The legal bearing of weapons has been one of the most controversial debates in the international and political world. Some states of federal countries have legalized the carrying and free purchase of them; while in other nations restrictions are maintained due to catastrophic events that have occurred.
The most recent case of the shooting in a school in Texas, United States, has shocked the whole world and, as a result of this fact, several laws have been modified and/or implemented in different regions of the world.
The unfortunate event occurred on May 24 at the elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, when an 18-year-old boy entered the institution armed with an AR-15-style rifle and murdered 19 children and two teachers, according to reports. the local media.
From this unfortunate fact, the debate regarding the regulation and legalization of the carrying of semi-automatic weapons has been revived, since it is not the first time that a tragedy like this has occurred in the country.
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Despite the fact that mass shootings have also occurred in other territories, the case of the United States not only generates anguish in the citizenry, but has also sparked controversy, since the laws have not been modified in order to prevent this from happening.
According to a balance of the European media ‘Politico’, the US gun death rate is eight times higher than Canada’s, and even 100 times higher than the UK’s.
Although citizens have called for stricter regulations to be implemented for the purchase and free carrying of weapons, some federations in the United States have not changed their laws to protect civilians.
“In the US, we say, ‘Never again.’ But then we keep doing the same thing, which is almost nothing”, affirmed Cassandra Crifasi, deputy director of the Center for Armed Violence Solutions at Johns Hopkins University, in an interview with the US media ‘Time’.
On the contrary, other governments have been more radical with the tragedies that have occurred, so it has been possible to prevent these events from repeating themselves.
New Zealand
In March 2019, a white supremacist attacked two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, shooting and killing 51 believers inside the temples.
A week later, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arden publicly announced that reforms would be implemented to regulate the carrying and purchase of revolvers: “all semi-automatic weapons used in Friday’s terrorist attack will be banned in this country.”
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After the president’s pronouncement, a period of six months was established for citizens to sell their weapons to the State, during which time more than 60,000 pistols were removed from circulation in the country, according to ‘Times’.
Later, in 2020, the measures were reinforced, since the government established that the licenses for people who legally carry weapons would be shorter and other types of pistols were prohibited.
United Kingdom
As reported by local media, in 1987 a massacre occurred in Hungerford, England, when a 27-year-old man used two semi-automatic rifles and a pistol to murder 16 people who were in the town.
After the massive attack, the government completely banned revolvers of the same type as those used in the attack and ordered citizens who owned firearms to register them with the police.
Years later, in 1996, there was a shooting at a school in Dunblane, Scotland; which was perpetrated by a man who killed 15 children and a teacher of the institution.
Given this fact, the British authorities reinforced the measures and prohibited all pistols, except for those of the lowest caliber. The government managed to remove more than 20,000 weapons from circulation, as reported by the ‘BBC’ agency.
Australia
As reported by the British media ‘The Guardian’, the restrictions in Australia were established after an attack in 1996, in which a subject murdered 35 people, with a firearm, in the town of Port Arthur.
After what happened, the Australian government banned semi-automatic rifles and pump-action firearms. In addition, people would have to apply for a permit to carry a pistol by which they had to show why it was strictly necessary.
With this measure, the State managed to get rid of more than 65 thousand revolvers and the rate of homicides caused by firearms had a drastic and successful decrease.
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Norway
In July 2011, a far-right activist named Anders Breivik planned a terrorist attack against the then Prime Minister of Norway, Gro Brundtland, as he blamed her for allowing Muslims to settle in the country, as reported by ‘Times’.
First, Breivik detonated a car bomb in Oslo, the capital of Norway, an attack that killed eight people. Later, the offender went to a summer camp of the Labor Party, a political movement to which the president belonged, located on the island of Utoya.
Once there, he fired a semi-automatic rifle and a Glock pistol. The criminal killed 69 people who were present at the event. Fortunately, Brundtland had canceled his attendance.
At that time, people could acquire firearms if they were over 18 years old and presented a permit to the authorities, but this measure was not enough to prevent the massacre.
Subsequently, a gradual change was made, whereby, seven years after the attack, semi-automatic pistols were banned and permits for possession of weapons began to have better and stricter controls.
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