A Country Intoxicated by Its Guns

Nowadays, a double murder committed with a handgun in the United States is just a minor news story. Bullets kill over 30,000 people annually in the U.S., including suicides, so two victims is just a drop in the bucket.

But millions of people witnessed this murder, because it happened live on TV, and because the killer filmed himself and then posted his macabre selfie online. The Internet did the rest.

The “media-zation” of the tragedy created discussion which could be an opportunity for American society to do some soul-searching. They could take advantage of the unusualness of the situation to focus attention on a problem with so many negative consequences.

But public opinion in the United States has been immunized against horror. Even after the massacre of 20 children and six teachers in Newtown in December 2012, the country was unable to free itself from the gun lobby and its hold over American institutions, governments and politicians.

Two years after the Newtown massacre, a survey revealed that the proportion of respondents who oppose stricter gun control laws had increased, rather than decreased. Americans are afraid of losing their guns more than of losing their children.

This isn’t a fight for freedom. A smoker who demands cigarettes because of their nicotine addiction is not doing so because they have a choice. They are obeying a master.

The gun issue in the United States has all the characteristics of an addiction. Pushers exploit addicts, who are unable to overcome their denial and open their eyes.

A few months ago, seven medical professional associations, along with the American Bar Association, released a public manifesto in which they declared gun control was a public health issue and should be treated as such.

The U.S. should deal with gun control in the same way they control tobacco, drunk driving and seat belts, they said. A series of measures was proposed but they probably will never see the light of day. Because the country has a gun to its head.

About a month ago, on July 29, a Florida court upheld a law forbidding doctors from asking their patients about their guns. You read that right. A doctor practicing in Florida who wants to ensure a patient’s guns do not represent a danger to themselves or others cannot ask if they own a gun. They would be committing a crime.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention conducted studies about gun violence until the mid ’90s. The National Rifle Association put an end to them by lobbying Congress, and the CDC has not approached the subject since.

In a 2013 editorial, published after the Newtown massacre, the Annals of Internal Medicine stated that public security experts were refusing to touch the subject because they feared losing public funding for their research.

After Newtown, President Obama issued a presidential decree to put an end to this censorship. He earmarked millions of dollars but ran into opposition from Congress, which gave into the lobby that has crawled into all spheres of society.

It’s not guns that created this mess.

It’s cowardice.