Victory for the Gun Lobby

Whenever its interests appear to be under attack, the United States is quick to bring out the heavy artillery — but on the subject of gun ownership in America, the government is quick to wave the white flag.

Regardless of where they are in the world, whenever the lives of Americans are threatened, Washington brings out the heavy artillery. It threatens, imposes sanctions, and deploys military hardware and soldiers. Yet when another massacre takes place on U.S. soil — in a school, a church or movie theater — the superpower reacts with tears, prayers, candles and tales of heroism. And in Washington, the almighty politicians respond with helplessness and surrender, as though massacres were hardly different from traffic accidents. Or, as Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush said, they should merely be classified under the heading, “stuff happens.”

But there are few things so clearly laid out in the American system as gun violence. Since 2001, it has claimed 406,496 lives nationwide, while during the same time period, “only” 3,380 died as a result of terrorist action — and that includes those who perished on 9/11.

The reasons are obvious: No other country on earth has more privately owned guns. No other nation offers such easy access to guns. Nowhere are the governmental controls on guns fewer or weaker. And nowhere else is the pro-gun lobby so powerful that it can buy its own politicians.

In this environment, President Obama’s announcement that he intends to “politicize” the gun violence issue is justified. Where the political will exists and the institutions cooperate, it is possible to bring peace to a country already armed to the teeth. The examples offered by the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, whose governments reacted to gun violence by banning guns and criminalizing their use, show how rapidly this approach can succeed. So far, what has been missing in the U.S. is the public perception that gun violence can be countered by political means. That has been the greatest achievement of the gun lobbies, their bought-and-paid-for politicians and the media.