The US gun culture
Battles related to gun rights and gun control, have been raging in the United States for quite some time and not only in the streets but also in the media and on the airways. Yet, the forces of gun rights and gun control, often fail to find common ground, as many families keep suffering from the consequences of gun violence.
It was quiet. It wasn't snowing but it smelled like snow. And then the call came in and it felt like the world was crashing.
Erica Lafferty, Mother Killed in Sandy Hook Shooting
Every fear that you have as a parent, it all comes crashing down on you at one time.
Lucy McBath, Son Shot and Killed
And I could tell from her reaction that he was dead. And, you know it's bad to lose a child but it takes you down to a place you've never been before.
Richard Martinez, Son Killed in UCSB
It is nine years for me, and I'm still suffering every single day.
Pamela Bosely, Son Shot and Killed
Around 40,000 people die as a result of firearm injuries in the United States every year, and many more are wounded. Mass shootings make national headlines, while cases of gun violence or suicide are repeatedly reported. Isn't it enough yet?
Supporters of gun control in the United States are lashing out at President Joe Biden over his lack of action to address one of the key issues the nation has been facing for decades, despite vowing to do so during the 2020 presidential campaign.
The so called right to keep and bear arms, which was initially put in place to guarantee the safety of the people, has now turned into a major issue.
“A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of the Free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”
What this is saying is that regular people like you and like me are expected to participate in a militia, then we must have arms we must have guns in order to fulfill that duty.
To me that seems clear enough but today for some reason it's very cloudy. The opponents of gun rights argue that with a standing army as large as we have, and with police forces and National Guardsmen, that militias are obviously an obsolete part of that constitutional amendment.
And if militias are no longer needed, individual gun ownership is also no longer needed.
Steve Heimler, Youtuber
While some authorities are making efforts to prevent deadly shootings, there are also those making profits and gaining an ever increasing power from the gun culture.
Has there been any significant change in gun violence since Biden took office?
Under Biden's presidency, there hasn't been a significant change to gun ownership, to gun rights, or gun limitations in the United States it's been one of the issues that have been on the back burner for President Biden.
I think, a major issue that Biden has yet to overcome or address, which is central and core to understanding gun violence in the United States, is drug usage and poverty.
In a lot of the states and cities where gun violence is increasing, for example, in New York City where I'm from, and also in Chicago and Illinois, where there are huge amounts of gun violence.
Ramiro Funez, Activist and Political Commentator
The issue of gun control has returned to US political discourse in the wake of daily gun violence spinning out of control in the country.
Defined as four or more people killed in one shooting incident, mass shootings get the bulk of the media attention, and every few days there are equivalents of that in places with high rates of gun violence, such as the cities of Baltimore, and Chicago.
I know people who can't walk from their house to the store without a gun.
Black youth
Just recently four mass shootings in six hours left nearly 40 people wounded and five others dead across the country.
The level of gun violence across the country is indeed disturbing.
Many people were assuming that with Biden in power chances of a better gun control would grow, has that occurred?
Well, I would argue that it was put forth by the mainstream media that if Joe Biden got in power that we would see some changes in gun control, but I don't think anyone really believed it.
I think that was something that was put forward to, you know, to strengthen President Biden's chances of winning during the electoral season.
Since he's been in power, he's written one Executive Order, which doesn't have a lot of power, and basically he authorizes the Department of Justice to write a report and to write some proposed legislation, and that's all that's happened so far.
Garland Nixon, Political Analyst, Washington DC
President Biden has already introduced several executive actions to reduce gun violence, including banning so called ghost guns and prioritizing community violence prevention in existing programs. The Republicans, meanwhile, keep crying out that such moves violate the Second Amendment of the US Constitution.
Inaction, has made this horror completely predictable, inaction by this Congress makes us complicit.
Richard Blumenthal, US Senator, Connecticut (D)
Some gun safety measures, for instance, one bill aimed at expanding background check requirements, have stalled in the Senate.
Background checks are supposed to save lives in a lot of ways, not only by keeping guns out of the hands of people who should not have them, but also by addressing gun trafficking, which plays a key role in gun violence.
Are background checks, reliable, and will they work in reducing violence caused by gun bearers?
I believe that background checks will not reduce violence caused by guns, because ultimately what it comes down to, are material economic conditions that people are faced with, you can have people with perfectly healthy, and fine backgrounds, who have committed no crimes, who have no prior arrest or warrants who have not been in any sort of trouble with the law.
But if they're put in a situation where they've lost their job or they have no other opportunity to survive, or they're in an impoverished community where other people are attacking or robbing them, a lot of times, people will turn to guns.
Ramiro Funez, Activist and Political Commentator
When it comes to gun policy in the US, the elephant in the room is the ease of access to firearms by those planning to traumatize vulnerable communities inside the United States. Efforts for stricter gun laws and background checks have been hampered by pro gun lobbies, most notably, the National Rifle Association.
