GUNS

I – The facts
Gruesome murders in schools:
- 1997 – 1999: 30 people shot dead by teenagers.
- Marsh 1998: two sixth-graders killed 4 girls and a teacher in Arkansas.
- April 1999: 2 teens killed 12 students and one teacher before killing themselves.
Why are guns so readily available in America?

The gun culture: Americans are so keen on firearms

1624: survey counted a firearm for each colonist. Pioneers needed guns for practical reasons:
eat and protect themselves from the wild.
After the American Revolution (la Guerre d’indépendance), the right to bear arms was enshrined
in the Second Amendment to the Constitution.
Later, America’s border experience fuelled its attachment to guns. FEAR.
Things have not really changed. Today, many Americans still thinks that they have both a right
and a duty to ensure their own protection. The pb is that any killing in the neighbourhood tens
to send them scurrying to the gun shop. No rational behaviour.

The gun lobby: “Guns are as American as apple pie” Charleston Heston, former president of
the NRA
The 3-million-strong National Rifle Association (NRA) whose favourite mottos are “Criminals, not
gun, are the issue” and “When guns are outlawed, only criminals will have guns”.
The NRA (4,3 million members) is proud of its Project Exile, a local zero-tolerance policy: “any
felon caught with a gun there, whether he’s raping or resting, goes to jail for five years”.
Another one: The Eddy Eagle safety program, designed to prevent gun accidents in elementary
schools.
The clout of the gun lobby is obvious when you consider how many guns are privately-owned and
how easy it is to buy and even carry one around.
At the turn of the century, 230m firearms are available to the general public. It is a
conventional industry working along capitalistic lines in a free market. i.e. guns are a
commodity like just any other.

How easy is it to buy and carry a gun?

Until the Brady Bill was voted in 1993, it was extremely easy to by a firearm in the 24 states
without gun purchasing laws. The case of David Koresh, the cult leader.
The Brady law requires a background check to make sure that the prospective buyer does not
have a criminal record. If he is cleared by the FBI, he can instantly walk away with his gun in 35
states. Others require from him to wait from 2 to 15 days.
However, one loophole: it fails to require private collectors at gun shows (foire aux armes à feu)
to conduct background checks. Only 4 states made it mandatory.

The Brady law

November 1993, after a hard-fought, seven-year-long battle in Congress, they scored a
resounding victory over the NRA and the gun lobby when President Clinton signed the Brady
Handgun Violence Prevention Act into law.
It was name after Reagan’s press secretary (James Brady) who was shot and left disabled.
- Applied in all 50 states
- It reduced the extent of interstate gun trafficking.
- The flow of illegal weapons all but dried up.
- Over the five ensuing years, 250 thousand applicants by prospective were rejected.
- Curbed the number of gun dealers around the country.
Where do we go from here?
However, the battle is far from decided and it is doubtful wether the issue of guns will
disappear from the national agenda anytime.

A total ban on hand guns?

How do you put out of business a booming industry that employs more people than Chrysler?
Local initiatives such as buyback drives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. But it is expensive.
Besides, it seems to have gone out of fashion.
After the assassinations of Kennedy (1963) and Martin Luther King (1968), gun laws were voted.
Ultimately, in 2008, the Supreme Court ruled that the Bill of Rights included a guarantee of the
personal right to own a gun.
In recent years, there have been calls for a renewed debate over gun violence after a series of
horrific shootings.
November 2009: An Army psychiatrist – shooting 13 people and wounding 30.
January 2011: gunman in Tucson (Arizona) shot and killed 6 people and wounded 14. In the wake
of it, gun control advocates said they believed the shock of the attack would alter the political
atmosphere, bc one of the victims was a member of Congress (a Democrat of Arizona). But the
bills introduced went nowhere.

Court battles over the Second Amendment

“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people
to keen and bear Arms, shall no be infringed”
2008: The Supreme Court and Bill of Rights
June 2010: The Second Amendment restrains government’s ability to significantly limit “the
right to keep and bear arms”.
May 2009: Obama signed into law a provision allowing visitors to national parks and refuges to
carry loaded and concealed weapons. It represented a Congressional victory, especially under a
Republican President.
July 2009: The Senate turned aside the latest attempt by gun advocates to expand the rights of
gun owners, narrowly voting down a provision that would have allowed gun owners with valid
permits from one state to carry concealed weapons.
2013: After the appalling Sandy Hook shooting, Obama did his utmost to put all his weight
behind a law aiming to:
- Strengthen the 1994-2004 ban on sale and production of assault weapons.
- Make criminal background mandatory for all gun sales.
He did not manage to push it through Congress, bc of the Republican majority refusing to budge
on the issue.
Many Americans still cling to their guns...

Recent mass shootings

- The Harvest Music Festival: 58 killed.
October 1st 2017 – The deadliest mass shooting in modern US history.
- Pulse Night club: 49 killed
June 12th 2016 – A gay night club in Orlando
- First Baptist - Sutherland Springs: 26 killed
In a small church in Texas

The NRA
Founded in 1871 in NY by two civil war veterans who were worried about the lack of
marksmanship in the armed force. The major advocate for gun rights, has become a player in
American politics.
After victories in the courts and Congress, with both Democrats and Republicans courting its
favour.
The NRA recently weighed in on such varied issues as health care, campaign finance, credit card
regulations and Supreme Court nominees. It sponsors shooting contests and other events but it is
best known for its political activism surrounding gun laws. Its lobbying arm, the NRA-Institute
for Legislation Action, was established in 1975. In 2010, the organization had a $307 million
budget.
II – Text for study: “This has to stop”
Are things looking up regarding gun violence?

