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Controlling gun crimes needs social reset in US

Feb 06, 2023 09:52 AM IST

Compared to democracies such as Australia, Britain, New Zealand and South Africa­, which had gun massacre incidents of their own but managed to legislate and reduce the supply of weapons, the US is more extreme in terms of corporate power, social fragmentation and ideological schisms

America is at war with itself. Its epidemic of gun violence has reached epic proportions, so much so that news of yet another massacre by a crazed shooter has become routine, and reactions have grown numb, from a feeling of déjà vu and helplessness.

This chronic failure to regulate availability of assault weapons, despite the mounting toll of victims and the psychological grief, is a function of excess free market capitalism, ideological polarisation and the lingering effects of centuries of slavery and racial discrimination (AFP) PREMIUM
This chronic failure to regulate availability of assault weapons, despite the mounting toll of victims and the psychological grief, is a function of excess free market capitalism, ideological polarisation and the lingering effects of centuries of slavery and racial discrimination (AFP)

Since 2019, mass shootings have risen significantly in the United States (US). 2023 has begun on an ominous note, with attack after attack occurring relentlessly. And yet, in spite of firearms being the leading cause of deaths in the US for younger people, there is a stark absence of meaningful regulation of the scourge. Each fresh carnage is followed by predictable appeals for gun control through tighter laws and soul-searching in the news media about how America is becoming a war zone at large. But once the immediacy of a specific shocking attack fades, it is back to business as usual with little transformative change.

This chronic failure to regulate the availability of assault weapons, despite the mounting toll of victims and the psychological grief, is a function of excess free market capitalism, ideological polarisation and the lingering effects of centuries of slavery and racial discrimination. An outlier with the highest per capita civilian gun ownership among all countries in the world, the US has peculiar structural features which make it uniquely vulnerable to violence.

It is an open secret that the gun lobby, comprising weapons manufacturers and their financiers, is a powerful corporate vested interest group that has cosy ties with politicians at all levels in the US. No matter how ghastly the gun rampages are in human terms, the weapons’ companies have a sway over legislators that amounts to legalised corruption, favours and quid pro quos.

The list of the top leadership of the Republican Party at the federal and state levels who receive campaign funding from the National Rifle Association, the industry body of gun makers, is long and formidable. It amounts to an open capture of public policymaking by moneybags with no force strong enough to overcome their veto.

Related to this unhindered corporate power grab is the notion entrenched in the minds of many conservative Americans that owning weapons is an individual choice, a constitutional right and a symbol of freedom. According to the Pew Research Center’s opinion polls, 73% of Americans backing the Democratic Party view gun violence as a major problem but only 18% of citizens favouring the Republican Party see it that way. In the present era of total ideological polarisation between the Right-wing and Left-wing in the US, gun control is a political “red meat” cultural war issue such as abortion and the rights of homosexual people.

There is also a racial dimension to America’s fatal gun addiction. In polls, a majority of African-Americans and Hispanic Americans consider gun violence to be a big problem, but only a little over one-third of White Americans think so. Ingrained beliefs that guns are essential for personal protection and safety against criminal minorities amid growing wealth and income inequalities along racial lines are background factors which paralyse America and prevent it from thinking and acting as one nation to overcome its violent culture.

Stereotypes about Black men as being inherently criminal and the dire need to arm oneself to keep the menace under check, have been passed on from generation to generation as a legacy of the Civil War of the 1860s. That there is no sustained cross-cultural mass social movement to apply pressure on politicians and lobbyists to end the armed impunity on streets, schools, homes and institutions speaks about how hopelessly segregated America is and shows little consensus about what constitutes security and community.

The same libertarian individualistic attitudes and unfettered laissez-faire values, which have made the US so dynamic and successful in many spheres, are also its core weaknesses when they are stretched beyond reasonable limits. Compared to democracies such as Australia, Britain, New Zealand and South Africa­, which had gun massacre incidents of their own but managed to legislate and reduce the supply of weapons, the US is more extreme in terms of corporate power, social fragmentation and ideological schisms. The sad reality is that this type of nation and society cannot reform and remake themselves. Its next gun tragedy is just a matter of time.

Sreeram Chaulia is professor and dean at the Jindal School of International AffairsThe views expressed are personal

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