Tuesday’s shooting at a Texas elementary school, in which at least 19 children died, immediately reignited America’s perennial gun debatewith no end in sight.
(Read here: Shooting in Texas, one of the deadliest school massacres since 2012)
“It’s time to act,” said President Joe Biden. “When, for God’s sake, are we going to take on the gun lobby?” he said in a message from the White House.
(You may be interested: What is known about the person responsible for the shooting that leaves 21 dead in Texas)
“I am disheartened and tired”declared the 79-year-old president, who arrived at the White House after a campaign in which he advocated controlling the weapons held by Americans.
(See also: Texas and the worst school massacres in the history of the United States)
His vice president Kamala Harris also declared devastated after the massacre in the Texas school.
“Enough is enough,” he cried, and, addressing Congress, which is reluctant or powerless to legislate on guns, he added: “We must have the courage to act.”
On the floor of the House, Senator Chris Murphy stated that “nowhere is this happening more than here in the United States, and that’s a choice“.
Murphy represents Connecticut, a state marked forever for the December 14, 2012 Sandy Hook shootingwhen a 20-year-old man killed 26 people, including twenty 6- and 7-year-old children.
“It is our choice to let this happen”he said, imploring his colleagues in Congress to reach an agreement to pass an ambitious national gun law.
Epidemic
Currently, this seems almost impossible.
In United States, shootings are a constant plague that successive governments have been unable to eradicate, given that many Americans remain attached to guns.
30% of adults own at least one firearm.
This is the particular case of Texas, the scene this Tuesday of a tragedy that revived the nightmare of shootings in educational centers: the southern state is one of the states where it is easier to acquire a weapon.
In 2015, Gov. Greg Abbott said he was “embarrassed” that Texas was “only” second in firearms purchases.
President Biden, who mandated that national flags be flown at half-staff, promised during his campaign that he would act on this front.
In April 2021, he unveiled a limited plan against the “epidemic” of gun violence.
However, aware that he is not in a position to push for bold action due to his razor-thin majority in the House of Representatives, he has so far settled for only small steps.
‘politicization of the debate’
No major breakthrough has yet been announced on the issue of criminal or psychological background checks on gun buyers.something that various associations have been claiming for years.
“For a long time members of Congress have talked about these shootings, while opposing all efforts to save lives,” said Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The Republican side responded immediately, through Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who warned against a “politicization of the debate.”
Cruz said that some took advantage of tragedies to rise up against the second amendment to the Constitution, which guarantees the right to bear and use weapons. “We have seen in the past that this is not effective in preventing this type of crime,” Cruz said.
AFP
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