The nation is still reeling from the shootings in El Paso and Dayton almost two weeks ago. As the citizens of Texas and Ohio and the country of Mexico start to pick up the shattered pieces of their lives forever altered, now is the time to start having a reasoned discussion of what is happening in this country and how to begin to fix it.

Sen. Ted Cruz begins that process today in an Op-Ed published in the Dallas Morning News.

From his piece today…

There is no place for this evil in El Paso, in Texas, or anywhere across our nation. I am grateful federal authorities are rightly treating this case as domestic terrorism. The Justice Department needs to treat this mass murder with the seriousness it deserves and pursue the death penalty. I pray that the victims, their families and the people of El Paso receive justice and find peace. In the days and weeks to come, Congress can and must work to help prevent these heinous attacks. Failures to effectively utilize the national background checks system have resulted in the loss of far too many precious lives. Too many felony convictions — like that of the Sutherland Springs shooter — have never even been entered into the national database.

I’m glad that an elected official on the Federal level is calling this exactly what it is, an evil act. That is a great start. Now we need to dig into the nitty-gritty and there are many grimy layers.

The mood immediately after these horrific events always turns too that Congress must DO something as opposed to something that will actually help solve this problem. Congress can’t just pass a law to make this better. This issue goes much deeper than anything lawmakers can do from a Capitol city far away.

So what can be done? Now is the time to start that conversation in earnest.

Sen. Cruz recommends improving the background check system. This absolutely is something that needs to happen and would have prevented the Sutherland Springs church shooting that killed 26 people in Texas. Yet would the background checks have stopped the shooters in El Paso or Dayton?

Most likely not.

I would like to suggest that some Senators that are known as staying faithful to the Consitution, Sen. Cruz, Sen. Lee and Sen. Sasse take a look at if any sort of Red Flag law would be viable. I know that the term Red Flag immediately raises issues about the police charging in to grab weapons with no due process. I’m not for that nor should any person who believes the 2nd amendment to the Consitution is critical to the survival of our republic.

However, having people with the view and temperament of the people I have listed above, start a discussion among themselves and with their colleagues about this and other aspects to this would hopefully start a process of serious meaningful discussion on this issue.

Also, put some of these conversations on YouTube for the whole nation to see. Invite the debate and comments.

The time of these events happening and everyone running to their pre-assigned corner needs to end. Let’s start the national conversation about what in the hell is going on and try to figure out how to start chipping away at this problem that has killed, wounded and altered lives forever.

I believe Sen. Cruz started that discussion today in his op-ed. I hope he and others will continue in a meaningful way to pursue this noble goal.

We owe that to all those in El Paso and Dayton and all the other shootings this country has endured the past two decades.

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