gun-violence-bleeds-america

For all its sheen of freedom, democracy, equal opportunity and liberal values, America’s worst-kept secret is the menace of mass shootings. It’s a social problem unique to the country.

 

The mass shootings in schools, shopping malls, and other public places evoke a depressing sense of déjà vu; a feeling of numbing familiarity and utter hopelessness. After customary condolences by politicians, the death toll soon turns into cold statistics and then it is business as usual again.

 

The latest tragedy at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis too runs the risk of becoming yet another grim statistical footnote in the long macabre history of gun violence that Americans have been enduring helplessly.

 

Two school children, aged 8 and 10, were killed and 18 others, mostly children, were injured when a 23-year-old shooter fired through the stained-glass windows of the church at students from an affiliated school, sitting in pews for a service to celebrate the start of the new school year. The authorities said the attacker, Robin Westman, a transgender who killed himself later, had a deranged fascination with past shooters and left behind hundreds of pages of writing expressing hate toward almost every group imaginable.

 

Elephant in the room

 

As the rest of the world joins Americans in mourning the loss of innocent children in yet another pointless tragedy, several disturbing questions arise over America’s gun laws and why successive administrations have failed to address the elephant in the room.

 

One fails to understand why any legal system should allow an unhinged teenager to buy automatic weapons virtually unquestioned.

 

This is the stark reality of America, a country where the gun lobby holds much more clout than the healthcare industry. The US is the only country in the world where civilian guns outnumber people. There are 120 guns for every 100 Americans, according to the Switzerland-based Small Arms Survey (SAS).

 

However, irrespective of their political leanings, a vast majority of Americans want tighter gun controls but successive governments have failed to act. The National Rifle Association (NRA) remains the most powerful gun lobby in America, with a substantial budget to influence members of the Congress on gun policy. Over the last several election cycles, the NRA and other organisations have consistently spent more on pro-gun rights messaging than their rivals in the gun control lobby.

 

Though there has been massive public outrage against mass shootings and a raging debate over gun laws, nothing much happens in a country where buying military-grade weapons off the shelf is easier and more accessible than buying health insurance cover.

 

Divisive issue

 

The issue of gun laws in the US is a hyper-partisan and extremely divisive one, falling largely along party lines. While Democrats are nearly unanimous in their support for stricter gun laws, the Republicans overwhelmingly back gun ownership as a constitutional right.

Gun ownership grew significantly over the last several years. Politicians recognise this as a problem almost unique to America but it's a problem that politics seem incapable of solving.

 

Some states have taken steps to ban or strictly regulate ownership of assault weapons. Laws vary by state, but California, for example, has banned ownership of assault weapons with limited exceptions.

 

The Second Amendment of the US Constitution guarantees citizens the right to bear arms, fuelling debates over the balance between gun rights and gun control. The critics of the Second Amendment say that right threatens another: the right to life.

 

America’s relationship to gun ownership is unique, and its gun culture is a global outlier.

 

During his tenure, President Barack Obama did make some sincere efforts to check the menace of gun culture but could not get the support from the Congress. He had aggressively advocated for more gun-control and safety measures and called his failure to pass significant reforms one of the greatest frustrations of his presidency.

 

The people could be safer only if the country bans assault rifles with large ammunition magazines that are used by the mass murderers. Some states have taken steps to ban or strictly regulate ownership of assault weapons.

 

Shooting Republic

 

There have been at least 284 mass shootings in the US so far this year, leaving at least 225 people dead and 1,275 injured. Mass shootings in the United States are on the rise, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive, a non-profit organisation that tracks gun violence in the country.

 

GVA data shows mass shootings increased after May 2020, compared with trends in previous years. The increase in mass shootings coincided with an overall rise in gun violence during the pandemic.

 

The Minnesota shooting is the latest in a series of distinctly American tragedies, becoming the 44th school shooting in the country this year. While the investigation into the latest shooting remains underway, law enforcement officials said the 23-year-old shooter legally purchased the weapons used in the attack, which included a rifle, shotgun, and pistol.

 

Tentative attempts

 

In March 2018, the country had witnessed a spontaneous outburst of teenage activism, demanding gun control laws. “Never Again” was the motto of the nationwide protests as thousands of students rallied across several American cities seeking gun control laws.

 

The agitation, in the wake of the mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, was reminiscent of the Arab Spring movement that shook the Middle East in the past. Close to a million students stood up and streamed out of classrooms across the country as part of the National School Walkout, which honoured the victims of the Parkland shooting.

 

Nearly four years later, the US Senate approved bipartisan legislation aimed at keeping firearms out of the hands of dangerous people. This came following widespread public outrage over the massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. The move meant enhanced background checks for prospective gun buyers ages 18 to 21, requiring for the first time that juvenile records, including mental health records beginning at age 16, be vetted for potentially disqualifying material.

 

This was the first meaningful gun measure enacted in several decades. The US House voted to ban assault-style weapons in 2022, when the chamber was controlled by Democrats, even though the bill would not clear a Republican filibuster in the Senate.

 

A majority of Americans feel that the Second Amendment, approved in the era of single-shot muskets, should not be invoked to block common-sense limits on firepower and stand in the way of more thorough background checks on prospective gun buyers.

 

The background checks need to be expanded on guns purchased at gun shows and over the Internet, while people with mental health issues should not have access to guns.

 

If a bunch of kids praying in a church are shot down by a madman, doesn’t move authorities into action, the question is what else will?