GUN CONTROL REFORM

Gun control is among the controversial issues that concern the United States population and Congress. Currently, the majority of people in the united states support stricter gun control. However, the gun control reform has continued resistance to reform by Congress. The National Rifle Association (NRA), political partisanship, and the American gun culture are the main facilitators of the continued resistance to gun control reform in the U.S.

Causes

The National Rifle Association

The NRA is the gun rights advocacy association in the United States, devoted to supporting the manufacture and use of firearms. The organization has significant influence in the matters of the states from its heavy membership of about five million members.[1] The NRA has made the gun business among the biggest enterprise in the united states. According to Cater, NRA is the largest pollical interest group in the united states, that favors the rights to ownership and use of guns.[2] The association is critical to the federal affairs that would affect its operations. Therefore, the NRA is actively involved in support of federal policies and laws that support ownership or use of firearms.[3] As mentioned above, the gun enterprise is among the biggest in the United States. Therefore, the organization has robust management structures that generate enough money to influence lawmaking. Since gun control reform may affect the gun enterprise; adversely, the NRA has put political measures to discourage the reform.

According to Rushe, the NRA has successfully influenced politics through lobbying.[4] Cater records that the NRA has lobbied millions of U.S dollars to shape the politics of the country in their favor.[5] For instance, in the 2016 presidential election, NRA staked 53.4 million dollars on the republican party, which happens to have the upper hand in the promotion of gun policies.[6]  Hence, by majority rule, Congress is compelled to favor the policies that promoted the philosophy of the NRA and compromise the other demands to honor the lobby. Besides, the association has significantly many members who impact the worldview of gun policies in various places. McCarthy reports the association has succeeded in developing a robust grassroots community of gun policy advocates who are most often than not politically active.[7] Therefore, the large size of the NRA has enabled lobbying and development of a large grassroots membership community to suppress policies that are against guns in the U.S.

Political Partisanship

The politics of U.S considerably impacts the resistance to gun control reform. Notably, the political demographics affect the policy at the state level and the national level. At the state level, every state has its gun policies which extend from the Second Amendment of the U.S Constitution.[8] However, the state laws or policies are limited to the control they may impact on the use of guns. For instance, the “red flag” commonly used in some states allows one to petition against another person’s possession of a gun for up to 14 days.[9] Besides, such policies are influenced by the bombarding and politicking by the NRA’s federal lobbyist at the state.

The Congress handles concerns the amendment of the constitution. However, the political demographics of Congress seems to favor the gun policies, despite many voters insisting for the need for gun control. The resistance arises from the lobbying and the political partisan of the republicans. Firstly, since the NRA has financed the politics of the majority in the current Congress, lawmakers who are involved would not support gun control reform. Besides financing the politics, some lawmakers are compensated by the association to take a position that would not harm the enterprise.[10] The political partisan affects the policy-making in that the majority party has more influence on the fate of reforms. Currently, the reforms that are passed in Congress are mostly those that the republicans favor, since they are the majority. Unfortunately, the republican party have received financial support from the NRA, a lobby that restricts it from the support of policies that would harm its operation.[11] Therefore, though the public may demand gun control reforms, the process will be slow or fail in the current Congress.

The American Gun Culture

In the U.S, polices are enacted or laws amended primarily through voter influence. That is, a public demand determines the lawmakers elected, and they, in turn, shape the policies of the nation. That is how the Second Amendment of the U.S Constitution was established, allowing regulated militia and the right of the people to keep and bear Arms.[12] In the U.S, there is a prevalent gun culture, which has a political affiliation. According to Pew Research Center, a majority of U.S residents feel that there is a need for gun control policies that are stricter.[13] However, the democrats are the majority while the democrats lag in their insistence of the need for gun control. For instance, Schaeffer found that republicans are twice as much as democrats to support gun rights than gun control policies.[14] Therefore, the majority of the population as per the last parliamentary election support possession or use of guns. In a way, the gun culture influenced the public decision regarding election and lawmaking, causing the resistance to gun control reform.

