Can we finally get angry enough to stop this madness?

This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a stuffed-animal tea party of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. Sign up here.Today’s Agenda Want better gun law [Bloomberg]( Follow Us [Get the newsletter]( This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a stuffed-animal tea party of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. [Sign up here](. Today’s Agenda - Want better gun laws? [Get angry](. - Xi Jinping [is vulnerable](. - We need a [better immigration system](. - Beware a [second inflation surge](. In Guns We Trust Yesterday in Uvalde, Texas, an 18-year-old with an assault rifle he purchased legally fought his way through armed police to enter an elementary school and massacre 19 young children and two teachers. It had only been 10 days since another 18-year-old with an assault rifle killed 10 people in a grocery store in Buffalo. It was the [213th mass shooting]( in the United States this year. It was the [27th school shooting]( in the United States this year. It was the [554th school shooting]( since the Columbine massacre in 1999. Guns are now the [leading cause]( of childhood deaths in America, topping car accidents. We could go on and on with such statistics, but you get it by now. It’s all kabuki theater at this point anyway. Once again, Democrats called for modest gun regulations. Joe Manchin offered hopes 10 Republicans would finally agree, preserving the precious Senate filibuster. Republicans offered thoughts and prayers and said it’s too soon to politicize a tragedy. The Onion ran [that headline]( again. Again and again and again. Democrats [gave up]( and did nothing. (Beto O’Rourke did at least [deprive]( Texas Governor Greg Abbott of an uninterrupted performance of pretending to care about schoolchildren. But even that was theater; security dragged O’Rourke away.) Nothing changes. We await the next massacre. There is still time to try a better way. As Bloomberg’s editorial board points out, [vast majorities of Americans want]( at least the most basic, common-sense gun laws. The only question is whether they feel outraged enough, terrified enough to force change and break the cycle. How did you feel this morning, sending your children off to school after yet another massacre? Angry? Afraid? Despairing? Powerless? What if you could channel such emotions into constructive action? It won’t be easy, as Sarah Green Carmichael, Francis Wilkinson and Harvard’s Aditi Nerurkar discussed in a Twitter Spaces this morning. But it’s worth trying. Maybe the [long public campaign against tobacco could be a model](. We have to at long last do something, or expect to see more schoolchildren, teachers, parents, spouses and friends sacrificed to the almighty gun. Soros Is Half-Right About Xi Xi Jinping wields unimaginable political power in China, with an “electorate” akin to one of those stuffed-animal tea parties I may or may not have set up to fight off loneliness during Covid lockdowns. But he shares a run-of-the-mill politician’s vulnerability to a lousy economy. George Soros yesterday floated the unthinkable idea that Xi might not win a third term as president later this year. Xi’s Covid Zero policies and ill-advised BFF status with global pariah Vladimir Putin have left him vulnerable, Soros suggested. Shuli Ren disagrees with the man who broke the the Bank of England; Xi is almost certain to win another term. [But he is vulnerable](, with allies aging out of the system and an economy so sluggish it might weaken his support in the hinterlands. China’s economic [growth may actually lapse behind that of the US]( soon, writes Dan Moss. And that’s not just a Covid thing; the legacy of the disastrous one-child policy has left a demographic hole that will undermine the economy’s foundation for years. One thing he has going for him is the shortsightedness of his chief rival. President Joe Biden has a chance to use bold trade deals to steal influence from Beijing in its own neighborhood, writes Mihir Sharma. Unfortunately, like his predecessor before him, [Biden is not a fan of bold trade deals](, which hurt his own political standing. Xi may not need as many stuffed animals. Bonus Shaky-Dictator Reading: [Russian elites aren’t leaving in droves](, because they see more upside in waiting Putin out. — Leonid Bershidsky Fight the Systems Let’s face it: Many of us in the West are hypocrites about refugees. We’ll turn away people fleeing horrific violence and deprivation in, say, the Middle East or Central America but welcome Ukrainian refugees with open arms. But maybe we can take advantage of the upwelling of sympathy for Ukrainians to finally fix a U.S. immigration system that [treats all such refugees unfairly](, writes Joy Ziegeweid. Otherwise we will leave them vulnerable to more violence. While we’re at it, we could also fix the system so that it [favors skilled and unskilled workers](, writes Allison Schrager, instead of relatives of immigrants who are already here. Like freer trade, this one may not be politically popular, but it makes good economic sense. Bonus Bad-System Reading: America’s crop-insurance system [discourages farmers from growing food]( at a time of food scarcity. — Adam Minter Telltale Charts Inflation seems to be peaking as recession anxiety rises in the market. John Authers warns us not to drop our guard; like the killer in a slasher pic, [inflation tends to come back](. Further Reading After a lot of hype and cheap money, [EV makers aren’t actually making]( many EVs. — Anjani Trivedi Terra is [not dead yet](. — Matt Levine [Luxury retailers are outperforming the Walmarts]( of the world, but that may not last as market losses sink in. — Andrea Felsted Primary results show Donald [Trump may have less personal influence]( in the GOP, but Trumpiness is still widespread. — Jonathan Bernstein British voters can do what feckless British institutions have not and [give Boris Johnson a reckoning](. — Pankaj Mishra Casinos are using [facial-recognition tech to serve the ultra-rich](. This has ominous implications for the rest of us. — Parmy Olson What are the [odds we’ve been visited by aliens](? Better than you think. — Tyler Cowen ICYMI How Credit Suisse [cashed in on Russian tycoons](. Elon [Musk’s edgelord act]( is getting stale. The best and worst [cities for work-life balance](. Kickers RIP, [spacecraft designer Colin Cantwell](. (h/t Ellen Kominers) Bad news for the economy: [Strip clubs are empty](. Pottery shard could be [1,000-year-old hand grenade](. Skydiving salamanders? [Skydiving salamanders](. Notes: Please send spacecraft designs and complaints to Mark Gongloff at mgongloff1@bloomberg.net. [Sign up here]( and follow us on [Instagram](, [TikTok](, [Twitter]( and [Facebook](. Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights. Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can’t find anywhere else. [Learn more](. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Bloomberg Opinion Today newsletter. 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