“For every parent, for every citizen, we have to make it clear to every elected official: It’s time for action. We can do more. We must do more.”…”As a nation we must ask: When in God’s name will we stand up to the gun lobby?
When in God’s name will we do what needs to be done?
I’m sick and tired of it. We have to act.”…”We know common sense gun laws can’t and won’t prevent every tragedy. But we know they work and have a positive impact.When we passed the assault weapons ban, mass shootings went down. When the law expired, mass shootings tripled.”…”The idea that an 18-year-old can walk into a store and buy assault weapons is just wrong. What in God’s name do you need an assault weapon for except to kill someone?,” this said the democrat Joe Biden (President of the United States or America) reacting to the mass shooting at the primary school in Texas that happened yesterday.
Salvador Ramos , this is the name of the 18-year-old gunman, who fatally shot 19 children (all of them between 7 and 10 years old) and two teachers at a Uvalde (Texas) Robb elementary school on Tuesday before he was killed by law enforcement officers. Ramos had shot his grandmother before crashing a vehicle near the school. The shooter’s grandmother is in critical condition.
Against the Democrats push for restricting the sale of guns in the domestic market, Republican senator for Texas, Ted Cruz thinks that: ” The Senate needs to act by passing legislation to harden schools so this doesn’t happen again”…”We need to target criminals, not law abiding citizens” (watch the links I provide below on the statements by Senator Cruz through Twitter.
Mass shootings, an actual problem, but just the tip of the gun violence iceberg
Mass shootings both at home and schools and public places are an actual problem in the USA, but those are the tip of the issue of gun violence in the country.
In fact, the United States experiences rates of gun violence that no other high-income nation is currently next to match at all.
Around half of Americans (48%) see gun violence in general as a very big problem in the country today but roughly half of Americans (53%) favor stricter gun lawsagainst the 60% registered in 2019 following a survey on gun violence in the US published by Pew ressearch.
Laws controlling or even forbidding the sale of weapons to the citizens could help to reduce the risk of mass shootings and the problem of gun violence in the USA, although 1 in 3 mass shootings involved a shooter that was legally prohibited from possessing firearms at the time of the shooting following Everytown.org research on this point.
Democrats are in general for gun control laws and Republicans against them, but politicians from both sides usually need for the support of the gun lobby to be elected.
There’s consensus among republicans and democrats on aplying some restrictions, but the gun lobby makes very difficult to advance on the legislative path to ban or control gun ownership and sales
“Majorities in both partisan coalitions favor two policies that would restrict gun access: preventing those with mental illnesses from purchasing guns (85% of Republicans and 90% of Democrats support this) and subjecting private gun sales and gun show sales to background checks (70% of Republicans, 92% of Democrats). Majorities in both parties also oppose allowing people to carry concealed firearms without a permit,” Pew ressearch survey shows.
And the powerful gun lobby has made almost impossible advancing in the gun control legal path. The gun lobby and its supporters root their opposition against any gun controll law in the same US Ground Law 4th Ammendment establishing that: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”
But there’s one main reason pushing for maintaining the current the gaps in the laws regarding gun industry regulation and oversight. According to Small Arms Analytics & Forecasting (SAAF) estimates firearms unit sales in the USA totalled about 1.5 million units just in April 2022. Despite this amount of units means a decline of a 20% compared to the same month last year, it seems a good business.
Furthermore, Four-in-ten U.S. adults say they live in a household with a gun, including 30% who say they personally own one, Pew Ressearch survey shows. And personal protection tops the list of reasons why gun owners say they own a firearm.
Americans, split over effectiveness of legal bans to avoid gun violence
And Americans are split over whether legal changes would lead to fewer mass shootings. About half of adults (49%) say there would be fewer mass shootings if it was harder for people to obtain guns legally, while about as many either say this would make no difference (42%) or that there would be more mass shootings (9%).
People in the US are even more divided about the effects of gun ownership on crime overall. Around a third (34%) say that if more people owned guns, there would be more crime. The same percentage (34%) say there would be no difference in crime, while 31% say there would be less crime.
Over 1,500 people killed in mass shootings since 2009
Meanwhile the 21 americans (19 children and 2 adults) killed by Salvador Ramos yesterday add to the 472 people who lost their lives at the worst mass shootings in the USA from 1982 to 2022. The people injured in these shootings amount to 945 in the mentioned period of time following the data published by Statista.
Everytown research.org even elevates the numbers: Since 2009, there have been 274 mass shootings in the United States, resulting in 1536 people shot and killed and 983 people shot and wounded.
Image over the headline.- Joe Biden (President of the United States). Caption from the video of his reaction on the mass shooting at Texas.
Related Eastwind Marketing links:
The Lost Class, the highest ranked campaign in the world at The One Show 2022
Related external links:
Joe Biden’s reations on Twitter (including video):
Ted Cruz’s Tweets (including video):
