Not a Day Without a Bullet

Another Shooting Has Occurred in the U.S.A.

President Barack Obama said that tragic incidents occur too regularly and should prompt “soul searching” among citizens.

Another shooting occurred after a night cruise on the ship Detroit Princess. The cause of the conflict is unclear. The only certainty is that a woman debarked in Detroit and ran to her vehicle for a handgun. Upon return, she began firing into the crowd. As a result, doctors say that four men and three women are in “temporary serious condition.”

The incident in Detroit occurred one day after a shooting in a Sikh temple in Wisconsin. The consequences were far more serious there: Six people died and two dozen were injured. Police killed the shooter, former Army Sgt. Wade Michael Page. It later became apparent that he espoused extreme right-wing views and played in a racist rock group called End Apathy, whose fans were fueled by cheap beer and nationalistic skinhead rhetoric. Page appeared in photos with tattoos of Nazi symbols.

Apparently, the 40-year-old “American Breivik” attacked the Sikhs because he mistook them for Muslims. Experts do not believe that the skinheads had any particular agenda against Sikhs, adherents of one of the religions of South Asia.

After the shooting in Wisconsin, U.S. President Barack Obama promised to “examine additional ways that we can reduce violence.” Journalists asked White House spokesman Jay Carney whether measures limiting the right to carry firearms were being considered. He said that the president believes it is necessary to take action within the framework of existing norms, especially by “[keeping] guns out of the hands of those who should not have them under existing law.”

But the problematic question of gun control remains. The current election year in the U.S. has turned out to be very hot in all senses of the word. At a time of economic trouble, persistent unemployment and other difficulties, political confrontation has grown white-hot. Obama’s Republican opponents are pushed by ultraconservatives in the influential Tea Party to take increasingly radical positions. This didn’t begin today – the polarization has grown gradually, gaining momentum like a snowball.

There have also been suggestions that the series of shootings is not a coincidence – that someone is trying to undermine Barack Obama ahead of the presidential election by demonstrating his inability to ensure the nation’s security. Rossiyskaya Gazeta asked Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of the Russia in Global Affairs magazine, to what degree this theory is accurate.

“America is a country where this kind of violence, large-scale actions by unstable or insane individuals, occurs constantly. A high-profile incident occurs every two or three months. This always leads to debate about gun control and calls to re-examine traditional American policy, which reflects the fact that the possession of arms is a citizen’s unalienable right. This is a fundamental issue for many Americans. But it has a very long history. I believe that this is irrelevant to the presidential election itself. American society has truly developed a tense, polarized atmosphere. But this did not just happen; it has accumulated since the beginning of the 21st century. In my opinion, there is no reason to tie the situation directly to the current presidential campaign.”