There’s a crucial point missing from the debate about gun violence: Saving lives is not a policy choice for elected officials to consider or ignore — rather, it is a binding legal obligation on the US government under human rights treaties that the US has signed and ratified, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Taken together, these human rights treaties can be thought of as a constitution for the world, enshrining rights like life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all people in all places, without discrimination or prejudice of any kind.