Conclusion

The resistance to gun control is a consequence of the influence of NRA in the nation and politics and the American gun culture. NRA influence lawmaker’s decision through financing political parties and lawmakers. Also, the majority of Congress is less compelled to reform the gun control law. Lastly, the American gun culture influences public decisions regarding lections which in turn affects the constitutional reforms.

Bibliography

Carter, Gregg Lee. Guns In American Society. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, 2012.

McCarthy, Tom. “A Perennial American Question: Why Has Gun Control Failed?”. The Guardian, Last modified 2017. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/oct/03/gun-control-america-failed-las-vegas.

Musa, Sam. “The Impact Of NRA On The American Policy”. Journal Of Political Sciences & Public Affairs 04, no. 04 (2016). doi:10.4172/2332-0761.1000222.

Rushe, Dominic. “Why Is The National Rifle Association So Powerful?”. The Guardian, Last modified 2018. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/nov/17/nra-gun-lobby-gun-control-congress.

Schaeffer, Katherine. “Share Of Americans Who Favor Stricter Gun Laws Has Increased Since 2017”. Pew Research Center, Last modified 2019. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/10/16/share-of-americans-who-favor-stricter-gun-laws-has-increased-since-2017/.

Vandercoy, David E. “The History Of The Second Amendment”. Valparaiso University Law Review 28, no. 5 (1994): 1007-1036. https://scholar.valpo.edu/vulr/vol28/iss3/5.

Vernick, Jon S., Lainie Rutkow, Daniel W. Webster, and Stephen P. Teret. “Changing The Constitutional Landscape For Firearms: The U.S. Supreme Court’s Recent Second Amendment Decisions”. American Journal Of Public Health 101, no. 11 (2011): 2021-2026. doi:10.2105/ajph.2011.300200.

Wagner, Norbert, and Michal Machnowski. “The Politics Of Gun Control In The United States”. Kas.De, Last modified 2011. https://www.kas.de/documents/252038/253252/7_dokument_dok_pdf_21614_2.pdf/7994b9b1-b6de-f85d-3b38-0f690315649e?version=1.0&t=1539660252829.

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[1] Norbert Wagner and Michal Machnowski, “The Politics Of Gun Control In The United States”, Kas.De, Last modified 2011, https://www.kas.de/documents/252038/253252/7_dokument_dok_pdf_21614_2.pdf/7994b9b1-b6de-f85d-3b38-0f690315649e?version=1.0&t=1539660252829.

[2] Gregg Lee Carter, Guns In American Society Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, 2012. Pp 616

[3] Ibid.

[4] Dominic Rushe, “Why Is The National Rifle Association So Powerful?”, The Guardian, Last modified 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/nov/17/nra-gun-lobby-gun-control-congress.

[5] Gregg Lee Carter, Guns In American Society. Pp 616.

[6] Dominic Rushe, “Why Is The National Rifle Association So Powerful?” Par 4.

[7] Tom McCarthy, “A Perennial American Question: Why Has Gun Control Failed?”, The Guardian, Last modified 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/oct/03/gun-control-america-failed-las-vegas.

[8] Jon S. Vernick et al., “Changing The Constitutional Landscape For Firearms: The US Supreme Court’s Recent Second Amendment Decisions”, American Journal Of Public Health 101, no. 11 (2011): 2021-2026, doi:10.2105/ajph.2011.300200. pp.2022.

[9] Tom McCarthy, “A Perennial American Question: Why Has Gun Control Failed?”

[10] Sam Musa, “The Impact Of NRA On The American Policy”, Journal Of Political Sciences & Public Affairs 04, no. 04 (2016), doi:10.4172/2332-0761.1000222. pp 1.

[11] Ibid. pp 4.

[12] David E. Vandercoy, “The History Of The Second Amendment”, Valparaiso University Law Review 28, no. 5 (1994): 1007-1036, https://scholar.valpo.edu/vulr/vol28/iss3/5.

[13] Katherine Schaeffer, “Share Of Americans Who Favor Stricter Gun Laws Has Increased Since 2017”, Pew Research Center, Last modified 2019, https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/10/16/share-of-americans-who-favor-stricter-gun-laws-has-increased-since-2017/.

[14] Ibid.