We need to work to find solutions

Here we are again.

And this time, close to home.

Late Thursday night, a gunman opened fire at a FedEx facility on the west side of Indianapolis. He killed eight people before turning the gun on himself.

As of this writing, not many other details are known.

The Associated Press story in Friday’s newspaper noted that there has been a string of mass shootings recently. It includes eight killed at Atlanta area massage businesses and 10 killed at a grocery store in Boulder, Colorado.

In Indianapolis alone, five were killed in an incident in January and four in another in March.

Thursday’s shooting hit closer to home for some of us at The Commercial Review. A former colleague’s mom works at the FedEx facility in Indianapolis. (Fortunately, a tweet early Friday morning indicated that she was not injured in the shooting.)

While there seemed to be a lull in mass shootings for while during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the scourge has now returned.

As we typically see following incidents like this, Democrats have called for more stringent gun-control laws. Republicans, as always, have pushed back against restrictions on firearms. All offer their thoughts and prayers, which are nice enough, but are small consolation when a relative or friend has fallen victim to violence we see over and over again with little action taken to attempt to end the trend.

So, what can be done?

Background checks for all gun purchases?

Increased funding for mental health services?

Better gun safety training?

Improved security measures?

Expanded flag laws?

A greater focus on law enforcement-community relations?

All are worth talking about. And that’s the point.

Too often this conversation immediately devolves into a guns vs. no guns standoff that eliminates any type of productive discussion. It’s paralyzing. 

We need to be having open conversation about all potential solutions. If not gun control, what? If not increased funding for mental health, what? If not improved security, what?

Let’s stop talking about what we shouldn’t do and start talking about what we should do. Because we have to do something.

When people are dying in supermarkets, movie theaters, schools, churches and businesses, the only wrong answer is to do nothing. — R.C.