I recently posted my reaction to the horrific school shooting in Texas.
Screen Shot 2022-05-31 at 6.08.18 AM.pngWhy did I jump into such a hot-button debate?
Because I served my country for 26 years at the Central Intelligence Agency, risking my life to protect Americans and our allies from evil in the world. In turn, I obviously care what happens domestically.
The truth is that gun violence is plaguing our country. The truth is that the easy availability of high-powered assault rifles is an absurdity in our modern society. Yet I’m also a gun owner and believe in the Second Amendment. I wanted to express my personal views, with the hope that I could perhaps motivate some other gun owners to break from the NRA and support smart gun safety legislation. The response on Twitter very much surprised me.
As a former CIA officer who writes on leadership, sports, and foreign policy, I have a modest social media following. I pontificate on the news at times, and my politics are smack dab in the center (an increasingly lonely place in America, or so I thought). I am very liberal on social policy and conservative on foreign policy. I’ve appeared on both MSNBC and Fox News and am a contributor to the Washington Examiner, as well as a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. I have voted for both Republicans and Democrats throughout my life. Yet my Twitter account exploded after the tweet.
There were over two million impressions and over 65,000 likes. The tweet went viral. My family and friends contacted me all day, with the same surprised reaction. And there is something very positive about what they had to say. In their view, there is indeed a huge constituency in America that is for the Second Amendment but also wants to curb the ability for anyone to purchase a gun. There are those who are not trapped by the poisonous rhetoric of the NRA or the fringe views of some on the Right. There was actually a great deal of positivity in the thousands of Twitter responses. Perhaps America can change?
I served in the Middle East for many years. I was proud to represent the nation, as I still very much believe in the words of John F. Kennedy that America is a “shining city on a hill.” Yes, we have our problems. But as I watched long lines at the visa section of U.S. embassies overseas, where hundreds each day would try and apply to visit or work in America, it was abundantly clear that America still stands for political and economic freedoms that many do not enjoy.
This is important to remember during times of tragedy, when the gun violence issue is a stain on our reputation. We must change. We must do better. The world is watching. The world, too, cares.
So what now?
It goes back to leadership. Who in the political establishment, especially those Republicans who in their hearts do not believe in the NRA’s radicalism, will step forward and call for smart, productive gun safety legislation? Guns now are the leading cause of death for children in America. That is outrageous. If 90% of Americans support universal background checks, as most polling indicates, how can Congress not put forth legislation right now — not in two months’ time, but right now — to begin to take smart measures that can help.
I carried an old saying with me in all my CIA overseas tours, loosely credited to the philosopher Edmund Burke. It’s particularly relevant today: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
Marc Polymeropoulos is a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. A former CIA senior operations officer, he retired in 2019 after a 26-year career serving in the Near East and South Asia. His book Clarity in Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the CIA was published in June 2021 by Harper Collins.
