Commentary: Shootings show that an armed society is nothing more than a fearful society

For decades, lies about gun violence have sustained policies that get many people killed. Tops Fresh Market in Buffalo, New York, and Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, now enter America’s list of mass shootings. It is a list of intense sorrow and shame. And it is a list we too quickly forget.

We are a patriotic nation but profoundly misguided in our security priorities. Last December, the House and the Senate passed the national defense budget of $768 billion for President Joe Biden to sign.