Following the recent shootings in San Bernardino, USA where
14 people were killed by a radicalised couple, I realised that I was not really
aware of the gun laws in the country. Surely not just anyone can own a gun and
carry it with them all the time? Also, why has no change be proposed to them as
the number of shootings seems to be rising so quickly?
Essentially, any American citizen over the age of 18 is
allowed to buy a shotgun or rifle and once they are over 21, they can also buy
and carry a handgun. Some people cannot own a gun, these include: convicted
criminals, people with mental health illnesses, drug addicts and army veterans
who left under dishonourable conditions. However, there is a notorious way for
the above-mentioned to still get hold of a gun, this is known as the ‘gun show
loophole’. The buyers of a gun are not checked at a gun show and so anyone of
the right age can buy a gun here. Similarly, many mentally-ill people who
really should not be able to own a gun are not registered in this way by a
court and so most are still able to get their hands on one.
Individual states’ policies vary hugely though. For example,
the states of the District of Columbia and Florida ban all carrying of guns in
public, whether open or concealed. They are among only five states to do so. But
Oregon allows these for all who own a gun, so long as they have a permit.
This ‘right’ to own a gun comes from the Second Amendment of
the US Constitution of 1791. This stated that: "A well regulated Militia,
being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to
keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." Americans take this to mean
that every individual has the right to own, carry and use a gun.
Whilst gun lobbyists claim that stricter gun laws would only
make the population less safe as only criminals would be armed and there would
be no method for self-defence, there is a clear relationship between ownership
of guns and gun-related violence. In the US, 117,000 Americans are shot every
year and 33,000 of them die from their injuries (that’s 101.13 per million of
the population). 270 million guns are owned by US civilians. In contrast, in
Britain in 2012, there were 640 gun-related murders – only 10.43 deaths per
million of the population – due to there being only 1.8 million legal guns in
Britain. This clearly shows that the greater the number of guns in a country,
the greater the number of murders by shooting.
Contrary to what I expected, as the number of mass shootings
in America has risen, the public’s support for stricter gun laws has declined.
A survey taken every year where the same question is asked – do you favour or
oppose stricter gun control laws? – found that in 1989, 65% of Americans
favoured the stricter laws, but this year the public was evenly divided. Herein
lies the reason why imposing more gun laws is not a priority for the government
and is rarely addressed in presidential campaigns, it is simply such a divisive
issue and one which will gain a party few votes. Additionally, pro-gun groups
such as the National Rifle Association (NRA) and the Gun Owners of America
(GOA) are extremely influential and wealthy, so politicians fear that arguing
against these groups will lose them support.
In 2013, Obama proposed to Congress that all buyers of a
firearm should require a background check (including by private sellers, which
were exempt). This was strongly rejected. It is believed, on the other hand,
that even if this law had been approved, that nothing would have changed. Due
to the system where it is up to states themselves to decide their gun laws, a
change in national law would not have had much of an impact on the gun laws of
individual states.
AE
