“Father’s Day has come around five times since my daughter was killed. The sound of gunfire has been echoing in my brain every day for the past few years.” The American prosecutor who lost his daughter in a school shooting on Father’s Day in 2022 Fred Gutenberg, a pro-gun activist, sent a lengthy letter on social media.
The National Rifle Association also unveiled a father-daughter poster that day. The accompanying text states, “The NRA parents will tell you the truth about the Second Amendment to the Constitution before the liberals try to explain.” The U.S. Constitution guarantees the right to keep and carry arms for self-defense.
These two online speeches have received thousands of likes. Just like in the real world, the American gun control faction and the gun support faction have competed again and again.
Since May 2021, the series of vicious shooting incidents that have occurred one after another has made many Americans pay attention to the controversial topic of “gun control” again.
Controversy at the “Annual Meeting”
Three days after the “Texas Rob Elementary School Shooting,” which left 21 people dead, many Americans are still feeling depressed as of May 27 local time. The National Rifle Association’s (NRA) annual general meeting took place as scheduled in Houston, Texas, less than 5 hours ride by car from the scene of the massacre. At the concurrent expo, “the newest gun and equipment from the hottest businesses in the industry” are on display.
The National Rifle Association, which was founded in New York State in 1871 and has about 5 million members nationwide, is regarded as America’s biggest pro-gun organization.
More and more Americans are pushing for gun regulation in the face of rising gun violence. The NRA convened its annual convention amidst the controversy, which once more generated a heated debate about gun support and gun control.
Large crowds of protesters had assembled outside the meeting location, as seen on video from the day of the event. Protesters brandished signs and repeatedly yelled, “NRA, GO AWAY,” as NRA members entered the area. A woman who was going to walk into the venue returned fire. “You should just walk away,” she said.
On that particular day, the heavyweight men who support owning guns also made an appearance at the guest forum and spoke individually.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump accused Democrats in his address of attempting to vilify the people who support owning guns by using the tragedy as justification. Texas Senator Cruz blamed “cultural failures” for gun violence, arguing that “broken families, declining church attendance, social media bullying, and video games” were the problem.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who was supposed to attend the meeting, joined it via video due to pressure from the public. He said he was “heartbroken for such a senseless tragedy” but remained opposed to gun control legislation.
According to CNN, there is a significant split in opinion on guns, and a story of “two Americas” is coming to life in downtown Houston.
“More guns than people”, a mature gun business
The sale of firearms is a well-established industry in the US. Gun interests have developed a full supply chain of “gun makers-advertisers-retailers-customers” throughout the years. Many gun shops are open to greet customers and sell firearms at plainly stated pricing in large cities like New York and Chicago.
More privately owned firearms have been traded in recent years through the Internet, gun shows, and other uncharted new channels. Numerous gun manufacturers, shops, and individuals have benefited greatly from it.
Chinese Li Hai (pseudonym), who has lived in San Francisco for many years, owns a Chinese restaurant and works as a shooting instructor on the side. He explained to the Southern Weekend reporter that new gun owners typically need to pass a simple evaluation in order to obtain a firearms license.
“The entire exam lasts approximately an hour, and the questions mostly concern common sense gun safety. How should you point a gun, for instance, when you have it in your hand?” Li Hai claimed that the gun shop instructor would provide students with basic instructions before to the test. Additionally, the exam is taken there.
According to statistics on gun ownership in the United States, there were 330 million private guns in the country in 2009, which marked the first time the number surpassed the country’s whole population. This figure has close to 400 million in 2021. Li Hai also acknowledged that “senior students frequently have more than one pistol” to the Southern Weekend reporter.
Covid-19 has helped the firearms trade more. The annual sales of firearms in the United States reached a record of 22.8 million in 2020, up 64% from the year before, according to the American “Small Arms Analysis” agency.
Guns do not, however, guarantee complete safety. More than 16,000 individuals have perished in various forms of gun violence, though 2021 has not passed, according to the statistical analysis of the “Gun Violence File.”
About 4.6 million American children live in homes with at least one loaded and unlocked pistol, American columnist John Owens wrote sadly on June 5, 2022. “Are we safe now that we have 400 million guns?”
“Spokesperson” and “Funders”
The NRA has been around for almost 150 years after being established in the 1870s. Effective political lobbying and campaigns against virtually every proposed gun control legislation started to become one of its key operations in the second half of the 20th century, which had a significant impact on gun control laws in the United States.
Every four years, there is a presidential election, which is when the NRA is most active. Gun interest groups devote most of their political contributions to assisting the “gun supporters” who serve as their spokespersons. According to a Center for Responsive Politics analysis, the NRA and its gun industry friends contributed $80 million to the U.S. House, Senate, and presidential elections between 2000 and 2012.
