There are too many massacres in the United States in schools, institutes and universities to give credence to the laments of members of the Republican Party after the tragedy unleashed by an 18-year-old boy at the elementary school in Uvalde (Texas): 19 children and two dead teachers The public embarrassment of the governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, and of the senator of the same state, Ted Cruz, seems more like an exercise in political cynicism, because both are part of the rejection front that to date has made it impossible to limit and regulate gun ownershiprelying on the constitutional right to possess them established by the Second Amendment, approved in 1791.
The number of weapons held by individuals in the United States is close to 400 million, more than one weapon per adult citizen. At the same time, opinion polls have long concluded that the majority of the population is in favor of establishing control mechanisms. But despite that fact and the debate that follows each loss of innocent life, Barack Obama could not break down the barrier erected in the Senate by the Republicans to prevent the approval of a law that imposed some restrictions and Joe Biden, Despite his calls to “stand up” to the arms industry, he is doomed to live the same experience.
Basketball coach Steve Kerr has not exaggerated when he said that 50 Republican senators have kidnapped Americans, willing as they are to do everything in their power so that nothing changes the possession of weapons. For such a thing to be possible, at least 10 of these senators would have to add their vote to the 50 Democrats, something totally unthinkable. The first and most immediate reason is the fear of electoral consequences that amending the current legal system could have, especially in southern and central states of the Union in which the possession of weapons is part of individual and collective identity. The second is the pressure of the lobby formed by the arms manufacturers and by the powerful National Rifle Association, who lavish substantial donations on Republican candidates in every election.
Beyond these considerations and the legacy on the matter left by the presidency of donald trump, the great paradox is that possession, originally based on security reasons, is actually a permanent nest of insecurity, the cause of countless tragedies that are a moral challenge in an irreconcilably divided society, often turning children into scapegoats . President Joe Biden asked a helpless question: “Why are we willing to live with this carnage?”