The following article was written by journalist Ellen Teague for Justice magazine, shortly before the latest mass shooting of school children and their teachers - at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut last Friday.
Many in the cinema audience thought the gun blasts were fireworks in a stunt designed to put an additional thrill into the movie experience. It was a midnight screening on 21 July 2012 of the new Batman film 'The Dark Knight Rises' in the Denver suburb of Aurora. But as people were hit by bullets and screaming in terror it was quickly clear that the man in a gas mask and body armour throwing tear gas canisters and firing on the crowd was no actor. In one of the deadliest mass shootings in recent US history, 24-year-old James Holmes killed 12 people and injured 58 others.
The location was only 20 miles away from the Columbine High School where two students killed 12 classmates and one teacher and wounded another 21 students before committing suicide on 20 April 1999. Incidences of appalling gun violence have hit the news in the US with regularity ever since, and yet, Holmes had legally bought his weapons, and the thousands of rounds of ammunition stockpiled in his apartment.
Love of guns
America's gun control laws are the loosest in the developed world and its rate of gun-related homicide is the highest. Of the world's 23 "rich" countries, the US gun-related murder rate is almost 20 times that of the other 22. With almost one privately-owned firearm per person, the US's ownership rate is the highest in the world; tribal-conflict-torn Yemen is ranked second, with a rate about half of the US.
Four years ago, US President Barack Obama pledged to address gun control. His statement on urban policy included a commitment to permanently renew an expired ban on new assault weapons, curbs to limit the unregulated trade in weapons at gun shows, and greater powers for law enforcement agencies to trace guns. That statement has since disappeared from the president's website as politicians generally steer clear of the issue of gun control. It is regarded as toxic, in the face of an unrelenting campaign by the powerful pro-gun lobby group, the National Rifle Association (NRA), to scrap or ease existing laws regulating guns. The NRA has 4.3 million members and is one of the most effective advocacy groups in Washington.
The most significant piece of gun control legislation of recent years was the 1994 Federal Assault Weapons Ban. It barred the manufacture and import of an array of semi-automatic weapons for use by civilians, including the AR-15 used by Holmes. The production of some other types of rapid-fire weapons for the civilian market, including some pistols and shotguns, was also stopped. Magazines were limited to a maximum of 10 bullets. However, the Law had a built-in time limit of 10 years. In March 2004, the US Senate blocked its extension and repeated efforts since then to renew it have failed.
In 2008, the Supreme Court ruled that the Bill of Rights includes a guarantee of the personal right to own a gun. The decision was both a measure of how far the pro-gun debate had moved, and a blow to many of the stricter gun control laws adopted by cities like Washington and Chicago. In January 2011, a gunman in Tucson, Arizona shot and killed six people and wounded 14 others, including former politician Gabrielle Giffords. In the wake of this incident, gun control advocates said they believed the shock of the attack would alter the political atmosphere, in no small part because one of the victims was a member of Congress. But the bills that were introduced, including ones to restrict sales of 100-bullet magazines or to tighten background checks, went nowhere.
Today, there are no federal restrictions on how much ammunition an individual can buy. In many states, bullets are sold on supermarket shelves alongside everyday household goods. Bullets and shotgun shells can also be bought in bulk online. It was from websites that Holmes ordered thousands of rounds for his assault rifle and hundreds of shells for the shotgun. The sellers were not legally obliged to report these large purchases of ammunition to the authorities.
Election issue
A string of shootings over summer 2012 brought the contentious issue of gun control to the fore in an election year. The Aurora shootings were followed by a gunman killing of six worshippers in a Sikh gurdwara in Wisconsin. In August, an ex-Marine shot and killed two of his co-workers in a New Jersey supermarket before taking his own life. He was armed with an AK-47 assault rifle and an automatic pistol. Yet, amidst calls for tighter regulation of weapons, US newspapers and websites were flooded with comments such as, "Guns don't kill people, people do. Just like a fork doesn't make you fat. Many are killed in car accidents. Should we ban cars?"
