Another gun tragedy in the United States.
In late February, African-American teenager Trayvon Martin was shot dead by George Zimmerman while walking home from the supermarket. 911 tapes from the incident revealed that Zimmerman had called the police to report that Martin was acting ‘suspiciously’ and was advised to avoid him – advice he ignored. Zimmerman was never charged after he claimed that he shot Martin in self defence.
The incident has sparked national outrage. Many have asked why Zimmerman was never charged for the shooting – police took Zimmerman’s self-defence account at face value. Others have seen this as a consequence of racial tensions in the US.
There is, however, one debate that this issue has not reignited – gun control. Very few have asked whether this might have been different had Zimmerman not been able to buy and carry a concealed weapon in Florida. This is a trend that we are seeing more in the United States. Following the 2011 Arizona shooting that claimed six lives and critically injured congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, commentators focused much of their energy on whether the hyper-polarised political environment was behind the incident rather than looking at the role of gun laws.
Gun control has been one of the hottest debates throughout US history. With the right to bear arms enshrined in the constitution, nowhere else have gun ‘rights’ been so important. Yet, in spite of the still very high levels of gun violence in the United States the gun control debate has quietened. Progressive leaders, particularly since the presidency of Barack Obama, have become ‘gun shy’.
As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama advocated a number of gun control initiatives. He supported a permanent reinstatement of the Assault Weapons Ban, promised to remove requirements for the FBI to destroy records of gun owners’ background checks and supported a ban on clips that hold large volumes of ammunition. In office, he has done virtually nothing to see these policies instated. He even shelved one of his few reforms, requiring dealers to report bulk sales of high-powered semiautomatic rifles, prior to the mid-terms.
Just as importantly, Obama has failed to comment on gun control, even in the face of national tragedies. After both the shooting in Arizona and the death of Trayvon Martin, Obama failed to acknowledge the role of firearms, let alone propose greater gun control.
Obama’s silence has emboldened supporters of firearms. Under bills proposed by both Democrats and Republicans in Congress, gun owners would be able to transport weapons across state borders without having to adhere to the licensing rules of the states they transport them too. This means that weapons could be acquired in lenient states such as Florida and transported to more stringent states such as New York or California without being subject to the same restrictions. When this legislation passed the House of Representatives in November, it had the support of 43 Democrats. There have been calls for Barack Obama to veto the bill, though he has not yet taken a position on it.
In all of this you can see a Democratic leadership that has become ‘gun shy’.
This reaction stems back from the gun control efforts of President Clinton. Throughout his Presidency Clinton implemented a number of gun control policies, including signing the ‘Brady Bill’ in 1993, which made it more difficult to purchase a handgun and the assault weapons ban in 1994. These changes saw significant pushback, particularly through campaigns by the National Rifle Association against southern and western congressional Democrats who were almost wiped out in the 1994 congressional elections.
Following the elections, Clinton continued his policies through the use of executive orders, but congressional action halted. Despite the Columbine Massacre in the late 90s re-igniting the issue, changes in the US Congress (the Assault Weapons Ban was allowed to expire in 2004), state legislators and even the Supreme Court have seen gun control efforts been taken even further backwards. Now, after years of polarised debate over guns, with the continued growth of the NRA and the increasingly partisan environment, gun control has become an issue that many Democrats see as too tough to touch. In the midst of the attacks on health care, the economy and climate change, guns are just another area that Democrats, and in particular Barack Obama cannot see being worth the battle.
The results of this are debates that are ignoring the reality of gun violence in the United States. With polls showing record lows in support for stricter gun control, gun reform is becoming much harder in country.
In the United States, gun law reform will always be hard. The silence of the Democratic leadership particularly the President however, is making it harder than it should be.