Gun Possession: the US demon & the Policies to protect US Citizens

The two parallel tragedies recently taken place in the US with the first in the Dayton of Ohio and the second to have been in El Paso, Texas, have created very different dimensions in terms of the emotional impact which would have the national sports of gun possession on public opinion in the US society. Essentially, the anguish inflicted on American public opinion on the nine dead of the first tragedy turned into rage after the massacre of the twenty-two dead of the second tragedy.

by Thanos S. Chonthrogiannis-https://www.liberalglobe.com

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The history of legalization of gun ownership in the US and the white extreme right

The second amendment of US Constitution safeguards the right of American citizens to gun ownership, thereby indirectly supporting the power lobby of the arms industry. This second amendment to the US Constitution took place in 1791, under very special circumstances in the then newly established American state.

Back then, in the society of the newly established American state, lawlessness reigned because the law enforcement forces (police) where not strong enough to chase lawlessness, so police could handle guns and bullets.

The manifesto of El Paso’s far right assassin in Texas, which has been posted online to justify his heinous assassination, is another sad piece in this “gut” that plagues American society. 

In the present analysis we will not dwell on the roots and the ideology of the white far-right and how to deal with it because we did so in the analysis entitled “The Far-Right Ideology and how it creates violent terror” which published on 28/03/2019, category: social.

Those killings in Dayton, Ohio and El Paso in Texas were as likely as they would be in the US, following the March tragedy in New Zealand that killed 51 people. The incident of shooting at unsuspecting civilians with the purpose of killing innocent civilians are nothing new to the US. These events started from young people who wanted to become famous, shooting their classmates and teachers in schools and later in universities.

Later, these events took on racist character as they appeared in Charleston Church (2015) and Pittsburg Synagogue (2018). Unfortunately, these incidents will continue to exist as long the American state does not take tough measures to protect its citizens.

The management of tragedies by the American political system

The unfortunate of all these tragedies-many events, apart from the numerous dead and wounded left behind, is that the American political system has found another opportunity to joust the flames of political confrontation.

In this case, large and negative fact, according to our opinion, has played an important role either deliberately or unwittingly by the US President Donald Trump, having with his speeches give the rights to criticize harshly his political opponents. The President must unite his people with his attitude and word and not to divide them.

In the recent past President Trump had spoken of “an invasion of immigrants from Mexico” presenting all the Mexicans as rapists and drug dealers. In addition, he suggested that coloured female members of the Democratic Party to go back to their homelands even though they were born in the United States.

Moreover, President was mocked in Baltimore, describing the filthy city full of “rats” because more than half of its population are coloured civilians. The Democrats may derive the largest percentage of votes from immigrants in the US, but the President’s word is divisive by giving food to the minds of immature young people who will sooner or later create tragedies and without to achieve the rallying of supporters of the Republican Party.

But all this is the tip of the iceberg. When the word of the supreme ruler of the country moves in such contexts one can understand what is happening at the base of American society. These racist-type remnants come from the depths of American history, e.g. the Law of nationality of 1790 provided that only whites could acquire citizenship, from the American Civil War and the official abolition of Slavery, etc.

Policies to protect American citizens against illegal use of weapons

The most ideal solution that would bring the much-needed protection of American citizens from the illicit use of weapons would be a complete ban on firearms and the use of firearms by civilians. But this is something impossible to implement from the current US political system given the strong interests that exist in the arms industry.

Perhaps the most directly workable policy that would not undermine any interests of the arms industry lobby while at the same time giving the greatest possible protection to American citizens from the illicit use of weapons by their fellow citizens is the complete prohibition of the marketing and use of real spheres in society. The use of actual spheres should be made in specific spaces (firing fields, shooting clubs etc.) and under strict terms regarding the regulations which will occur there.

The spheres that can be purchased and used by the civilians will only be rubber bullets. These and only rubber spheres will be sold at arms sales outlets along with regular weapons. So, when a citizen will want to buy and use normal spheres, he can choose them through a list and type of weapon and then he will pay for his purchase, but he will never receive actual spheres from the store.

Next, the arms dealer will send the purchased quantity of real spheres only to the shooting club in which this citizen will be registered. With the purchase proof of this, the citizen will go to the shooting club of the area who will be a member and within a strict framework regulation will be able to use them.

In case that the police arrest on the street someone who has actual bullets and is outside the shooting club that this citizen will be a member, they should be provided with five years’ imprisonment without suspension and redemption of these of penalties (strict legal framework).

With this workable policy, the arms manufacturing and trading industry would multiply its profits because for each type of weapon it would have to produce the same quantities for both rubber and real spheres, enabling the citizen to buy a real gun that he likes.

With this policy, it can be achieved the greatest possible protection of human life in American society from firearms and illegal use of weapons and given the existing political conditions in the USA. 

Additional and always subsidiary-type policies in the above policy which is proposed by the Liberal Globe will be to further tighten the licensing framework for arms possession and as New Zealand has done since its own tragedy (Christchurch) in March 2019. However, by itself this policy cannot bring the desired maximum results.

In a society such as the United States, whose liberal constitutional governance is an example to be emulated for the rest of the world, it must reposition the protection of the human life of its citizens as the highest priority of.

Thanos S. Chonthrogiannis