America’s gun violence crisis - what would Nelson Mandela say?

Every time there’s another school shooting, I’m reminded of these words by the late Nelson Mandela: “There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.” Mandela believed a society’s primary responsibility is to protect, love, and educate its children. How well a society fulfills that responsibility reveals the goodness or depravity of its soul.

By Mandela’s standard, America has revealed its soul as depraved. Because, in America, and nowhere else in the world, guns are the leading cause of childhood death . We could put a stop to that carnage, but we haven’t because Republicans and their base apparently love guns more than children.

So, the rest of us who love children must get to work: to ban assault rifles, restrict gun access, impose