Editorials

Why America Can Never Ban Guns

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6 November 2017

By Bronwen

Unsurprisingly, the United States of America has had yet another mass shooting.

At least 27 people were killed and 24 injured at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas when a gunman entered the church and began to shoot.

Following this tragedy, we must have the same debate we had only one month ago after the Las Vegas shooting: would tougher gun legislation in the US reduce the number of mass shootings and homicides?

In Britain, we often have a sense of superiority when it comes to conversations about US gun laws. Since we don’t have anywhere near the amount of gun-related homicides as the US, we are quick to praise our tight gun laws and trigger unhappy society. We don’t have much of a serious gun problem in the UK and far fewer people own guns. According to the Small Arms Survey, Britain has 6.5 guns per 100 people compared to 101 guns per 100 people in America.

It’s so easy to bring up the example of Australia when discussing American gun laws. In 1996, Australia experienced a mass shooting that killed 35 people in Port Arthur and injured many others. However, Port Arthur was not the first mass shooting Australia ever had- it was the last straw. In the days after the attack, the Prime Minister offered to buy back people’s guns and as a result, 650,000 firearms were handed in.

Every time the US experiences a mass shooting, we question why US government has not undergone the same measures as the Australians.

There is a massive cultural difference between the Brits, the Australians and the Americans. We all speak the same language, we both have capitalist values but really, we’re still worlds apart. The UK has no formal Constitution and Australia’s Constitution does not mention guns at all whereas the Second Amendment to the US Constitution makes it clear that every citizen has the right to bear arms and gun control activists like to bring this up as often as possible during the gun debate.

However, culture isn’t the biggest problem. Enacting gun control legislation in the US would be a near-impossible task. First of all, there would be major resistance from the National Rifle Association and firearm brand shareholders. There is far too much money in the firearms business for the government to ever ban the sale or distribution of guns. You also have the challenge of getting all 50 states to agree to the new legislation. If every US state except Kansas chose to pass tougher gun legislation, an American living in another state who wanted a gun would just have to travel to Kansas and purchase one there. In Australia’s case, all 6 states agreed to pass the gun control legislation in just 12 days meaning there would be no chance of an Australian citizen being able to purchase a gun legally.

In 2017, the US experienced the worst mass shooting in modern American history. If that didn’t prompt Congress to act, nothing will.

 

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