The Tear and Amendment to the Gun Law

The North American president appeared this Tuesday in the White House surrounded by people whose families had in some way been victims of gun violence. It was at a press conference hosted by Mark Barden, whose son Daniel was killed in 2012 in the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, where he uttered the phrase, “Every time I think about those kids [such as Daniel] it gets me mad.” Barack Obama, who has long fought without great success against America’s strongest lobbying group, the gun lobby, could not manage to control his emotions and shed a tear of frustration, impotency and rage.

Obama knows he not only has the power of the National Rifle Association and the Republican resistance against him, but also the 1791 law, resulting from the Second Amendment to the Constitution, which protects the right of Americans to have firearms, with little or no control.

And it is this control, which the majority Republican Congress has always refused, that Obama is now trying to circumvent with executive actions, adopting a series of measures restricting the sale and carrying of arms in the United States. “I also believe we can find ways to reduce gun violence consistent with the Second Amendment.”

It’s a pathway that Republicans promise to make as impassible as possible. Already this Tuesday, Paul Ryan pointed out that the next president could reverse an executive action, accusing that “rather than focus on criminals and terrorists,” Obama is pursuing “law-abiding citizens.” But this is a law with that people like Mark Barden do not understand. Obama has already countered with the following well-argued statement: The number of Americans who have died because of terrorism since Sept. 11 is fewer than 100. There are tens of thousands who die every year because of gun violence. One of those is Daniel.