
Whatever the motivation of these mass murderers, the fact remains that much of the blame for such violence lies with the American gun lobby and those of the country’s lawmakers who refuse to vote in favour of bills that would lead to better gun control. Gun lobbyists, including the National Rifle Association, claim that instituting more gun control laws, such as increasing the number of background checks and preventing the sale of certain types of advanced weapons, would be akin to violating the constitutional right of American citizens to bear arms — which seemingly should take precedence over citizens’ right to life. Their ridiculous stance that if more people possessed weapons, gun violence could be thwarted bears faulty logic considering President Obama’s reminder that there are approximately as many guns in the US as people. Why, then, if there are enough weapons to go around, has gun violence escalated out of control?
It is long overdue that the legislative and executive branches of the US implement better policies on who can possess a gun. It has come to a point where a way must be found to override the callousness of those in Congress who have repeatedly failed to safeguard American families in schools, places of worship and other public spaces.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 5th, 2015.
Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