Freedom to Kill

The right to own and carry a gun is a very polarized debate in the United States. This debate fires up again every time that there is a massacre such as the one that James Holmes committed in an Aurora, Colorado cinema. Every time we hear about the war on drugs in Mexico, waged with assault weapons bought primarily in the neighboring country, the debate is opened again. The daily use of guns for violence attracts less attention, although it reaches alarming proportions. The rate of homicide with a firearm is 80 deaths per day — the highest of all developing countries.

There is one gun for every citizen: 300 million in total. This figure tops Yemen, which comes in second in the ranking. Domestic arsenals are constantly on the increase but with a larger number in fewer hands, much like wealth. In 1973, one in every two houses had a gun — now that figure stands at one in five. Some periods have seen stricter regulations enforced and others have been more lax. We are currently in a lax period, thanks to the actions of pressure groups, principally the National Rifle Association.

All of this only facilitates the actions of killers. There are 78,000 suppliers and 26,000 shops and fairs where guns are sold without restrictions: Sheldon Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands hosts one of the biggest. There are control measures, of course, for which the Office for Alcohol, Tobacco, Guns and Explosives is responsible, but they are scarce and weak with a mere 2,500 agents — insufficient for a market of that size. Revoking a license for selling to criminals, for example, takes roughly 15 months to come into effect. Only 20 percent of shops are inspected annually. According to the Journal Sentinel, “federal watchdogs rarely revoke the licenses of lawbreaking gun dealers. And when they do, stores can easily beat the system by having a relative, friend or employee pull a fresh license.” The Milwaukee newspaper has located 35 revoked sellers that are still working in connection with a criminal clientele.

These events reflect the interpretation of the second amendment of the American Constitution: “A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” For progressive judges, it is a subordinate right in an armed state, and a sacrosanct individual right for conservatives. Both presidential candidates, the incumbent Obama and challenger Romney, prefer to hide their preferences — the former, however, would ban guns if he could and the latter voted against their prohibition when he was governor of Massachusetts. The debate also affects the freedom of the federal states to vote without the interference of Federal Government. But the free market primarily benefits manufactures, dealers and murderers.