WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said the following after two mass shootings occurred over the weekend:
“I appreciate the president’s comments this morning condemning the violent extremism that led to this weekend’s horrific domestic terror mass shootings. We must remain committed to tenaciously rooting these cancers out of our society.
“For years, we have experienced a coarsening of our culture, and have been witnessing what Senator Patrick Moynihan accurately termed ‘defining deviancy down.’ Although there are no quick fixes guaranteed to prevent future tragedies, I believe there are effective, bipartisan actions that can be taken. For example, multiple commissions formed in the aftermath of school shootings have issued widely agreed upon recommendations that can be applied both in schools and in other public spaces to prevent and mitigate mass violence. We also need to seriously re-evaluate how our society treats mental illness to keep firearms out of the hands of people who pose a danger to themselves and their communities. But the long-term solution lies in renewed faith, strengthened families, and less virtual socialization and more genuine human to human interaction in real communities.”