The NRA spent around $20 million on advertising criticizing Democrat Hillary Clinton and another $10 million on ads endorsing Republican Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential race. The NRA prefers to lobby on behalf of Republicans than Democrats.
In actuality, gun interest groups such as the NRA just serve as “middlemen” and “lobbies,” with weapons makers acting as the real vested interests and driving force. According to publicly available data, the majority of the NRA’s funding comes from donations, royalties, and advertising, with the majority of these coming from the firearms industry.
One of the NRA’s “generous” donors is the well-known firearms manufacturer “Glock.” Glock was chosen for the NRA Ring of Freedom sponsorship program and made a $1 million donation to the NRA in 2017, according to information made public by the NRA.
The support that gun manufacturer give to gun-supporting organizations may also have a covert purpose, namely to divert some of the demonstrators’ ire during a PR crisis. Gun control advocates have taken notice of the NRA since the “Texas Rob Elementary School Shooting,” which takes place before the NRA’s annual convention. And despite the heated discussion over gun control, Daniel Defence, the weapons maker involved in the tragedy, has managed to remain unnoticed.
Around the “glue” of gun interests, gun manufacturers, lobby groups, and interested politicians are inseparable.
Public Opinion and Gun-Holding “Culture”
The United States has been engaged in a protracted debate over “gun support” and “gun control,” yet “gun prohibition” speeches are rarely heard. Additionally, certain members of the public support gun lobbyists.
When European immigrants first came to the United States, they had to rely on their firearms to establish themselves in the “New World,” and militia groups in different states participated in the American Revolutionary War. The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution, which established the American people’s right to bear arms in self-defense, was officially ratified on December 15, 1791. “Freedom to bear arms” has become widely accepted across all races and political parties with the support of national laws.
According to a national survey conducted by the Pew Research Center from April 5–11, 2021, just over half of American citizens (53 percent) think gun rules should be tougher than they are. A third (32%) believe that the current gun rules are appropriate, and 14% even believe that they should be relaxed.
Additionally, if there is a sign of a gun control bill in the United States, gun sales will suddenly rise because many individuals are concerned that the new law will restrict their freedom to purchase firearms.
Between 1.2 million and 1.3 million weapons were sold in the US on the first day following the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. Ironically, the 223-caliber Viper rifle that mass murderer Adam Lanza used was the top seller.
The lobby is made more comfortable by people supporting firearms. A percentage of the NRA’s money comes from member donations in addition to the gun industry. Many donations, ranging from tens of dollars to hundreds of dollars, come from private individuals.
According to NRA spokesperson Jennifer Baker, “Americans hope the NRA to preserve their constitutional right to self-preservation,” “People give to the NRA in order to voice their opposition to gun control activists.”
People who support gun control in the United States prefer to have more restrictions and restraints on those who carry guns, such as banning dangerous people from possessing firearms and strengthening background checks, according to the official website of the American gun control organization “EVERYTOWN FOR GUN SAFETY”. The debate between gun supporters and pro-gun control organizations is about whether to “shackle” the freedom to freely possess firearms rather than “whether to outlaw guns.”
The future of the “gun control bill” is worrisome
On June 12, 2022, local time, a bipartisan group of 20 U.S. senators (10 Democrats and 10 Republicans) declared that they had reached an agreement on the framework of the Gun Safety Act.
The announcement was made on social media by U.S. Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, who referred to it as “the first significant agreement on gun control amongst leaders from both parties in the United States in the previous 30 years.”
When a Connecticut elementary school was shot in 2012, then-President Barack Obama advocated for stronger gun legislation. Gun advocates, however, persisted in opposing gun control laws on the grounds that “the right to bear a gun is under threat,” and the legislation ultimately “aborted.”
The “consensus” obtained by the bipartisan group this time, as opposed to ten years ago, means that it has acquired the support of several Republican lawmakers who originally opposed gun control legislation, fracturing the lengthy standoff between Democrats and Republicans on bipartisan gun restriction legislation.
Has American gun control legislation, though, truly shone?
According to reports from numerous American media outlets, the above-mentioned bill’s framework primarily consists of four components. Along with the absence of tighter gun control legislation, heated debates have also been sparked by apparent gaps in the current framework. For instance, despite certain jurisdictions prohibiting minors or children under the age of 21 from purchasing pistols, semi-automatic rifles are nonetheless legal to purchase through underground channels including the Internet, gun shows, and purchasing agencies. In the recent Texas elementary school shooting, the 18-year-old gunman used an AR15 semi-automatic rifle.
The future is not particularly promising, even with such an “imperfect” bill. The “consensus” that the two sides have laboriously reached could disintegrate at any time.
Translator：Wanqi Huang