In the United States there are shootings every day. Statistics say that in that country there is an average of 128 deaths per day. In 2023, 46,728 people died from firearms. It is 3% less than in 2022, which does not mean that it was the third bloodiest year in US history.
Despite this terrible and permanent string of shots, injuries and deaths, for half of the Americans The possession and sale of weapons is a non-negotiable issue. Millions of them believe that guns were a basic element in the genesis of their nation and, therefore, inherent in the very fact of being “American.”
The weapons, their sale and tenure, are a matter of the electoral campaign that faces the Democrat Kamala Harris and the republican donald trump. But with silence: with weapons you can lose more votes than you can win. These are the proposals in this regard.
What does Harris propose regarding weapons?
Democrats have always been more critical of the free possession of arms in the US and have decided to limit its sale. But just that though Trump has made up that if Harris wins he will ban the right to bear arms. It was repeated in September by its “spokesperson”, Elon Musk, at a rally: “They want to take away your freedom of expression, they want to take away your right to have weapons.”
“They want to take away your freedom of expression, they want to take away your right to have weapons,” said Elon Musk.
But no, the Democratic Party does not want to ban firearms. Neither Biden has tried it nor does Harris announce it. In fact, The vice president has a gun at home. He told it a few days ago in an interview in CBS News: “I have a Glock and I’ve had it for quite some time.“. The journalist did what was appropriate, asking if he had shot her. “Yes… At a shooting range. Yes, of course yes,” answered the vice president. In fact, it was not the first time that the candidate admitted owning a firearm.
Harris has headed the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention this term. That has not prevented him from declaring that he supports the Second Amendment of the US Constitution, which protects the right to bear arms. And he has illustrated it with his own example. “If anyone enters my house, they will be shot,” he said in an exchange of jokes with host Oprah Winfrey, during a live broadcast event. “I probably shouldn’t have said that, but my team will deal with that later,” he said with a laugh.
But the Democratic candidate He also does not want to put the spotlight on gun controlcomplex and thorny issue. In fact, he didn’t even mention the issue of mass shootings in his Democratic nomination acceptance speech at the Chicago convention.
Harris knows that guns are not a big concern for Americans, at least according to polls. That’s why, talks about banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazinesand also to require universal background checks for gun sales. He also wants to repeal the Law on the Protection of Legal Trade in Arms, to remove special immunity from arms dealers and manufacturers from certain liabilities for the use of their products.
Actually, Biden already made the first two promises. The one on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines is “on hold,” but Biden won a compromise on background checks through a limited expansion of checks under the bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which Biden signed in 2022.
Two years later, it issued a rule that tightened the definition of which firearms sellers must conduct background checks on buyers. Harris would go further to include all saleseven those that would not meet the requirements of the 2024 standard, details Politifact.
It would be, according to the Democrats, prevent minors and “unstable” people from accessing weapons of fire. Thus, Harris could try to pass laws that allow a family member or law enforcement to request a court order to temporarily remove access to guns if they believe the owner may harm himself or others.
In the words of Harris’ running mate Tim Walz: “I was a better shot than most Republicans in Congress, and I have the trophies to prove it. But I’m also a father. I believe in the Second Amendment. But I also believe that Our first responsibility is to keep our children safe“.
What does Trump propose regarding weapons?
Trump will almost certainly receive the vote of all National Rifle Association (NRA) members who go to the polls. In fact, the businessman turned politician has boasted of being his “biggest fan” and of having “done nothing” to restrict access to firearms during his presidency (2016-2020).
For this reason, the Republican candidate spreads fear with the possibility of Harris reaching the Oval Office. He assures that the right to bear firearms is in danger; that the Second Amendment of the US Constitution is “at stake” in this election. Along these lines, it has committed to delete the regulations on this matter that the Democratic administration has approved.
In 2022, Biden managed to approve in Congress the considered most important gun control law of the last three decades. He did so with the support of Democrats and many Republicans.
“They want to destroy our country. The Second Amendment is under siege, but they won’t get it with me. We need that Second Amendment, for our safety, for hunting, and for all those things. Because the bad guys are not going to give up their weapons,” Trump said last May.
With less enthusiasm but more resignation, the Republican vice presidential candidate, JD Vance, has referred to the shootings as a fact of lifewhat we could translate as a “reality” or a “fact of life.” That is, something inherent to life, at least, to life in the United States.
Therefore, no new laws or controls. Trump advocates enforcing existing gun laws. Republicans are in favor of protecting constitutional rights (the Second Amendment) while promoting safe gun ownership. But once again, the former president does not say how that is done.
Nothing, then, about increasing control over the sale or possession of weapons. Again Vance has been very graphic: “If you are a psychopath and you want to make headlines, our schools are easy targets, and we have to tighten security in our schools, so that a person who walks in the front door to kill a A lot of kids can’t do it… Do I want my children’s school to have additional security? “No, of course not, I don’t want my children to go to school, in a place where they don’t feel like they have to have extra security, but that is increasingly the reality in which we live.”
In case there were doubts, the National Rifle Association has again endorsed Trump’s candidacy. Already during the 2016 elections, the NRA helped with $30 million.
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