There have been 23 school shootings so far this year, which averages to about one every week; yet when it comes to assigning blame, those of varying political ideologies blame this very American spate of violence on very different actors. While Republicans, including President Donald Trump, have pointed to untreated mental health issues as the problem, Democrats and many young people say that stricter gun control laws are needed to restrict easy access to firearms and reduce America's mass shooting epidemic.
But, according to one Republican, pornography is the cause of the bloodshed.
During a meeting last week with local pastors, Rep. Diane Black, R-Tenn., who is running for governor of Tennessee, discussed the issue of gun violence and argued that the rising toll of school shootings is due to "pornography."
"It's available on the shelf when you walk in the grocery store. Yeah, you have to reach up to get it, but there's pornography there,” Black said. "All of this is available without parental guidance. I think that is a big part of the root cause."
Black did not expand on what it is about porn that she believes motivates gun violence, nor if she blames any specific porn category. Her congressional spokesman did not respond to a request for clarification.
In addition to X-rated media, Black said school shootings are increasing because of the "deterioration of the family," mental illness and violent movies.
On Thursday, when asked by a child in the White House briefing room what the Trump administration will do to prevent school shootings, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders became emotional, but still offered a lackluster response.
"I think that as a kid, and certainly as a parent, there is nothing that can be more terrifying for a kid to go to school and not feel safe, so I'm sorry that you feel that way," Sanders said. "This administration takes it seriously, and the School Safety Commission that the president convened is meeting this week again, an official meeting, to discuss the best ways forward and how we can do every single thing within our power to protect kids in our schools and to make them feel safe and to make their parents feel good about dropping them off."
President Trump has previously suggested arming teachers as a solution to increase school safety.
In contrast to Trump and Black's remarks, experts say poor social, cultural, and economic conditions are central causes of gun violence. Developing policies to improve those conditions for people, along with reducing access to guns, are effective measures to curb mass shootings, they say. These actions are "far more effective than all the police, doctors and hospitals combined, and intervening only after tragedies have struck," wrote professors Bandy Lee of Yale University and James Gilligan of New York University, both experts on violence.
Liara Roux, a sex worker and organizer for human rights for sex workers, criticized Black's remarks as another lackluster response to gun violence.
"Comments like the one from Representative Black show how scarily out of touch Congress is," Roux told Salon. "Aside from the widely debunked claim pornography has any link to violence, the idea that people even get their porn from a grocery store is absurdly out of date."
"It would be funny if Congress hadn't recently passed anti-sex legislation like FOSTA/SESTA that is having a tragic impact on sex workers who need the Internet for safety, as well as taking down valuable forums for non-commercial sexual expression like Craiglist's personals," Roux added. "We can't let this war on sex go unchallenged, just as we can't let gun violence go unchecked — and using gun deaths to attack freedom of expression is particularly heinous."
Another sex worker, Ginger Banks, echoed Roux's statements.
"This is what happens when a person tries to think about why school shootings happen, but refuses to consider our access to guns as one of the reasons," Banks explained. "They start coming up with things that make NO sense when you actually think about it."
Although significant social change related to sexuality has occurred over the past 30 years alongside the increased consumption of pornography, negative stigma surrounding pornography and its "cultural harm" remain, highlighting an enormous divide between perspectives on porn in our society.
Some studies suggest exposure to pornography is healthy and natural — that it can be an educational experience that can help people learn their own likes and dislikes, explore their sexual feelings, and develop healthy sexual identities. Other studies argue it can bring a couple closer together and facilitate intercourse in an exciting way, and can even help to reduce stress.
That's not to say that porn is completely harmless. Some people consume it so compulsively that it interferes with their lives. Others say porn leads to negative body image and perpetuates unrealistic expectations about sex. Increased divorce rates, sexual deviances, sex addiction and, most recently, gun violence are some issues that have been blamed on such films.
The point is, there's no study that will give the final word on porn. What is clear, however, is that America won't be able to halt it's epidemic of deadly gun violence as long as politicians continue to play the blame game and refuse to offer more than "thoughts and prayers."
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