The unending string of mass shootings, followed by the increasingly banal, sterile and hypocritical comments regarding, “thoughts and prayers,” must cease. The near uniform outrage and grief over mass shootings and daily urban shootings can be transformed into the basis for shared responsible action today.

Currently, the federal Brady Act mandates that federally licensed firearm dealers check the background of gun purchasers, to ensure they are not convicted felons, domestic partner abusers, fugitives or dangerously mentally ill. However, individuals participating in the private sale of guns, including those at gun shows, are not required to conduct such background checks. This is the so called “gun show loophole.”

The US public has reached consensus, yet to date, our political leaders fail to act. Preventable murders (including the shootings of innocent bystander children) across America have not been mitigated by closing the gun show loop hole.

Today unregistered firearm dealers can go to a gun show, purchase unlimited firearms, then turn around and sell a wheelbarrow full of Saturday-night specials to convicted criminals without a background check! Why would anyone support allowing this loophole to persist?

This senseless bloodshed will be curtailed, when we are willing to take courage in both hands, work across the aisle and finally pass a national law requiring universal background checks for all gun purchasers. In a 2015 poll, 83% of Americans favored a federal law requiring universal background checks for all gun purchases. 72% of National Rifle Association (NRA) members support this position. Passing such a bill is not political suicide; it is a path to statesmanship.

In fact, in 2019, the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research confirmed even greater support for universal background checks. Today, 88% of the US public supports universal background checks prior to firearm purchases.

Some states have a closed the gun show loophole on their own. These states are 30% less likely to export guns to criminals in other states for use in a crime.

We must not allow anyone to use the second amendment or firearm violence as a political wedge issue to divide us. Regardless of what we are told by the talking heads on the competing cable news networks, our shared human experiences are similar. Our core values are nearly all the same. What binds us together as fellow human beings is far greater than our differences. Who does not weep at the loss of a loved one? Who doesn’t feel the need to protect an innocent child? Together we are all pilgrims on the same journey.

There is no gap separating gun owners from non-gun owners in their support for closing the gun show loophole. Data proves it. Our political leaders, on all sides of the political spectrum can and should support their constituents. Close the gun show loop hole now, once and for all.