Once again, America has been shaken by a horrible tragedy involving guns. This time, the mass shooting occurred near the University of California at Santa Barbara, (which happens to be my alma mater). There are some new wrinkles to the basic plot line, but the aftermath has played out about the same as the last 80 or so horrible tragedies involving guns. We are having a debate about guns.

The California 16th Assembly District race took an interesting turn last week when Democratic candidate Steve Glazer reached out to Republican voters and drew an attack from the Republican Party boss for doing so.

This is a district that Democrats would expect to win in November. The primary race is very close and the prevailing wisdom is that the Republican candidate, Catherine Baker, will make it through to the general election. If correct, that leaves a fight between Democrats Tim Sbranti and Steve Glazer for the second spot.

In Ohio, which has a mixed primary system, independent voters can vote in primaries only if they affiliate themselves with a recognized party. Independent candidates cannot appear on a primary ballot without forming a party that is approved and recognized by the state.

Although independent voters can access a special unaffiliated ballot, those ballots only allow them to vote on issues, not candidates for office. A small group of independents protested at the secretary of state’s office.

California’s top-two primary system, put into place in 2010 by the voter-approved Proposition 14, is in effect for the first time in a gubernatorial election year. Eric McGhee, Public Policy Institute of California research fellow and an expert in voting behavior and political participation, explains that this election is “a dearth of competitive races.”

Firearms and homicide: are they linked as closely in the United States as gun control advocates believe? Do they have a closer link than gun rights advocates are willing to admit?

With gun violence continuing to be a hot button issue, it would seem that now would be the proper time to finally come to a compromise -- one that does not infringe upon the rights guaranteed in the Second Amendment, nor allows firearms in the hands of those with a record of mental illness.

The choice is theirs to make. If state legislators make the right choice between now and the start of the next legislative session in February 2015 and then follow through during the session, Nevada will have the most inclusive voting process in the nation.

In 2010, California voters passed the nonpartisan, "top-two open primary" initiative. The initiative fundamentally changed the purpose of primary elections from one conducted for the purpose of electing private party nominees, to one conducted for the purpose of narrowing the field of candidates, regardless of either the voters' or candidates' party affiliation.

Too many Americans are not engaged in the political process. There are a variety of reasons why, but I think the largest is that they don’t like their choices of candidates. All too often, it is a matter of choosing “the lesser of two evils.”

Going into the California primary on June 3, the race for state Senate District 26 went from one of the least competitive districts in the state to one of the most competitive thanks to the nonpartisan, top-two open primary system.

Transpartisanship is an emerging concept on the political scene. Those who expound the philosophy do not equate it with bipartisanship, which is based on negotiating between the right and left. Nor is it non-partisanship, which aims to put party politics completely aside to solve problems.

Instead, the transpartisan movement aims for people to retain their existing partisan views and allegiances, and yet be able to move beyond these barriers through open dialog, cooperation, and collaborative decision-making.