Texas shooting and what it says about US gun laws(III)?

 

Texas shooting and what it says about US gun laws?

Biden Administration 

Since the beginning of 2022, the US has surpassed 200 mass shootings(A mass shooting is defined as an incident in which four or more people are shot or killed). 

As the issue has shaken to the core, President Biden announced his Critical Incident Review which aims to provide an independent account of law enforcement actions and responses on 24th May.

Ms. Harris too addressed the issue with utmost solemnity stating that an assault weapon was designed for a specific purpose i.e. to kill. She added that it's a weapon of war with no place in a civil society. 

Following this, Biden reiterated his call for Congress to pass laws to reduce gun brutality.  He called for closing the many loopholes that exist in the existing gun laws, including the ‘boyfriend’ and stalking loopholes. He also urged congress to pass a national ‘red flag’ law while simultaneously incentivizing states to pass ‘red flag’ laws of their own which prevent individuals who show signs of being a threat to themselves or others from purchasing or possessing any kind of firearm.

However, given the reluctance of Congress to act on gun violence as seen in the past, the Administration has decided not to wait for Congress to act to take its own steps and announced the initial actions they will be taking up: 

It was stated that a proposed rule will be issued by the Justice department aiming to stop the proliferation of guns that cannot be traced by law enforcement due to the lack of serial numbers i.e ‘ghost guns’.

The Justice Department will also have to publish model “red flag” legislation for states, to make it easier for the states to adopt red flag laws in the future.

Other actions include investment in community violence interventions as a response to the steep increase in homicides. The American Job plan proposes a 5 billion dollar investment over 8 years for the same.

Since a major part of community violence intervention strategies is to help connect individuals to job opportunities and vocational training, The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is organizing a webinar and toolkit to educate states on how they can use Medicaid to reimburse Hospital-Based Violence Interventions.

Federal agencies are simultaneously making efforts to direct crucial support to community violence intervention programs. These changes act as a buffer while we wait on Congress to appropriate additional funds.

These actions are in motion, but it is to be seen how many of these prove effective over time. 

Conclusion 

While there is widespread action taken on the executive level, I believe there is a dire need for responsive Congressional action. While these steps taken by the Obama and Biden administrations have contributed to resolving the issue to some level, the key resolution remains to review and accordingly amend the Second Amendment. 

After the Capitol Storming, the First Amendment was taken under review, acknowledging that it was 200 years old and bound for change. Consequently, their work has been put in for defining Free speech and drawing the line between free speech and hate speech.

Countless mass shootings have taken place. How many more need to take place before Congress opens its eye to the eminent?  It is time Congress keeps its personal views and biases aside, and the Second Amendment is taken under review. There is a big difference between restrict and infringe and that's where the review will contribute; Restricting the Second Amendment. 

Further, In a democracy like the US, the government must take note of the wants and sentiments of the citizens. According to the Center’s April 2021 Survey, 53% of Americans (more than half) strongly favor stricter gun laws. Congress must act upon this. 

It is to be noted that the gun used by Salvador Ramos was legally obtained. While The aim of this is to stop guns at the source i.e. before one obtains guns. While the executive actions aim to ensure that guns don’t end up in the wrong hands by increasing the efficiency of the federal background check system and improving the tracking of lost/stolen guns, the most effective way to tackle the problem is to cut it off at the source i.e. making sure that guns are obtained by only those who use it lawfully.

In the end, we must uphold the rights of the citizens and keep in mind that the constitution is a working document that is loopholed and not an ultimate that doesn’t require change. 

Secondly, We need to take into account how mental health issues play a major role in gun brutality and have a direct relation with community violence. While we can’t use mental health struggles to justify not creating gun legislation ( as the republicans have for a long), we do need to work on that front seeing how an 18-year-old was able to carry out such heartless barbarity.  

Community violence interventions should also work on mental health and education, re-engaging the disengaged youth meaningfully, providing mentorship, and wraparound services such as counseling, and providing subsidies for the same.

Finally, it comes to the man force or police. We saw a massive delay in the response period and the situation escalated for a prolonged time before Ramos was taken down. I believe what stands to be more effective than increasing man force, is training our man force better i.e. Spotlighting De-escalation mechanisms. 

I believe that there is a need for national standards for training and de-escalation for police forces across the US. It shall be rigorous training in de-escalating the situations of hostage-taking, storming, and of course the various simulations of gun violence incidents.

The United States has the highest homicide-by-firearm rate of the world’s most developed nations. It is time we take concrete actions that will stick to make the world safer for future generations. We have to stop turning a blind eye to gun violence and have to act before more innocent lives are lost to gun brutality.