The rest of the world has long been chocked by the obstinacy of the USA to refusing to
implement gun control legislation, in spite of the country being plagued by gun crimes in recent
years. As the journalist notices it, there are now Americans who have lived through two gun
massacres. However, are things looking up regarding the issue?

Another gun shot happened in last November, only 11 days after the Pittsburgh blood bath… At
the sight of these massacres, it seems that gun attacks have created a vicious circle of death
and Americans are experiencing it over and over.

What happened: killed 12 people and wounded 20.

This attack followed the election that gave Democrats control of one chamber of Congress. DT
said he was ready to cooperate and reinforce gun laws.
Starting with tightening background checks for gun purchases.

Correction prof:
In the wake of a bloodbath in a Synagogue in Pittsburgh, a lone gunman slaughtered at least 12
people. It is one more rampage in an apparently never ending ghastly series, bemoans/ laments.
It lies with the president and the Democrats in the House of the Representative to roll up their
sleeves and get down to a nitty-gritty. The democrats secured a majority in Congress at the last
election. Their figurehead Nancy… trumpeted her willingness to reach across the aisle (tendre la
main dans un sens politic) and cooperate with the President. Whilst the latter extoled the
virtues (chanter les louanges) of bipartismship. The Democrats have a head start over the
Republican counter part, the journalist argues. Indeed, they are poised (ready) to up the ante
regarding background checks or to do away with bump stocks.
More worryingly, to the journalist, Trump’s stance is much more clear-cut. In February, he was
up-in-arms against the NRA and he fully endorsed/ put all his weight behind thorough
background check.
Amazingly enough, he pandered (céder à) to the NRA when it voiced its discontent. Then at the
last elections, there was a groundswell of support for those candidates advocating a crack down
on firearms all around the country.
All in all, time is ripe (le moment est venu, mûr sens 1er) for bipartismship and to wage war on
guns by pushing through Congress ground-breaking legislation (révolutionnaire).

Text for a mock oral exam:

Cf. brouillon
Complément APPLETON

- Gun control means attempts to limit the 2nd Amendment, such as putting gun-owners on a register,
imposing a minimum age to bear arms, background checks for people’s mental health records etc…

- Given the huge gun crime rate in the USA, is the 2nd Amendment valid today? It was written for a
specific time and context, allowing local populations to form militias to protect against invasion (it
was feared the British could reinvade after the War of Independence), as there was no national army or
police force at the time.

- Michael Moore’s film “Bowling for Columbine” demonstrates just how easy it is to obtain a firearm in
the US (he gets one for free when he opens a bank account). Interestingly however, Moore concludes
that easy access to weapons is not the main cause of gun crime. He draws a parallel with Canada,
where he alleges owning guns is popular, but people don’t shoot each other. He puts the problem
down to successive governments creating a climate of fear which makes people nervous and irrational.

- Very little action in favour of gun control has been taken in recent years. Between 2014 and 2016
more laws were passed in individual states facilitating access to firearms rather than restricting it.
Since then however, there have been signs that the tide may have finally turned. Many states such as
Maryland have banned assault-style rifles. In December 2015, The NYT’s first editorial on the front
page for nearly a century spoke about “a moral outrage and a national disgrace” (after San
Bernardino). This shows that mind-sets are changing.

- The NRA, with its slogan “Guns don’t kill people, people do”, is far more powerful and influential
than its anti-gun opponent the Brady Campaign.

- Republican candidates often use pro-gun rhetoric. Ted Cruz’s slogan during the primaries was
“You don't stop the bad guys by taking away our guns. You stop the bad guys by using our guns."

Has Trump made much headway reading gun violence lately ?

Following a spate of bloodbath, Donald Trump unexpectedly came out in favor of more stringent
regulation regarding guns. Surprisingly enough, in one of his beloved about-turn (revirement)
while on the stamp in Monroe Louisiana, he expatiated
And on the looming demarcating threat

Since Trumps set foot in the white house, there has been a staggering number of slaughters
hence Trump’s commitment to start an uphill battle (combat perdu d’avance) to win gun-
friendly republicans over to the gun-control cause (to win someone over to: rallier qqn à une
cause). Hardly had Nancy Pelosi (the Democratic speaker of the US House of Representatives)
broken the news of the Impeachment investigation (enquête) when Trump ditched (laisser
tomber) any plans regarding guns.
Trump’s opponents put the blame on … not only did Pelosi overlooked the gun issue but
henceforth Impeachment will take precedence over any other consideration. Put simply, it is a
spanner in the works.
Additionally, with the forthcoming Presidential elections, the incubent President will strive to
woo (séduire) his die-hard electors come what may.

When push comes to shove,

politics have prevailed over

Trump’s commitment may have been mire posturing.