The NRA, the National Rifle Association, is extremely powerful in shaping gun policies, although the so called gun rights advocacy group has no more than 5 million members across the United States.
Biden has claimed that he took on gun lobbies before, but could we expect his administration to achieve much in this regard during its tenure?
You know I don't expect the Biden administration to achieve anything.
For starters, they would have to get rid of the filibuster, they would have to do filibuster reform of some manner in order to achieve something and it doesn't certainly appear that they're going to do that I don't think that they really want to do that.
And the other part of it is Joe Biden won by such a narrow margin and the Democratic party seems to really believe that they have to lean right, rather than lean in the direction of the, the left, the progressive, the anti war, anti corporate, you know pro organised labour left, rather than lean in that direction, they tend to lean in the direction of the right, of the more conservative or hardliners in the US, and this would be offensive to them.
So I expect the Biden administration to rhetorically do a few head nods in the direction of those who would who would want gun reform.
Garland Nixon, Political Analyst, Washington DC
In-fighting and partisanship have been at the core of the delay in reforming gun safety laws, but the US firearms industry is deeply entrenched and vicious web of manufacturers, retailers lobbyists and it's very heart, the National Rifle Association, the most powerful gun rights organization in the world with a long history, and no intention of changing course.
The lobbying by some of the most powerful groups in America has worked in their favour.
For more than 130 years the NRA's policy has been simple, yet destructive, selling more and more guns, apparently, regardless of its cost for communities.
The NRA also boast about its legislative achievements as pro gun figures hold ultimate power over the White House and the US Senate.
But why are so many Americans resorting to guns in the first place?.
Biden will not be able to overcome gun violence in the United States, unless he overcomes the problem of private prisons, the problem of privatization and unemployment, of jobs being outsourced and sent to other countries.
People are turning to guns as the only solution for their problems because they don't have any other option in a lot of these cities, and what's interesting to note is that a lot of this is being fueled by media that is inciting violence between two different sides of society in the United States, and also because we see a lack of opportunity in a lot of cities where people no longer have access to jobs and resources.
Ramiro Funez, Activist and Political Commentator
Biden has described the situation as a public health epidemic of gun violence, but he has failed to convince the deeply partisan Senate to pass gun legislation staunch Republican opposition to gun control has been there for a long time.
I don't know but all I know is that you got to continue to try it will eventually pass.
US President, Joe Biden
It has been argued that if someone is intent on doing great violence, they will find a gun.
Let's assume that's true. Okay. Whether they find a gun, or they find the equivalent an AR 15 depends [determines] on how much damage they can do.
US President, Joe Biden
Victims of gun violence, particularly minorities such as the black community, are the main victims of this state of affairs.
They are disappointed with the Biden administration and skeptical about the administration's ability to bring about real change in the midst of pressure from the powerful pro gun groups.
I will say that the only difference between domestic and foreign policy in the United States is grammatical.
The US is at odds with any potential adversaries and, internally, domestically, the two parties are now adversarial groups and they are at odds, they are at war, they demonize each other.
So, basically the Republicans as the opposition party, their entire platform is centered on, is built on, opposing the Democrats on all fronts.
So I think that the partisanship is central in the nations struggle for gun control.
Garland Nixon, Political Analyst, Washington DC
A ban on assault weapons and high capacity magazines, and an end to gun manufacturers' immunity from liability, are among the items at the top of the agenda for gun control.
Assault weapons are capable of firing many rounds per minute. The so called Red Flag laws or extreme risk protective orders also need to be addressed.
A new law in the state of Colorado has added certain conditions to the right to bear arms.
The law allows family members or law enforcement to ask a judge to temporarily remove guns from the possession of someone deemed an extreme risk to themselves or others.
Sheriff Byerly says he will not take an individual's guns as a precaution.
The reason that I don't believe in the ERPO or Red Flag Law, and I don't believe that it's lawful, is because of the very clear violations of the Constitution.
Shannon Byerly, Custer County Sheriff
Background Check laws have been loose as the government tries to see gun buyers fully vetted before making a purchase, but making changes to the US Constitution and creating the laws are not enough as manufacturers often try to circumvent the law by making minor changes that do not limit the weapons lethality.
Those of us and as you know I'm a former police officer who feel that we do need to make some adjustments in our gun regulations and, you know, minor adjustments may be some more significant, but the gun lobby, who opposes any changes, simply tries to state our position as if it is a complete, you know, revolutionary change of our gun laws.
And so basically when someone, when someone who's in favour of changes in the gun regulation says, we put forward a proposal for a minor change, they change it and they interpret it as a full change so the slightest little changes.
Oh, they want to completely take your guns they want to get rid of all guns, it basically it's a fear tactic to, to change the subject, and to frighten Americans away from any type of gun reform at all.
