Can US gun addiction be controlled?
By Mathilde Ahrenkiel, mathildeahrenkiel@gmail.com, Capus News, 20.09.2013
“I will try very hard”1 those are the words of President Obama as he spoke at the National Rifle Association Campaign on gun control in
January 2013. His words underline the problem of a nation of enthusiastic gun owners, who are not afraid of teaching their children how to use a gun and to shoot to protect their freedom. Is this the way we want America to go?
Following several school shootings
nation, but aside from the oral debates,
over the past decade – the latest being
there are clear facts, that state, that
the Newton shootings at the Sandy
school shootings actually lead to
Hook Elementary School in
increasing weapon sales.
Connecticut in December 2012 – the
President of the United States, Barack
Obama, addressed the nation at the
National Rifle Association Campaign1 on Gun Control the 16th of January
2013 to announce a plan to change
America’s gun culture.
After every larger shooting incident, gun sales seem to increase rapidly2, as people buy guns to protect their homes, family and themselves, thus creating a larger demand in the market, and causing the problem to spiral out of control. There seems to be a trend (figure 1), that after every tragic
Facts do not lie
school shooting, people seem to support for stricter gun laws and the
According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the firearms homicides makes out 3.2 killings per
100.000 inhabitants per year, this is
100% more than the neighboring
Canada2. The debate on gun control has evolved and almost split the
Figur 1: Support for Stricter Gun Laws, BBC 2013
1
2A: Gun Control in the US
political debate reaches the congress and even presidents, but according to