Gun Violence in America: Is there room for moderation?
[객원 에디터 3기 / 한동민 기자] On May 24th, 2022, 19 elementary students in Texas were brutally killed along with 2 teachers who were trying to protect the children. Unfortunately, this is not an unusual event in the United States, where it is legal for authorized private citizens to carry personal firearms. The US constitution is unique in its granting of the right to bear arms through the Second Amendment. Nonetheless, with the rising frequency of such tragic gun crimes, it may be time for America to reevaluate its gun laws to create a safer community for all.
Investigators have reported that the Texas gunman is an 18-year-old male armed with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and high-capacity magazines. Texas Governor Greg Abbott stated that the shooter, Salvador Ramos, abandoned a vehicle before entering the school to “horrifically [and] incomprehensibly” open fire. Salvador also posted three messages on his Facebook page shortly before his attacks saying that he was going to shoot his grandmother and the elementary school students.
This is only one of 27 school shootings that have occurred in 2022. Even then, gun-related deaths in the United States are increasing exponentially and have grown to become a politically polarizing issue. President Biden himself was reported saying after a grocery store shooting incident that there is “not much on executive action” that he could do to further strengthen the country’s gun control measures as he needed to “convince Congress” to pass legislation such as the 1994 assault weapons ban. Nonetheless, he has pledged to plead with Congress to “turn [the] pain [caused by the school shooting] into action.”
In particular, the White House devised an approach with a focus on “the proliferation of … ghost guns,” which are unserialized and untraceable firearms that can be purchased and assembled at home in less than 30 minutes. This undermines the stringent background checks that are currently in place to prevent individuals with potentially malignant intents from possessing lethal firearms. As Biden explained at the New York Police Department, if individuals use a ghost gun to commit a crime, “not only are state and local prosecutors going to come after [them], but [they can] expect federal charges and federal prosecution as well.” However, proposals to overhaul gun laws frequently face many obstacles due to Republican opposition.
It seems like alleviating gun violence in America will take some time; however, there has been significant progress with prevention acts led by several domestic groups, including the gun violence prevention organization Brady which has been advocating for a governmental office for gun violence prevention within the White House and the appointment of a coordinator from the Department of Justice to oversee all administrative efforts to curb gun violence. Indeed, Brady’s vice president stated that “so many of this administration’s executive actions and directives have required the DOJ(Department of Justice) to be focused on the impact of gun violence in America. There should be a coordinator within DOJ that is solely focused on working to end gun violence.”
Furthermore, an additional short-run solution is to publicize firearm databases for the public to better understand the current state of gun transactions and to induce citizen monitoring of illegal gun sales.
At the end of the day, actions must be taken urgently to protect many innocent lives.
Sources: BBC Politics, ABC News, CBS News, New York Times, Bradley United, The White House
