Sadly, Orlando deaths won’t be a force for change in America’s gun control debate
Noah Shusterman says despite the public outrage, America’s federalist political system means that any effort to toughen national gun control laws will run into the same opposition – from rural states
Tragic events like the mass shootings in Orlando on Saturday night bring international attention to a quintessentially American problem: why does one of the world’s most developed countries continue to have such a high murder rate?
These mass shootings are only the tip of the iceberg that is gun violence in the United States. Every year, guns kill roughly 30,000 Americans, including suicides. The laws in place in the US make it very difficult to stop people from killing each other, or from killing themselves. Quite simply, it is easy to get a gun. Anything from small pistols and shotguns, to assault weapons designed for modern battlefields, is available for anyone willing to do a bit of travelling within the country.
Gold standard for killing: AR-15 assault rifle used in Orlando shooting is the mass murderer’s weapon of choice
The overall framework of American laws comes from the US Constitution, which means that in some fundamental ways, the US laws are still stuck in the 1780s. For such an old document, the constitution has otherwise proven to be a useful and flexible set of principles.
Its second amendment, though, states that “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed”. That amendment came from a vision of a society dominated by independent farmers willing to take up arms to protect their freedom. That vision paved the way for an American tradition that valued independence, self-sufficiency and the ability of men to protect themselves and to fight for their freedom.
And while that vision of society has faded, the language of the constitution has remained the same. Any laws governing weapons still need to follow the basic principles of the constitution.
