; people do.

But sometimes bad people do ruin things for everyone else. Mass shootings are now commonplace, and we’ve reached the point where guns are the leading cause of death of our children. Our society has changed. Our culture has changed. And the mental health condition of our country has changed.  We are in crisis, and we cannot ignore the reality of this cultural moment.

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Take first steps, but don't stop there

In every other field of study and business we constantly evaluate and measure performance and adapt our approach and policies to key environmental variables in the marketplace. Why should this be any different?

So where do we start? We must first double down on school security and school hardening, which our governor has been prioritizing for some time, both monetarily and programmatically. We need more of that. Now.

But we can’t stop there. We need better legal tools to keep and remove guns from people who show warning signs of violence. Some claim we already have mental health laws on the books, but don’t be fooled. Our existing laws were never designed to manage these life and death situations. Family and friends often see the warnings signs, and we must reinvent and expand our laws to timely and effectively respond before tragedy strikes. Many will argue that such legal tools are not perfect, but we are well beyond the point of allowing perfect to be the enemy of good.

Beyond that, we must seriously rethink our current trajectory of loosening restrictions on casual gun ownership and engage more deeply about our culture of violence and the supply of guns in our communities. That will require us to embrace the spirit of humility and grace and openness to meaningful dialogue and thoughtful compromise.  And that will mean having the courage to stand up to our own political extremes on both sides. Indeed, while it may take courage to stand up to our enemies, it often requires a great deal more to stand up to our friends.

Lang Wiseman is a partner at Baker Donelson law firm. He previously served as deputy to the governor and chief counsel in Gov. Bill Lee's administration.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Gun violence: Liberals and conservatives must find solutions together