Another week of mass shootings: Editorial boards respond to Gilroy Garlic shooting and others nationwide | Opinion

The U.S. has seen another onslaught of mass shootings this past week.

On Friday, two women were killed and a man was wounded in a shooting in Chicago. Saturday night, 12 people were critically injured and a man died in a shooting in Brooklyn, during an “Old Timers Day” celebration.

Here in Philadelphia, on Sunday night, a shooting took place in the Elmwood neighborhood of Southwest Philadelphia, where five people were injured and one man died.

On Sunday evening, a mass shooting during the Gilroy Garlic Festival in California left 12 injured and three people dead. And Tuesday, an officer was injured and two people died in a shooting at Walmart in Mississippi.

This continuing wave of gun violence has prompted the editorial boards of newspapers around the country — including the Inquirer’s — to respond, posing questions on the broader impact and implications of mass shootings. Here are excerpts from their editorials.

“Chicago’s intolerable violence presents problems of grief, terror and multiplication. Each shooting expands the number of traumatized Chicagoans: family and friends of victims, neighbors, schoolmates..."

“Gun violence in Chicago is an epidemic in more ways than one.”

—"Every shooting in Chicago expands the circle of trauma," July 29, the Chicago Tribune editorial board

“As a nation, we’ve become slowly accustomed to such senseless violence, with attacks on houses of worship, on schools, at workplaces and on family members..."

“And so the nation will continue to suffer gunshot wounds by the dozens each day, and by the tens of thousands each year. And something so harmless as a celebration of garlic will continue to carry the possibility of violent death.”

—"Gilroy Garlic Festival killings are part of a sick American tradition," July 29, the Los Angeles Times editorial board

“Sunday’s deadly shooting at the Gilroy Garlic Festival offered more terrible proof that setting, manner and motive are largely a distraction. The problem is the shooting...we already know how to make such violence less likely. That we haven’t is a national failure with horrific and unending consequences.”

—"Gilroy Garlic Festival shooting reaffirms that no corner of the country is safe from gun violence," July 29, the San Francisco Chronicle editorial board

“Why? Really, that’s my question — why?” asked one shell-shocked survivor posing a question that has been asked far too many times by far too many other communities shattered by mass shootings. Tragically, it is a question that inevitably will be asked again because of the refusal by lawmakers to confront gun violence by reforming the laws that help to enable the killing of innocents."

“...what possible rationale exists for allowing citizens to have access to weapons that aren’t for hunting or self-defense but designed for war? California has banned assault weapons, but authorities said the 19-year-old legally purchased an SKS, an AK-47-type rifle, in Nevada on July 9. What does it say about our priorities that this killer was better armed than the police who protect us?”

—"After Gilroy, the question persists: Why?", July 29, the Washington Post editorial board

“These types of horrific shootings happen so often in America that it’s possible to let them pass without reflection. But that shouldn’t happen. Americans should not allow the frequency of brutal mass shootings to lull them into a sense of numb acceptance..."

“Many of us are frustrated and unsure about what can and should be done to stop this madness. But what we can’t do is let violent gun deaths and injuries be so routine that they produce only shrugs from a weary public. We cannot back away from solutions, including gun law reform and increased funding for mental health care.”

—"More shooting, more innocents die," July 30, Star Tribune editorial board

“Both the shooting in Elmwood and the shooting in Gilroy are a ‘mass shooting’ and neither should be thought of as an “everyday” occurrence...”

“Just like one shouldn’t be afraid to be shot a food festival, black and brown people in Philadelphia shouldn’t be afraid to leave their homes. It’s is time to call your legislator and remind them of the rights stolen with every homicide: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

—"The mass shooting on Sunday night that you haven’t heard about," July 30, The Inquirer editorial board