Garland Nixon, Political Analyst, Washington DC
But there are also those who care very much about their guns. The pro gun portion of society is mostly made up of conservatives who often cite the Second Amendment to defend their passion for guns.
They believe the Department of Justice is enforcing the selective reading of civil rights in the country. There is also the assertion that gun rights may actually expand through a Supreme Court decision.
In a 2008 ruling the US Supreme Court determined that the Second Amendment protects an individual's right to keep and bear arms.
Pro gun activists argue that the DOJ's efforts empower the government to extinguish second amendment rights and confiscate their firearms without due process.
Who are the true victims, and what is their situation?
We also see a rise in unemployment, we see jobs leaving those cities, and we see rents going up, mortgages going up, job wages going down, job numbers going down.
And so, underlying the gun crisis in the United States is poverty, unemployment, and because of that people have taken to abusing substances, abusing drugs and also using guns as a way to engage in activities and crimes that they otherwise wouldn't do, if they had no other option left to do so, if there were jobs and opportunities available.
Ramiro Funez, Activist and Political Commentator
Furthermore, the records of almost 500,000 fugitives from justice who were prohibited from purchasing firearms were reportedly deleted from the background check system database.
It is also imperative that Firearms be kept out of the hands of abusers as domestic violence is also a subset of gun violence.
It would take a significant amount of push from grassroots organizations and, you know, people would have to be in the street before it would happen and I don't see that happening because there's so much pain in so many areas in the United States and so much concern.
And as I said the Biden administration are focused on foreign policy and they seem to be doing just enough, when it comes to domestic policy, to keep the house from burning down completely and then they're turning their focus outward again, so no I don't think they'll make a difference and I don't think they really intend to, I think they want to, rhetorically, you know, voice support for gun reform and then run away from it as quickly as they can.
Garland Nixon, Political Analyst, Washington DC
Regardless of the battle, the power-play and the legislation, it is the responsibility of every single firearms owner to make sure their weapons are used and stored safely. Human lives are precious, and it's a shame to see the rising death toll of the victims of violence during any given year in the United States.
Mass shootings pandemic in the US
There are certainly a number of people with pretty legitimate reasons to want some level of gun control.
While what's being portrayed in the corporate media as a serious epidemic of gun violence threatens the nation, what are some of the concerns that folks in your community have about the broader issue going forward?
I think that, as far as the violence is concerned, I think part of the issue that people in my community have is a lack of truth.
You know, oftentimes, you know, the media, you know they say it's just, it's black on black violence or it's just, you know, they point on it point it to point at the individual opposed to the fact that it's a systemic situation, the fact that, you know, gun violence is a result of the violence that exists in this country, you know, I mean this is a country that was built off of violence.
This is a country that was built off the gun, you know, so, you know, Americans are entertained by violence, you know what I mean, some of the biggest stars in the world, and biggest stars in the United States, from a John Wayne, to a Clint Eastwood, you know what I mean they, their movies have been violent video games, so on and so forth.
On top of that, we live in a situation in a society where we're the number one, or excuse me, the US is the number one producer of arms, and, you know, with that you expect some type of, you know, violence, they're not producing arms for the sake of, you know, you know just making new friends, you know, it's a multibillion dollar industry.
Kalonji Changa, Filmmaker, Author and Community Organiser
Would you tell us how this gun violence issue, how this violence issue, more broadly, in the United States has impacted you personally, and how this shapes the way that you're looking at the issue?
I'm from Bridgeport, Connecticut, and Bridgeport is about 45 minutes away from New York City. And, you know, it's the same radio, television, same crime, same situations, you know, and I've had quite recently, you know, I had my son, my 15 year old three days before his 16th birthday; he was shot in the drive by, luckily he survived.
But my brother up in Connecticut, he was shot while he was in a car with some friends, someone just walked up and opened fire on the car, someone he didn't even know.
You know, my cousin I remember getting a phone call that, that he was shot and bleeding in the streets, you know, so, you know, so many friends I've lost, so many family members who have been victims of "gun violence," but we don't sum it up, it's just, you know there has been a problem with guns because of the fact that it's not necessarily the gun, It's the mind behind the gun.
It's the fact that the conditions that exist, we blame it on the conditions that exist and we look at it from a holistic perspective, not just pointing to pointing fingers and saying you know well, this is some type of, you know, situation in a vacuum.
You know, we know it's not in a vacuum, we know that this is, again, this is the nature of, of the, the, the, the state of the regime that way. It's the nature of the country.
Kalonji Changa, Filmmaker, Author and Community Organiser
Yeah definitely seems pretty difficult to separate the violence we see in the streets, from the violence we see on the silver screen in the United States.
Daily acts of gun violence disproportionately impact communities of color so it’s no surprise to see those communities demanding that President Biden keep his word and take action against gun violence.
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