Some take the view that the case of Holmes has nothing to do with the availability of guns. They feel the issue is more one of how the US deals with individuals suffering psychiatric problems. Such people can harm others without using guns. Criticism has been thrown at the fragmented state of psychiatry in the US and an unwillingness to educate the public how to recognise symptoms of mental illness and what to do when those symptoms are identified. The fact that the killers at Columbine and Aurora were either students or recently students suggests there should be more screening and support for young people who are vulnerable mentally on campus.
While Democrats generally favour gun control laws, Republicans swear by the second amendment which gives citizens the right to bear arms. Now, in election season, both parties have generally shied away from a debate on the issue. However, Obama, called for a "common sense" approach to assault rifle sales after the Colorado shooting saying "a lot of gun owners would agree that AK-47s belong in the hands of soldiers, not in the hands of criminals”. Fearing that Obama will use a second term to unleash a rash of gun control laws, the NRA rallied its members and political officials at the Republican National Convention in August. "We see him as the most anti-gun president in modern times," said NRA President David Keene.
Guns in churches
In July, after the Aurora killings, the President of the National Council of Churches US called for more gun control. Kathryn Lohre cited her organisation’s efforts to advocate for new regulations on assault weapons and handguns. She called upon elected officials at every level of government to “seek policies that will foster greater peace in our communities and throughout this country”. Earlier that month, the Episcopal Church renewed its opposition to gun violence at its annual convention by approving a Resolution which “requests every parish and every diocesan place of work to declare their establishments ‘Gun Free Zones’”. The resolution’s explanation noted that some states allow people to bring weapons into churches under varying conditions, while others have outlawed the practice. “Laws vary from state to state, but posting Gun Free Zone information prominently is one way for parishes and dioceses to exercise private property rights on behalf of community safety,” said a statement.
An August poll analysing views about gun control in the context of people's faith groups found that a majority of Americans believe gun rights are as important as other constitutional rights, but they draw the line at guns being permitted in places of worship. The survey by Public Religion Research Institute found that three quarters of respondents said there should be a prohibition against carrying guns into churches, government buildings or college campuses. Fifty-two percent overall favoured stricter gun control laws; sixty-two percent of Catholics. In various breakdowns by religion, Catholics were less likely than other groups to have guns in their homes or to support allowing concealed guns in churches. They were more likely than mainline Protestants, evangelicals or people unaffiliated with churches to support stronger enforcement of existing gun control laws, the study said. Twenty-seven percent of respondents said stricter gun control is the most important way to prevent mass shootings. Twenty-two percent said better mental health screening and support are also necessary. Nineteen percent said placing more emphasis on God and morality is the key.
Security of Guns
Despite the horror of gun crime in the US, evidence shows that gun sales have always risen after significant shooting incidents in recent years. The number of people seeking to buy guns in Colorado soared immediately after the Aurora shootings. In the three days after the shooting, applications for the background checks needed to buy a gun legally were up 43% on the previous week. The pattern was the same other states. Florida, for example, recorded a 14% rise from the previous week. At one Aurora gun shop, around 20 people were waiting outside when staff arrived at work on the day after the shooting. "People are saying, 'I didn't think I needed a gun, but now I do'," said the shop owner. “When it happens in your backyard, people start reassessing”, the man continued; “they say, 'Hey, I go to the movies'”.
Japan’s gun control
Japan is perhaps the world's strictest controller of firearms. In 2008, while the US had over 12,000 firearm-related killings, Japan experienced only 11. That year, 587 Americans were killed just by guns discharging accidentally. Almost no one in Japan owns a gun of any kind and handguns and completely banned. Most kinds are illegal, with onerous restrictions on buying and maintaining the few that are allowed. Small-calibre rifles have been illegal to buy, sell, or transfer since 1971. Anyone who owned a rifle before then is allowed to keep it, but their heirs are required to turn it over to the police once the owner dies. Whereas US law is designed to enshrine access to guns, Japan starts with the premise of forbidding it. |
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