Strict Gun Legislation Could Hinder Killing Sprees

The most recent killing spree in the U.S. shows that the availability of firearms must be restricted. Even if it does not stop all crime, it can reduce the number of deaths.

Almost a year to the day after the mass murder on the Norwegian island of Utøya, in which 77 people were killed, an equally cold-blooded deed has shocked the world. Barack Obama said that if there was a lesson to be taken from the killing spree in Colorado, “it’s the reminder that life is very fragile. Our time here is limited and it is precious.” Thus the president somewhat trivialized the deed. Another lesson to take away from the movie theatre massacre — in which 12 people died, including a six-year-old girl — is that gun control in the U.S. is too lax.

But reforming the relevant legislation is difficult, and it is not primarily due to the fact that National Rifle Association lobbyists set the tone. Much more critical is that there are good arguments for the well-known second amendment of 1791, which guarantees “the right of the people to keep and bear arms.”

Right to self-defense

Anyone who dismisses the defense of this privilege as a nostalgic reminiscence of the Wild West, or as American paranoia, does not know the country. As anyone who has traveled through South Dakota, Texas, Iowa or Arizona can attest, you want to have your Smith & Wesson in the house when it is many miles to the next neighbor or police station.

The right to self-defense has a different significance here to that in continental Europe; even there Utøya would not have been prevented, nor the shootings in Winnenden and Erfurt.

The need for reform in America

However, there remains plenty to reform in the U.S. In principle, allowing possession of firearms is quite different from dispensing with the registration of purchased weapons. Furthermore, semiautomatic weapons such as the AR-15 are essential for neither self-defense nor hunting.

In 1994 Congress banned such assault rifles — but that law expired in 2004. Obama made no effort to renew it. No campaign issue. Stricter gun legislation will not stop all gun crime, but it could reduce the number of gun-related deaths.