US mass shootings: Two more attacks prompt calls for gun control, however nothing is likely to change

Inews

It felt like Groundhog Day this week in the US, with the same miserable events playing out after yet another mass shooting. Ten people were killed Monday when a gunman opened fire at a grocery store in Boulder, Colorado. It came less than a week after a gunman opened fire at massage spas in the Atlanta area, murdering eight people. Yet after both atrocities, any attempts to change gun laws to stop more mass shooting were, well, shot down by the gun lobby and their fiercely loyal supporters in Congress.

On Tuesday, President Joe Biden called for an assault weapons ban and other gun control measures, saying the Colorado shooting should jolt Washington and the nation into action. In sombre remarks from the White House State Dining Room, he said he would do everything in his power to keep Americans safe and pushed a pair of House-passed gun reforms, including a universal background checks measure and an assault weapons ban.

However, opponents began their pre-emptive strikes within hours of shooting. Campaign spots were released by the likes of Colorado House Republican Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene from Georgia warning about Democrats trying to take guns away from law-abiding citizens.

Senator John Neely Kennedy from Louisiana bizarrely compared gun control to drink driving laws, and said the issue was more about “idiot control”.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz even accused Democrats of “ridiculous theatre” for calling for universal background checks, claiming without evidence that gun control does not lessen crime, “it makes it worse.”

This routine has become almost ritualistic in its repetitiveness. If anything, the protest by gun interests has become even louder as the shootings have become more frequent. And it shows hard changing the law will be.

The main reason for this is the National Rifle Association (NRA), the group founded in 1871 by two US Civil War veterans as a recreational group designed to “promote and encourage rifle shooting on a scientific basis”.

It is now one of the most powerful political lobbies in Washington, spending roughly $250m per year, far more than all the country’s gun control advocacy groups put together. And it is in lockstep with Republicans: a shorthand for anyone’s conservative credentials is how much the NRA ranks their support for Second Amendment rights to own a gun.

This means that while Democrats say they are pushing toward a vote on expanded gun control measures, prospects for any major changes are dim in the 50-50 Senate – where 60 votes are needed for any legislative change.

A large majority of Americans – 88 per cent – back background checks for private gun sales, according to a 2019 Pew Research Center poll. But despite this, the uniquely American phenomenon of mass shootings is likely to remain grimly repetitive.

This Story First Appeared At The INews