A lot of American cities are hurting right now. Following the lockdowns, it seems a lot of people don’t know how to communicate with one another without using a gun to do it. Violence is seemingly everywhere, and people are looking for answers.

However, as per usual, one of the problems we run into is that some people think the only potential solution is the setting aside of a basic human right under the guise of bipartisanship.

A day after a holiday weekend wracked by shootings, elected officials in Philadelphia are calling on their counterparts in Harrisburg and Washington to do more to help reduce gun violence.

State Sen. Sharif Street, whose 21-year-old nephew was murdered in broad daylight over the weekend, said it’s time for everyone to step up and set aside partisan politics. He added that Republican lawmakers who control the legislature have consistently refused to even consider gun control measures introduced in the General Assembly, including bills aimed at restricting the sale and purchase of military-grade firearms, banning weapons in public parks, and improving the reporting of lost or stolen handguns.

Now, gun rights isn’t a partisan issue. In theory.

In reality, though, it kind of is. You can’t call for bipartisanship and, in the same breath, demand gun control. It’s simply not happening, especially in this day and age.

Democrats want gun control. Republicans don’t. While you can find exceptions on both sides of the aisle, those facts are generally true for most people.

What Street is really demanding with his call for bipartisanship is, like most such calls, really nothing more than telling the GOP to sit down, shut up, and vote like they’re told to vote. In this case, in favor of gun control. Especially those listed measures, most of which won’t do a damn thing to reduce the violence.

Criminals are still going to carry guns to parks regardless of the rules, and they’re the ones causing the problems. Reporting lost or stolen guns? Good luck with enforcing that one. Guy buys a dozen Glock 19s over a couple of months, reports one stolen but doesn’t have the serial number, and there’s virtually no way to prove he did anything wrong if the gun shows up at a crime scene.

Oh, and don’t start long “military-grade firearms.” AR-15s, which we all know is what we’re talking about here, aren’t “military-grade.” No military fields the weapon, especially ours. They’re just scary-looking guns. Plus, they’re not responsible for the surge in violence, most of which is committed with a handgun.

Yet here’s the thing, there are ways to reduce violence without gun control. There are programs that can be implemented that have been shown to have an impact. There are options.

it’s there where you’re more likely to find bipartisan support. It’s in those ideas that we can reduce violence without infringing on the rights of law-abiding Americans.

But you won’t hear someone like Street acknowledge that fact. They’d much rather you be so afraid they can get what they want rather than acknowledge the truth, that gun control isn’t as necessary as some people like to pretend.