School Massacre Doesn’t Frighten the Gun Lobby

Another fatal shooting has taken place in a school in the United States. It is unclear how the perpetrator got his hands on the weapon. But regardless of the method, political circumstances don’t allow restrictions in the gun laws.

Police in Oakland, Calif., said yesterday that the alleged killer was upset at having been expelled from Oikos University. He also claims to have been treated disrespectfully.

According to the accusation against the arrested 43-year-old One Goh, he returned the day before to his former school and killed seven students. Police sources describe the shooting as a “cold-blooded execution.”

Oikos University, where he had been enrolled, is a small institution primarily meant for Korean Americans. The college is governed by strict Christian Protestant values, but it is not formally affiliated to any recognized church. One Goh belongs to a family of Korean immigrants and is an American citizen.

The incident has not received major news media coverage in the rest of the United States. That fact doesn’t necessarily show that this kind of thing has become routine, but maybe it shows a sense of resignation.

Similar acts of violence in the past have as a rule led to demands for stricter arms regulations. But public opinion has changed. Today, there is a much stronger support for the right of individuals to carry weapons than there was 20 or 40 years ago.

The firearms lobby group the National Rifle Association has been getting support from the populist right-wing tea party movement, which is contributing to the relaxation of gun laws in many states. When a tea party leader had his weapon confiscated at La Guardia Airport in New York recently, he claimed that he was a victim of tyranny.

Demands are being made for increased rights to carry weapons in public places, even in schools, churches and airports. In Arizona, Wyoming and several other states, the law already allows the carrying of a concealed weapon without a special permit.

President Barack Obama has long claimed to support the constitutional right to carry weapons. It is widely thought that the Democrats lost when earlier presidential candidates Al Gore in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004 took up the question of gun control in election debates. But that doesn’t mean that die-hard defenders of the right to carry guns trust Obama. Before the 2008 election, people were stocking up on weapons; Obama was described as “the best weapon seller ever.”