Home » Biden, hold on to arms. But another massacre makes America cry

Biden, hold on to arms. But another massacre makes America cry

by admin

New York – Gunshots “are an epidemic, and America is ashamed to the whole world,” says Joe Biden. The president decides to keep his campaign promise, announces new, more restrictive rules on “homemade” firearms, which have no serial numbers and are more difficult to trace. It is the phenomenon of “ghost weapons”, the components of which are ordered online with the instructions for do-it-yourself.

Another measure will help states to develop early warning systems to identify dangerous individuals and deny them access to weapons. By signing seven executive orders targeting arms sales, Biden promised “this is just a start, we will move forward.”

In addition, Biden has appointed a well-known militant of the lawsuit for the restriction of sales as the future head of the most important federal agency for the control of firearms (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives). IS David Chipman, a close collaborator of an anti-arms NGO founded by the former deputy Gabrielle Giffords, a Democrat from Arizona, herself badly injured in a mass shooting in 2011. Chipman will face a difficult exam to be confirmed in the Senate, where the right to guns is supported not only among Republicans.

But the measures announced yesterday by Biden remain confined to the sphere of federal powers, much reduced. Gun rules are mostly the responsibility of local authorities in the 50 US states. It is no coincidence that the intervention on “do-it-yourself weapons” is one of the few cases of federal competence because it involves digital commerce that goes beyond the borders of individual states. An invasive intervention by the federal government would risk a judgment of unconstitutionality before the Supreme Court.

See also  Ukraine said it sank the frigate "Admiral Makarov" of the Russian Black Sea Fleet Russia said it did not intend to use nuclear weapons in special operations against Ukraine-Wall Street News

The pressure on Biden had intensified following two recent tragedies. In less than a month, two shootings have caused a massacre, eight victims in Atlanta, Georgia and ten dead in Boulder, Colorado. And just yesterday the toll worsened, a new terrible episode was added: a former football champion, Phillip Adams, exterminated five people and then took his own life.

But Biden’s attention widens from the issue of multiple massacres to the dripping of gunshot deaths, which does not catch the attention of the media but sows a much greater number of victims. And it is particularly concentrated in the African American and Hispanic communities, where the spread of gangs, petty crime, and a culture of guns do more damage than mass shootings, even if the latter occupy a dominant space in public discourse.

This is the theme raised by another famous exponent of the crusade against weapons: Dan Gross who led the Brady Campaign (named after James Brady, spokesperson for Ronald Reagan who was seriously injured and disabled for life in an assassination attempt on the president in 1981). Gross distanced himself from the movement that after every mass shooting wants to ban weapons, citing these data: out of 40,000 gun deaths in 2019, less than one percent occur in the context of those “crowd shootings. “that make the news. 60% died from suicide. 30% are gang-related murders, crime, or domestic violence.

In an editorial on the New York Times, the former executive of the Brady Campaign explains that invoking generalized restrictions on weapons arouses insurmountable political resistance, even among those ethnic minorities who arm themselves because they are exposed to the violence of crime. Gross proposes a different strategy, which is heard in the Biden administration: focus on identifying individuals at risk, who must be prevented from purchasing weapons at all costs. A change of target could broaden consensus and find new allies.

See also  "The World Cup (also) thanks to a spy". The PA investigation embarrasses Qatar

.

You may also like

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Accept Read More

Privacy & Cookies Policy