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It is a message from the US that keeps repeating itself – simply with different songs and a different location. This time it was a gunman in Lewiston, Maine, who shot eighteen people and injured thirteen on Wednesday evening.
According to the Gun Violence Archive, there have been 565 mass shootings in the United States alone this year. One reason attacks are so common and so severe is that guns are readily available in the land of opportunity. Here are some scary numbers from the US:
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For the approximately 332 million inhabitants, there are approximately 393 million privately owned guns.
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In 2020, 42 percent of all households had at least one firearm.
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In 2021 alone, 21,009 people were killed by gunfire, not including suicides. According to the Gun Violence Archive, nearly 16,000 people have been shot so far this year.
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Relative to the population, the number of homicides (excluding suicides) caused by firearms in the US is approximately 50 times higher than in Switzerland.
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Between 2000 and 2013, more Americans were killed by firearms in Iraq and Afghanistan than victims of AIDS, drugs, terrorism and war victims.
Only minor corrections
Many American presidents have tried to restrict the arms trade and gun ownership. Democratic presidents in particular had declared war on gun violence. Recently, Bill Clinton (77) and Barack Obama (62) have failed in Congress, and incumbent President Joe Biden (80) has not made any progress except making minor adjustments and opening a federal office to prevent gun violence .
US expert Claudia Brühwiler (41) from the University of St. Gallen summarizes: “Biden has actually implemented certain restrictions in decrees, but these do not amount to reforms and can be reversed.”
Failure in Congress
Wayne LaPierre (73) ensures that the laws are almost never tightened. LaPierre has been director and vice president of the NRA, the National Rifle Association, since 1991. Founded in 1871, the National Arms Association is one of the most powerful lobbying organizations in the US, with approximately five million members. Together with her politicians in Congress, she ensures that “individual freedom” is not limited.
Hardliner and agitator LaPierre himself repeatedly causes a stir with explosive statements. For example, after the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, he said, “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”
His friend Donald Trump (77), who supported the NRA with $30 million during the election campaign, followed this advice as US president. After the armed attack on a Parkland school in 2018, which left 17 people dead, he announced that he wanted to provide teachers with weapons.
LaPierre’s shots are so sharp that even Republicans sometimes find it too much. Warning about “brazen government criminals” in 1995, former President George HW Bush (1924–2018) resigned from the NRA in protest.
Better control over the mentally ill
Many Americans, especially on the Republican side, consider the ownership of arms to be a fundamental right dating back to the Second Amendment, passed in 1791. It states: “As a well-organized militia is necessary to the security of a free State, there shall be no infringement upon the right of the people to keep and bear Arms.”
It takes a lot to change the constitution. Brühwiler: “This additional article in particular has great historical significance. For conservatives in particular, it is considered the first freedom: only governments, the argument goes, that fear their citizens will take away their guns.
Instead of stricter gun laws, the NRA calls for better monitoring and detection of mentally ill people. This is the only way, gun advocates believe, to curb massacres.
Biden resigns
Although the NRA has been somewhat weakened by internal strife, its approximately five million members constitute a vast power base. “They are politically active and strengthen the voice of the organization by writing to representatives and senators,” says Claudia Brühwiler. Ultimately, the organization’s power is an expression of the importance that the Second Amendment has in the minds of many Americans.
LaPierre has already lived through several American presidents. No one has been able to rein in the NRA and really tighten gun laws. Usually there is only resignation, as was the case with Biden. After the March 27 attack on a Nashville school that left six people dead, he responded to reporters’ questions about what steps could be taken to prevent mass shootings: “I have exhausted all powers of my executive branch to do everything to do alone. regarding weapons do.”
In other words, it is only a matter of time before the aforementioned report causes horror again with other signals.
Source: Blick
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
