t is no longer a surprise to anyone across the globe to hear about another mass shooting in the United States. The latest, a horrific killing of elementary students inside their classroom in Texas, will hopefully galvanize U.S. lawmakers to ban assault-type weapons and make it harder for Americans to acquire firearms.

But sadly, we have all had the same expectations after past mass killings but nothing has changed. The American gun lobby is much too powerful and refuses to give an inch to even the most commonsensical gun reform measures.

It is clear that the federal government, Washington lawmakers, and state leaders are unable to fix this uniquely American problem and need help. The world must now band together and help America out of this crisis.

Over the past decades, the United States, through the Magnitsky Act has helped to rid the world of corrupt practices by imposing severe penalties on countries and institutions that promote or tolerate such practices. Now the free world must come together, in a "reverse Magnitsky" and penalize states like Texas that refuse to impose sensible gun laws.

This proved highly successful in the 1980s when South Africa's apartheid government was shunned by the rest of the world for its blatantly racist policies. Maybe when countries across the globe start listing states like Texas as a place that tourists or investors should avoid, their governors and state legislators might begin to rethink their aversion to gun laws.

Make no mistake, America appears to be the sole outlier on the issue of guns. No other nation comes close to the number of guns per capita, or the number of mass murders that take place.

The Free World needs America to be at the top of its game especially now that dictatorships are making a comeback. On their own, America's leaders seem incapable of making the right decision on this issue. It is high time that liberal democracies across the globe band together and give those leaders a nudge in the right direction.

Published 5/28/2022