Access to Guns and Unemployment Under Debate

Yesterday’s attack illustrates two key issues in the U.S. presidential campaign.

For the fourth time in less than two months, a shooting has spread panic in the United States. This time the perpetrator was an unemployed man, a fact which not only prompts discussion of citizens’ easy access to weapons, but also calls attention to a major social problem: the high rate of unemployment, which has prevailed despite mild improvement in the American economy.

The aggressor, who was killed by the police in the shooting, had been fired from a women’s accessory company known as Hazan Imports, where he had worked for six years. According to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, shooter Jeffrey Johnson was fired about a year ago when the company decided to downsize. In other words, he fit into the sizeable demographic of almost 14 million Americans who are currently looking for a job without success.

In the middle of the election campaign, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney denounced Barack Obama’s economic policies, specifically his failure to lower unemployment rates. Obama has repeatedly defended himself, stating that every stimulus bill that he presented before Congress was blocked by the Republican opposition. Regardless, the issue of unemployment is truly Obama’s Achilles’ heel. Yesterday’s shooting proves how quickly a socioeconomic problem in the U.S. can be transformed into a violent incident.

Additionally, by firing a 45-caliber handgun at one of his ex-bosses, Johnson undoubtedly made it clear that he had psychological issues. His actions reinforced the claim that it is too easy to buy a gun in the U.S., as even a person with his mental imbalances was able to attain one without difficulty.

“We are not immune to the national problem of gun violence,” Bloomberg, who is one of the most active politicians in the struggle against gun sales control, said yesterday.

According to Bloomberg, after the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy, a law that aimed to prevent people with mental problems from purchasing guns was never truly implemented after being passed in 1968. In 1993 another measure, the Brady Act, attempted to facilitate the implementation of that law by demanding that gun shops check the history of potential buyers before making a sale. However, Bloomberg contends that this system of background checks is not effective. Yesterday’s shooting is yet another example.

After the shooting at a premiere of “Batman: the Dark Knight Rises” in Colorado, Bloomberg urged Obama and Romney to join his crusade. Romney had no comment, while Obama only replied that, although he respects the right to purchase weapons, he agrees that they should not fall into the hands of “unbalanced” or criminal people.