After the last massacre at the Uvalde school in Texas, the subject of the free circulation of arms in the United States has once again been called into question, as almost every time such a horrible incident takes place. The problem is more complex than it seems with the decades-long history of the powerful National Rifle Association (NRA) lobby blocking every reform and we decided to explain to you a little more in detail. this situation and to present to you the worst arguments given by the pro-guns in the country of Uncle Sam.
An important pro-gun historical context
1. The Second Amendment, one of America’s most ambiguous rights
The American Bill of Rights wastes no time talking about weapons, it is simply the second point of it that addresses this subject: ” A well-organized militia being necessary for the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms cannot be infringed.“. Many Americans are attached to this part of the declaration and consider this right to be armed as one of their strictest rights. The problem facing every politician who wants to change gun laws is therefore to incur the wrath of people who take this as an attack on their rights and their freedom, people who are moreover pushed by one of the lobbies most important in the country: the NRA.
2. The NRA, one of the most powerful lobbies in the United States
The National Rifle Association (literally “National Rifle Association”) has existed since 1871. This pro-gun association is the most powerful in the United States and had close to six million active members in 2018, which is far from being the majority of the American population (329.5 million in 2020). But the association is extremely powerful and weighs several hundred million dollars, financed by donations from members and arms manufacturing companies. She owns a television station, publishes books regularly and does a lot of advertising campaigns to defend the use of weapons as well as programs to raise awareness about the safety of weapons which are useless.
3. The NRA in American politics
Since the 1930s the NRA has become a major lobby at the political level, categorizing political figures by giving them a grade ranging from A (pro-gun) to F (anti-gun). It helps certain political personalities to finance their campaigns according to their defense of the second amendment, giving for example 20 million dollars for the campaign of George Bush Jr and 31 million for the campaign of Donald Trump.
The power of the lobby is gigantic, the day after the Uvalde massacre, Joe Biden, President of the United States declared “When, for the love of God, are we going to face the gun lobby? I’m sick and tired,” which gives you an idea of just how powerful this adversary is that even the president can’t stem his activity.
4. A sharp decline in public opinion
Despite its undeniable political power, the population’s view of the NRA tends to be increasingly negative. After the countless killings that have taken place on American soil, more and more people are criticizing its power and the free flow of weapons in the territory. The main reform that Joe Biden (and before him Barack Obama) wants is to control the criminal records of buyers and to impose a delay before someone can get a weapon, but nothing moves on this aspect despite majority approval of the population on such a reform.
Proposed security measures that do not help
5. “Sophisticated defense systems must be put in place in schools”
A major school defense program was put in place after the 2018 killings: secure barriers that completely surround the establishment, exercises for staff and students to protect themselves in the event of an attack, a surveillance system social networks, security cameras everywhere, a threat alert system, secure locks in each classroom for teachers to lock themselves in… The school in Uvalde where the recent killing took place had absolutely all this equipment , it didn’t change anything.
6. “We must put armed guards at the entrance to schools”
And that was done, we literally put armed people at the entrance to the schools to “defend them” and it didn’t work. As a reminder, the school of Uvalde had its own police, a militia of armed guards to stop any threat, which was not the case.
7. “We must arm the teachers”
If the police who work directly in the school are not enough, then the teachers must be armed. It’s completely stupid, people who have to educate children are told that they must now also defend them by being ready to kill and risk their lives in the event of an attack.
The worst pro-gun arguments
8. “The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun”
It was after the Sandy Hook school shooting, the vice president of the NRA had swung this argument to defend the possession of a weapon. And finally it’s super simple, ok the bad guys have weapons but if the good guys have them too then it will work out. The proof, there have been no other killings since that of Sandy Hook in 2012.
9. “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people”
Become for a time the slogan of the NRA this sentence shows the hypocrisy of the lobby in all its splendour. Obviously they don’t talk about the many accidents that happen with children who had no intention of killing but accidentally shot someone after finding a gun.
10. “It’s the video games’ fault”
A great defense classic, if people call you guilty, you have to redirect the blame to someone else. Video games are generally cited as the breeding ground for violence in which would-be terrorists grow. There are millions of gamers around the world and they’re all bound to be killers. Pathetic.
11. “The killer had mental health issues”
This has become one of the priority arguments of pro-guns, the problem is not that the killer was armed, but that he had mental health problems. The thing is, if he had mental health issues without having an automatic rifle and hundreds of ammo, he probably would have killed fewer people.
12. “Second Amendment freedom cannot be infringed”
As we said at the beginning of this top, the notion of freedom and constitution is essential, and very often this argument hits the mark because the pro-weapons know how to use it excessively. But the laws are changing, maybe we should think about changing this one.
13. “Weapons are the most effective means of self-defense”
Not wrong, but if there are fewer people with guns threatening others, then there’s less reason to defend yourself. But that usually they don’t want to hear.
14. “Gun laws won’t stop criminals from getting them.”
Yes, because limiting the free circulation of weapons will not prevent the black market from prospering, which is not completely false, but it will already reduce the number of weapons moving around the country.
15. “A hammer is a weapon, aren’t we going to ban hammers?”
They are strong, this one had been released by a pro-gun member of congress, like you can kill someone by hitting them very hard with a cheese wheel, you are still not going to prevent people from having cheese wheels?? Had to dare.
16. “People can make guns now anyway”
With 3D printers it is possible to manufacture a lethal pistol-type firearm that can fire a few shots before being unusable and that is an a priori argument. So yes, we can’t control the number of weapon impressions but it’s still much more isolated than all the people who get any high-capacity automatic weapon from the many gun shops in the country without any control.