Let's start working together to stop gun violence
Mass shootings are in the news every few months, and this justifiably sets off a gamut of emotions in the mainstream media and on social media. The gun issue isn’t a perfect split between the two dominant ideological subcultures in the United States, but it comes close. Both sides typically condemn the mass shootings, but they fight over where the fault lies and how to prevent the next one. When issues become contaminated with social meaning, rational arguments take a back seat to group identity. The following is my attempt to distill this issue down to general principles in order to make sense of it. We all want to stop mass shootings from happening, so let’s understand each other, have empathy for one another, and figure out how to work together on this. The emotional response to guns makes sense in terms of the Harvard psychologist Dan Gilbert’s (not the owner of the Cavs) Personal, Abrupt, Immoral, and Now (PAIN) model. It’s personal; guns are used by other people with intent to