Shooter kills child’s parents and still no help from Idaho’s congressional delegation

Malcolm Gladwell’s book, “The Tipping Point,“ analyzes moments when something changes in the progression of an event or idea. It catches fire and morphs into something much bigger than the one single event it set off. When it comes to gun violence in America, you would hope that the tipping point for Idaho’s senators and representatives who defend the Second Amendment might be, for example, the recent killings at the Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois.

How could anyone read about Aiden McCarthy, the 2-year old boy pulled from under the body of his daddy, who had apparently saved the little boy’s life by hovering over him, and not differ with the NRA on its interpretation of the Second Amendment. Aiden’s mother was also killed in the attack.

On this 19th day after the killing of Aiden’s parents by a shooter who was able to purchase a high-powered rifle and fire off three, 30-round magazines, killing Aiden’s parents and 18 others, we can only imagine how many times Aiden has cried for his parents, how many times he has asked where they are, how many times his remaining family have no good answers for his questions. He likely just cries himself to sleep until the next day when he asks for answers once again.

Does a child ever recover from the trauma this kid experienced? And Aiden is not the only child suffering in the aftermath of the shooting. Eight-year-old Cooper Roberts was placed on a ventilator after he was hit by gunfire and although he survived, he was paralyzed from the waist down. Imagine how a youngster copes with the news that he will not enjoy a playground in the same way as he had before the shooting.

This column could easily expand into a book-sized rendition of those Americans — young and old — slaughtered by semi-automatic weapons with large-capacity magazines and those left behind to cope with loss. There are not words to describe the enormity of the tragedy of a blood-soaked little boy asking his rescuer if his lifeless Daddy will be OK.

Too often, we read of moments such as this and then, as we must if we are to carry on with our own lives, we store this incredibly sad moment in a place where it will either be forgotten or just laid to rest until the next mass shooting occurs.

And that is exactly what Idaho’s congressional delegation is counting on — that we will forget and remove them from any accountability for these killings.

What kind of person can ignore the grief and sadness of children gunned down with weapons of destruction beyond anything required for hunting or personal protection? What happens to elected officials who claim to be guardians of our liberties, but then ignore the right of a young child to be safe from deranged shooters and their high-powered rifles? Why can they not see that countries around the globe who have tougher requirements of gun ownership and use do not have anywhere near the number of killing sprees that occur in our schools and on our streets?

The ruse Idaho’s congressional delegation employs to oppose gun safety legislation is based on their old friend, the infamous and vaguely worded Second Amendment, with language that does not specifically prohibit legislation to limit access to guns nor prohibit other requirements of gun ownership in the 21st century. But this nation is currently under the rule of men and women in the Republican-controlled United States Senate and Supreme Court majority that does not reflect majority sentiment on several issues and who could care less about the cause and effect of gun violence.

In the aftermath of the Uvalde killings, an observer wondered if public officials could see what a child’s body looked like after being eviscerated by the close-up firepower of a semi-automatic weapon, might that change the minds of those who stand in the way of gun reforms.

I doubt that would even do it. Elected officials like U.S. Sens. Jim Risch and Mike Crapo and Reps. Russ Fulcher and Mike Simpson are not in the business of taking any chances with their cushy jobs, their pensions and their parking places at the U.S. Capitol. They choose to ignore any legal or constitutional justification for how America could get tough on semi-automatic rifles with high-capacity magazines without violating a Second Amendment written in the founding days of the Republic to protect militias then serving as the armed defense of the young republic. Hardly what we are witnessing today as a spate of young shooters kill our kids at random with weapons that didn’t even exist in revolutionary America.

This is dangerous territory for any of Idaho’s public officials in Washington to tread so they take the easy way out. Just send out a standard press release, express sorrow over the latest killing spree and move on to business as usual. They change the subject with lightning speed when forced to address the issue back home and they follow the dictates of those constituents who have no interest in understanding how our Constitution is a living document and how it can allow for gun safety legislation without jeopardizing citizens’ right to buy and bear arms.

God forbid that any member of our congressional delegation admits there are other ways of interpreting the Second Amendment. That might cause a primary challenge from someone either equally ignorant of the constitutional paths to gun safety legislation or, more likely, just perverse enough in their self-preservation that they toss in with the NRA which rules on this issue by fear of retaliation.

And with the election of Dorothy Moon as the new chair of the Republican Party in Idaho, it is even less likely that Risch, Crapo, Fulcher and Simpson would ever consider legislation to curb gun violence. Moon has now branded the Idaho Republican Party as a house of extremists and her infamous quote, “We have to make sure, with the Democrats coming at us in full force, that we have our barriers up, our guns are loaded and ready to keep this state free,” will hold our cowardly congressional delegation in check against any reconsideration of their votes on legislation to curb gun violence.

As for Aiden McCarthy, left an orphan on the Fourth of July, he remains confused and grief-stricken by the absence of his parents in his young life. Just another victim, in this case, a little boy who cannot fathom why his Mommy and Daddy are not there to tuck him in at night.

I will never understand nor have even a modicum of respect for public officials who turn their heads and ignore the tragic loss of life guns cause in America and fail to act. Shame, shame on them.

Bob Kustra served as president of Boise State University from 2003 to 2018. He is host of Reader’s Corner on Boise State Public Radio and he writes a biweekly column for the Idaho Statesman. He served two terms as Illinois lieutenant governor and 10 years as a state legislator.