Following series of cruel attacks on American educational institutions and public places, everyone is talking about gun control, as they believe, easy availability of weapons in the United States is the key reason behind alarming rise in the frequency of terrorist acts. It is almost impossible to think of anything as horrifying as a group of innocent young kids or innocent people gunned down by those madmen in their classrooms or public places. Just imagining the terror those kids and people faced is enough to break even the hardest of hearts. But according to experts, the problem is, there are few if any gun control measures that would likely help very much. America already has more guns than people. Someone who wants one will find one. New laws will not deter those already committed to breaking the law.
American policymakers although are talking about gun control, in my opinion, they may not finally do that, as one of the biggest donors for politicians and political parties in the US are gun manufacturer or gun traders. And a bitter truth is – whether it is mass-shooting in educational institutions or public places, whether it is jihadist or terrorist activities or, whether it is war anywhere in the world, the biggest beneficiaries are gun makers, as these notorious acts create grand opportunity for them in making tons of cash by selling weapons.
Arguing in favor of not banning guns or adopting a gun control law, some of the pro-gunner analysts say: “Outlawing private gun ownership altogether, confiscating all existing guns and making possession illegal would at least hold the potential of making it more difficult for crazy people to get their hands on one — but that will never happen in America. There is near total national consensus against an idea that radical. Guns have been part of American culture for centuries. Moreover, the US Supreme Court has already confirmed the right of private law-abiding American citizens to own guns under the Second Amendment to the US Constitution. No matter how much some leftists want it to happen, and no matter what other countries choose to do, in America, the government can’t take our guns away. For all these reasons, private gun ownership in America is not going away. That leaves open the question: Is there anything to be done at all?
The key questions in any gun control debate are: No. 1: whether the regulations in question will actually help quell illegal gun violence; and No. 2: how much the regulations will hinder the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens. The reality is there are many left-wing Democrats who would like to ban most private gun ownership. Some have come out and said just that. Gun rights advocates analyze any gun proposal with that in mind. Are there reasonable actions that can and should be taken that would not fundamentally harm law-abiding gun owners? Probably. Many gun owners and Second Amendment activists would consider them if they did not presume bad intentions on the part of those pushing them hardest”.
Here is my question. As the US Supreme Court has already confirmed the right of private law-abiding American citizens to own guns under the Second Amendment to the US Constitution, one may ask – anyone buying a gun should not or cannot be considered as a terrorist, jihadist or criminal unless that weapon is used in killing innocent people. In this case, even a wanna be terrorist, jihadist or criminal would be considered as law-abiding American, until he or she succeeds in committing the plotted crime or massacre.
Pro-gun opinion says, improving the instant background-check system, and even enhancing that system for young gun buyers at a time of a booming mental health crisis among young Americans, may be worth a look. But to pretend that any of that is going to fundamentally change the dynamic is not realistic. Banning certain categories of guns altogether has been tried before. President Bill Clinton’s so-called assault weapons ban was in place for years but had no real effect on gun crime. Red-flag laws may offer some promise, but for those who care about Second Amendment rights to agree, there has to be ample due process injected into the process. Democrats have not been willing to debate these things.
Some analysts say to deal realistically with the problems facing America, the US policymakers and the citizen need to look beyond the gun control debate stalemate. There is a youth crisis in America. Mental health is a key component. Depression and suicide are off the charts; so is drug use. COVID lockdowns and school closures exacerbated all of this. Social media has been a poison for young Americans. These are not peripheral issues. They strike at the heart of the problem.
True! American youths are increasingly becoming frustrated for many reasons. One of the reasons is unemployment and the second is massive economic crisis. If Americans won’t get rid of the failed and disastrous Biden administration soon, the country will advance towards much difficult days, where majority of the people – irrespective of their ages would become hopeless and frustrated, thus turning America into the land of frustrated masses.
Social media certainly is to be held responsible for lot of bad things, despite the fact, it also played positive roles in some aspects. Let us just take the ongoing trend of Russophobia, which teaches Americans and westerners to hate Russia and Russians. It even encourages the users to feel enthusiastic in seeing Vladimir Putin assassinated or dead. Such rogue notions and spread of Russia-hatred would only result in emergence of a group of youths in the United States and the western countries who would make self-pledges of doing harm to any Russian irrespective of their profession, political ideology and religious status. Meaning, the social media is contributing in creating a group of young monsters in particular who would only hunt Russian blood.
Pro-gun activists are saying, guns have been around in abundance in America for decades, but the tragic school shooting phenomena is only now increasing at a rapid pace. Why? Those looking for real solutions need to answer that question. It is much easier to pretend that gun control is the solution. The root causes are harder to understand and resolve. But how much effort has even been made?
The correlation between the youth mental health crisis and the advent of social media is too strong to ignore. The internet has brought many benefits, but for America’s kids especially, it’s brought depression. The internet has also made it much easier for already troubled kids to find and germinate in the most extreme corners of the web. None of this is easy to solve, but policymakers should at least try. Until they do, we will be caught in a deadlocked cycle between those who, more than anything, want to do away with most lawful gun ownership and those dead set on stopping them. That’s not working.
Here I am giving nod to a very important point stating if Democrats are serious about wanting these reforms and not just trying to score political points, they should agree to open debates. Debates over legislation in the past ended when Democrats refused Republicans amendments. That reeks of political grandstanding and not serious policymaking and compromise. Finally, all reasonable people should be able to agree that those committing crimes with guns should receive the toughest sentences. Richmond, Virginia’s Project Exile in the 1990s was a shining example of the benefits of tougher enforcement of laws against criminals using guns. Gun density in rural America is much higher than it is in cities, but gun crime rates are far lower. This may not directly address the school shooting tragedies; the number of crime-related gun deaths is many factors higher. The easy-on-crime philosophy pushed by many left-wing prosecutors needs to be reversed for this to change.
If Americans are genuinely looking for gun control, they need to exert pressure on, for example Federal Burau of Investigation (FBI) to secretly investigate politicians who are receiving cash benefits from the gun manufacturers. This should be the first step. Unless it is revealed and those recipients of cash incentives and kickbacks from the gun manufacturers are not outlawed from politics and offices, America may not succeed in resolving the ongoing crisis of terrorist acts in educational institutions and public places.
