Too few guns or too many guns have become a national debate that only has gotten more intense over the past few days.
Mixed messages can be found all over the country as the New York Times do a front page editorial calling for stronger gun laws while stock in Smith & Wesson, maker of some of the weapons used in the San Bernardino attacks, have surged in the days since the tragedy, in keeping with a pattern that sees the share prices of gun manufacturers jump after high-profile shootings in America.
According to The Guardian wariness of tougher gun laws in response to the massacres routinely drives panic buying of more of weapons. The recent group of shootings at the Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs and the San Bernardino terrorist attacks has spurred a spike in gun sales.
Since Black Friday, guns have been flying off the shelves in record numbers with both hand guns and rifles are popular items by those purchasing fire arms, according to the FBI.
Every GOP Presidential candidate are not looking for any new gun laws. In fact front runner Donald Trump, Dr. Ben Carson, and Ted Cruz all have advocated American’s buying and knowing how to use guns as a way to fight terrorism.
Meanwhile, President Barack Obama, speaking from the Oval Office Sunday night, called the shooting in San Bernardino, an act of terrorism and discussed plans to combat the threat, in part by increasing airstrikes of the Islamic State. He urged Congress to block people on a no-fly list from buying guns and said it should become more difficult to buy “powerful assault weapons like the ones that were used in San Bernardino.”
Concern over stricter gun laws has waned after no action followed the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting three years ago, in which 20 children and 6 adult staff members were killed down by a lone gunman, said Christopher Krueger, an analyst at Lake Street Capital Markets LLC told Bloomberg News.
“There will be a sustained uptick in gun sales, not necessarily because of the potential laws, but because people are worried about these actual events and being defenseless,” he said. “Most people know there probably won’t be any meaningful laws passed that would stop them to buy what they want.”
Meanwhile, on the gun control front last Thursday, just a day after the terrorist attack took place in San Bernardino, California, the Senate Republicans overwhelmingly blocked a gun control measure that would have prevented individuals on the terror watch list from legally buying guns in the United States.
Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein of California sponsored a proposal for preventing known or suspected terrorists from buying firearms at federally licensed dealers. Senator Mark Kirk of Illinois was the only Republican to cross party lines to vote in favor of the restriction. Democratic Senator Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota voted with Republicans to reject the measure, which failed in a 45-54 vote.
The Senate also rejected a separate gun control measure that would expand background checks to all gun sales, including at unregulated shows and online. The bi-partisan proposal was introduced by Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who, along with Republican Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania. The new measure failed, 50-48. Only four of the 54 Republicans voted in favor of applying the checks to unregulated sales.
The Manchin and Toomey bill was aimed at buying guns over the internet which is where many felons, mentally ill people and domestic abusers find it easy to buy weapons.
Welcome to the “New normal,” when we are at a point in this country where some people feel we need more guns, that an armed country is a safer country. Meanwhile, many feel gun laws need to be tightened up and that assault weapons like the ones used in the terrorist attacks in San Bernardino.
I need your help. Give me your comments, more guns or fewer guns?
