Capital Gazette calls for action on gun laws: ‘This madness must stop’

The Capital Gazette newspaper on Friday called for Maryland lawmakers to take action on gun laws in an editorial piece, arguing that “this madness must stop.”

“Our society has to be capable of surveying the long and growing list of victims of mass shootings and come to grips with a pretty straightforward idea: A mounting death toll is not a price we’re willing to pay for putting the Second Amendment above all other freedoms,” the staff wrote. 

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The statements come after a gunman opened fire last week in the newspaper’s Annapolis, Md., newsroom, killing five people. Police identified the suspect in the shooting as 38-year-old Jarrod Ramos, a Maryland resident who was involved in a 2012 defamation suit against the newspaper. 

Five members of the Capital Gazette staff, Rob Hiaasen, Gerald Fischman, Wendi Winters, John McNamara and Rebecca Smith, were killed.

The newspaper says that anyone who expects a national consensus to come from the death of their colleagues “will be sorely disappointed,” noting the cycle of mass shootings that have occurred over the years. 

In the editorial, the paper makes a plea for the “madness” to stop, arguing that society “must find a way to stop people who wander in and out of the attention of authorities, terrorizing people along the way with hateful behavior — but never quite crossing the line into something that would lock them behind bars or place them safely within the care of a psychiatric hospital.”

It adds that they are not wise enough and implores Gov. Larry Hogan (R) and other state lawmakers to take a stance on issues related to gun violence. 

“There is a simple reason why you should take on our challenge,” It concludes. “Lives depend on it.”

The Capital Gazette newspaper has been outspoken in the days since the mass shooting. Selene San Felice, a reporter at the Capital Gazette, said on CNN last week that she was “going to need more than a couple days of news coverage and some thoughts and prayers.”

The newspaper also called out President Trump’s attacks on the media, saying they would never forget being called the “enemy of the people.”

“No, we won’t forget that. Because exposing evil, shining light on wrongs and fighting injustice is what we do,” the staff wrote.