"In a country shadowed by the threat of mass shootings and neighborhood violence, courts have embraced an increasingly absolute reading of the right to guns. That raises difficult questions about how to protect the full range of freedoms Americans cherish," says The Associated Press.
"With nearly 400 million guns in civilian hands [U.S. population: 336 million], the violence they enable feels to many like a threat to their right to worship in peace, go to school and be safe at home,” AP says. "To many others, an unfettered right to own and carry guns is essential to protecting those liberties."
AP examined the rising tensions between those beliefs — and the struggle for answers:
— Churches: There’s increasing friction between the right to worship and the right to own guns. In a recent survey of protestant pastors, 62 percent said their duties now include making plans for responding to an active shooter in their chapels and grounds.
— Soldiers and veterans: Every year, thousands of U.S. soldiers and veterans, many haunted by trauma sustained in the line of duty, take their own lives, the vast majority using a gun. Families and experts say it’s likely many of those men and women still would be alive if not for their access to guns.
— Victims of domestic abuse: The Supreme Court is preparing to step into the issue of a victim’s right to safety vs. an abuser’s right to guns, weighing whether people deemed to be a threat can be forced to relinquish their firearms if they haven't yet been convicted of a crime.
— Schools: Amid a record number of mass killings this year and a surge in youth deaths by firearms, how can parents and children feel safe?
— People who’ve lost loved ones in mass shootings: How do they reconcile the pursuit of happiness with what they’ve lost?
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