Why hasn’t America passed stricter gun laws? Sometimes, the simplest answer is the right one.

On Friday, when the horrific New Zealand mosque shooting took place, that country sprang into swift action under the tutelage of its inspiring Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, with a declaration that they would ban semi-automatic firearms – the guns most frequently used to commit mass murder.

It was an incredibly heartening site to behold in the wake of a hate-filled tragedy: they made it look so simple. The news set off a wave of tweets from browbeaten Americans: ‘hey New Zealand, slow down and maybe try “thoughts and prayers” for a while, see if maybe that works.’

It truly is maddening to be an average American watching other countries handle gun violence. (To be fair, right now it is maddening to be an American, full stop.) To publicly write about gun laws immediately sends you into the toxic, churning political divide, where extreme emotional reactions not only survive, but thrive: on social media, in the news, and in houses of governance; and it doesn’t stop there.

The one lesson America needs to learn from the New Zealand shooting