The images that came across our TV screens and social media feeds beginning Saturday evening were jarring.

A former president and current presidential candidate, his face bloodied from an assassination attempt, being protected by Secret Service agents. Chaos at the scene in Butler, Pennsylvania, just a few moments after Donald Trump came on stage for one of his popular rallies.

It was one of the most remarkable scenes in this country’s history and one that we won’t soon forget, nor should we.

In the aftermath of the incident, a few things are important to remember.

Both Trump and President Joe Biden were right to condemn this act immediately and forcefully. This is now a time to at least attempt to unite behind common decency.

While Trump narrowly escaped serious injury, one person died and two others were critically injured. The shooter was killed immediately by Secret Service.

Investigations to determine the details of how this happened are critical. It seems a failure of security led to a 20-year-old with an AR-15 rifle to get in position close enough to fire at Trump. What was the shooter’s motive? Were proper protocols followed both after the shooting and in the advance work prior? Where was the breakdown? Those questions will take time to answer completely. We all need to let law enforcement agencies and other investigators complete their work to understand the complete picture.

It’s easier than ever in this day and age to jump to conclusions, to fall for hysterical or made-up stories about how this could have happened. With deep fake and AI videos, conspiracy theorists and outright wackos everywhere, it’s become almost unnatural to wait for details, but that is just what is needed.

We have been strong and constant critics of Trump in these pages, but now is a time to take a step back and avoid the blame game that commenced moments after the bullet grazed his ear. Trump can remain a threat to democracy, but we can also acknowledge that what happened was terrible and be glad he wasn’t killed or gravely injured. Those things are not mutually exclusive. We should also take a moment or two to think about the former president, his family and friends, as well as those of the other victims.

President Biden on Sunday night rightfully addressed the nation from the Oval Office and said that violence has no place in America, but that’s not exactly true. It is an ideal, and it is one we should strive for, but violence does have a place in this country, and it has for far too long. That’s because we’ve allowed it to. It’s easy to place blame on Trump or Biden, or Republicans and Democrats generally, but the real blame is on us as citizens.

Everyone wants to hunker down, stay in our silos and blame the other side, and nobody wants to open their minds, learn anything and take any action of substance.

We have allowed guns to have an outsized presence in this country, essentially glamorizing gun culture, and allowed them to have a place in conflict resolution. We have normalized inflammatory rhetoric to the extent that is has taken over our political discourse. To an increasingly alarming segment of the population, violence is the answer. Therein lies the problem.

The best thing we as a country can do now is make an earnest attempt at changing that.

The Day editorial board meets with political, business and community leaders to formulate editorial viewpoints. It is composed of President and Publisher Timothy Dwyer, Executive Editor Izaskun E. Larraneta, Owen Poole, copy editor, and Lisa McGinley, retired deputy managing editor. The board operates independently from The Day newsroom.