Americans are in this crucial battle together to reduce senseless violence

The fatal shootings of three law enforcement officers in Baton Rouge, La., and the wounding of three others by a Kansas City gunman highlighted a local connection to the cauldron of tension that has been boiling over in this country.

Authorities in Louisiana on Monday said the killer — armed with an AR-15-style semi-assault rifle — had been looking for law enforcement officers before ambushing them about 8:40 a.m. Sunday.

Gavin Eugene Long, 29, a 2005 Grandview High School graduate and former Marine, was killed in the shootout with authorities.

Long on social media had shared his sovereign citizen movement, anti-government views. Federal authorities are right to consider such groups a domestic threat. Long was upset over the police killings of black males.

The senseless killings Sunday only add to the police-black community bloodshed of the last two weeks.

That included the separate shooting deaths of two black men by police in Baton Rouge and Minneapolis, followed by the killings of five police officers in Dallas by a black gunman, who was later killed.

U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch offered some of the most thoughtful words of the last couple of days, agreeing that Americans “are feeling a sense of helplessness, of uncertainty and of fear. ... But the answer must not be violence. The answer is never violence. Rather, the answer must be action: calm, peaceful, collaborative and determined action. We must continue working to build trust between communities and law enforcement.”

In this angry summer of 2016, Americans are seeing disturbing cases of police-state responses that likely will only harden battle lines and work against the free, open, democratic society that the government should convey to Americans and the rest of the world.

For example, the anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim, anti-Hispanic rhetoric of presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump is expected to generate protests during the Republican National Convention this week in Cleveland and bring out authorities in military-style gear.

On Monday, Trump continued his attacks on President Barack Obama’s responses to recent law enforcement crises, at one point offering the bizarre view that Obama’s oft-repeated support for police was not genuine: “But you just look at the body language — there’s something going on. There’s something going on. There’s just bad feeling.”

The country needs less of that kind of damaging rhetoric and more action toward reducing senseless violence.

For police, that means working much harder to increase diversity among officers. That could go a long way in Kansas City and in cities across America to building more trust and cooperation with minority communities.

Rational, logical behavior between authorities and African-Americans must regain a foothold in minority communities so that each side values the other and hears the mutual cries for support.

And in all communities, more people need to speak up, following the “see something, say something” mantra when they become aware of individuals plotting violence.

Local, state and federal officials also need to provide more mental health services for veterans and others so that violence brought on by mental illness is less likely to occur.

Instead of open-carrying of weapons as allowed in Ohio and many other states, the nation should have stricter gun control laws and bans on assault-style weapons like those used in the killings of police officers and recurring mass shootings. The Republican Party’s shameless support of gun manufacturers and the National Rifle Association will not be helpful toward that end.

Americans must spend more time trying to heal the racial problems and law enforcement concerns that afflict this country, or more innocent people will die in the months ahead.

This story was originally published July 18, 2016 at 5:28 PM with the headline "Americans are in this crucial battle together to reduce senseless violence."