One fact neatly captures the essence of the United States’ difficult history of attempted gun control reform: President Barack Obama has, according to some accounts, made 14 statements on shooting attacks such as the one that happened in a church in Charleston, South Carolina, on Wednesday, killing nine worshippers.
Appearing visibly emotional Mr. Obama said on Thursday, “I’ve had to make statements like this too many times… Let’s be clear: at some point we as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries… with this kind of frequency.”
He added that while it was within the U.S.’ power to reform gun laws, he recognised that “the politics in this town foreclose a lot of those avenues right now… [but] at some point it’s going to be important for the American people to come to grips with it and for us to be able to shift how we think about the issue of gun violence collectively.”
If the President was felt as much frustration with the persistent failure of gun control reform as he did anger or sadness at the Charleston shooting, then he may have had good reason for it: in 2013 he strongly condemned Senators — mostly Republican — for not coming together and pass a compromise bill on background checks for gun sales, despite polls suggesting that an overwhelming majority of Americans supported such legislation.
At the time nationwide support for gun control legislation had gained momentum when the country was rocked by the events at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, on December 14, 2012, in which Adam Lanza (20) fatally shot twenty children and six adult staff members.
Similarly in August 2012 six people including four Indian nationals were killed and dozens critically injured by gunman Wade Page, at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, a Gurdwara.
In July of that same year a subdued America mourned 12 individuals killed and 55 injured in deadly shooting incident in Aurora, Colorado, when gunman James Holmes entered a packed movie premier event and opened fire on audience members.
