February 21, 2018

The right to bear arms versus the right to life

located:	USA
editor:	Maria João Morais

In 1999, the 13-person massacre in Columbine, Colorado, shocked America and the world. At the time, it was barely perceivable that two teenagers could carry out such bloodshed in a secondary school, in broad daylight.

Today, and dozens of mass shootings later, these killings still shock and provoke outrage, but they are no longer surprising. Last week 17 innocent people lost their lives in a shooting in a Florida high school, just the latest of a long list on school shootings. In the past five years, there have been almost 300 firearm attacks in the US, averaging on one per week. Unfortunately such shootings happens far too frequently to come as a surprise.

The divisive and polarising debate over gun control still rages on and returns every time there is a new massacre. One of the staunchest defenders of the second amendment of the American Constitution is President Donald Trump himself, who attributed the recent massacre to simply an issue of the shooter’s mental health. However, the rate of severe psychological disorders in the US is in line with those of other developed countries. Thus, the only variable that can explain the huge rate of mass shootings that happen in the US is the easy access to weapons. According to data released by the New York Times, there are a total of 270 million guns in the United States. Even though Americans make up around 4.4% of the world's population, they own 42% of guns around the globe. Furthermore, in many states assault rifles and ammunition are available in normal supermarkets and many websites, where guns can almost be as easily obtainable as any other consumer good.

However, the ease of purchasing weapons similar to those used by the army, such as the AR-15 that was used by the Parkland shooter, contravenes the spirit of the law, which seeks to enshrine the right to self-defence.

According to several opinion polls, there is a majority of people in the US who advocate the introduction of restrictions on access to arms. Unfortunately, they do not have enough power to influence lawmakers, Republicans and Democrats, who remain hostage to the powerful arms industry lobby, led by the National Rifle Association, which lies behind the funding of many political campaigns.

As long as the right to sell arms is considered more important than the right to life, many innocent people will continue to die.