New Delhi: Stricter Gun control laws have been a pertinent demand for the 21st century US and hopes were up after Joe Biden, an ardent gun-control advocate, took oath as the President with a trail of lofty promises regarding curbing fire-arms violence and easy licensing in the states.
However, after hundreds of shootings after January 2021, especially the most recent Brooklyn Subway Shooting that left three dead and over 20 injured, the US seems to be standing in a worse position than where it started.
Going by the numbers, the mass shooting and violence involving firearms have only risen from 2020 to 2021, leaving gun control advocates and Biden supporters disappointed and wondering if America’s gun violence epidemic is a dead-end street?
Gun violence in the US- by the numbers
According to the Centre for Disease Control (CDC), there were more than 45,000 gun deaths in 2020, during Trump’s rule, out of which more than 24,200 were suicides.
According to the latest updates by Gun Violence Archive, an online archive tracking gun violence incidents in the US since 2013, firearm violence incidents, especially mass shootings set records in almost all aspects in 2021, after Biden’s entry.
As of December 31, 2021, some 44,750 deaths, resulting from gun violence including 20,660 homicides and 24,090 suicides were reported in the US among them 1,533 were children and teens under 17, suggested Gun Violence Archive data.
A CNN report, which was prepared after an analysis of over 40 major cities said more than two-thirds of the country’s most populous cities saw more gun-related homicides in 2021 than in 2020.
However, this must be taken into consideration that more than half of the gun-related deaths are the outcome of a suicidal act, but the easy availability of guns and inefficient mechanism to restrain the unfettered sale of firearms is the main issue in the country.
What Joe Biden promised about Gun control?
A soul democrat, Joe Biden, who called himself a staunch Gun control advocate as he is a “family man”, made several promises in this regard during his campaign trail in 2020 and vowed tough action against firearms crime, including removal of legal immunity for gun manufacturers and banning assault weapons.
The now-POTUS even made personal promises and appeals to survivors and families of gun-violence victims.
Biden’s bucket list is still far from even half full. His aspirations include- Baning the manufacture and sale of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, Regulating possession of existing assault weapons under the National Firearms Act and a programme to buy back the assault weapons and high-capacity magazines already in our communities.
Worst firearms-related violence since Joe Biden’s arrival
There is no shred of doubt that violence and crime involving guns, especially mass shootings have taken a turn for the worst in the US since Biden’s entry. However, it would not be wrong to say that some of the most brutal and recorded killings also happened on his watch.
Brooklyn subway shooting
The recent mass shooting in one of the busiest subway stations in New York raises questions about the basics of this administration. How could a man escape several detectors and check on a metro station with a gun on him?
Louisiana baby death
In Louisiana, a seven-month-old baby was shot in the head, caught in the crossfire during a drive-by shooting, in March 2022.
Arkansas farm shooting
Shockingly, on the same day when the baby was shot in Louisiana, an Arkansas farming town of Dumas became a pool of bloodshed after a gunfight broke out. One was killed while more than two dozen people, including several children, were grievously injured.
2021 Colorado Boulder shooting
On March 22, 2021, a mass shooting that occurred at a King Soopers supermarket in Boulder, Colorado made global headlines. Ten people were killed and several were injured
What has Biden delivered till now?
So far, the President who vehemently opposed the gun violence culture in the US has delivered only strategies and demands for congressional funds.
Joe Biden in his senator days has supported several bills to control the sale and violence involving firearms including voting against the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act.
In the office, however, the president has been contained by the Congress, where bills to require background checks for gun sales and to close legal loopholes have languished for months.
While @POTUS has taken welcome and overdue steps to address this epidemic, he has not met the bare minimum of what’s necessary to reverse this trend. 2/4
— March For Our Lives (@AMarch4OurLives) January 20, 2022
The question arises of why the President is not doing more while relying only on the executive powers.
The least the leader can do is to declare gun violence a national emergency, but could still take smaller actions that do not require any congressional approval.
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