The tragic shooting of students at a lecture last week at Northern Illinois University was just the latest in what is now practically a weekly occurrence. Once again, a mentally disturbed individual easily acquired an array of deadly handguns. And it was completely legal.
Guns are such an integral part of American culture that most Americans are resigned that horrific episodes – such as the Virginia Tech massacre – are simply a fact of life. And yet polls show that two thirds of Americans support further restrictions on gun ownership.
So great is the power of the gun ownership advocates (especially the National Rifle Association) that our political leadership refuses to touch the issue. Rudy Giuliani pushed through some tough gun control legislation when he was mayor of New York, but became a born again gun advocate during his aborted run for the US presidency. Even the white shoe investment banker Mitt Romney had to pretend to be a avid gun owner in order to pander to the powerful gun lobby. The lack of leadership by the Democratic candidates is also bitterly disappointing to those of us who would like to see a sane gun policy in the US. Derrick Z Jackson writes in today’s Boston Globe:
"But neither Obama nor Clinton, the Democratic nominees for president,
have done "whatever it takes" to let us know how they would employ
their common sense in the nation, which has the highest rate of gun
deaths in the developed world….As Clinton talks realism and Obama talks common sense, the senseless
killings continue, aided tremendously by the American access to guns.
It is fine to be on the side of sportsmen. It is also time to show
presidential leadership in protecting the American people at the mall,
town hall, and school."
Germany has perhaps the most comprehensive gun laws in Europe, and gun violence is just a small fraction of that in the United States. Of course, even the most restrictive laws cannot prevent senseless violence: in April 2002 a young student in Erfurt shot his high school teachers to death. But the reaction to this horrific event is instructive. In the US, gun enthusiasts always put forward the idea that all teachers and students should carry concealed weapons – the more guns, the safer we all are (even though all data suggests the exact opposite). After the Erfurt tragedy, Germany pushed through even tighter restrictions. Prospective gun owners now have to undergo a psychological evaluation. Under German laws, the shooters at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois Univ. never would have been able to acquire guns.
UPDATE: Europe can be smug concerning the gun violence in the US, but Europeans profit handsomely by the proliferation of weapons in America. Read Europes Lucrative Gun Trade with American.
