Is gun violence in the United States increasing?
American gun violence is broadly categorised in two ways: mass shootings, which are usually defined as where four or more people are killed at the same time, and smaller incidents. Despite several high-profile shootings last month — especially those in Atlanta and Boulder — the numbers killed in such events decreased markedly during the pandemic. Between March 2020 and the start of this year, there were no such public mass shootings, although 2018 and 2019 were especially bad.
The murder rate has increased, however. A report published at the end of last year by a group of criminal justice academics found that the total number rose sharply in 2020, up 30 per cent on 2019’s figures and a historic increase representing 1,268 more deaths in the sample of 34 cities than the year before.
Pandemic-induced fear, economic hardship, domestic discord, racial strife and an influx of guns helped propel the urban rate by a record amount last year, it concluded.
Why is Biden using executive orders?
The president’s legislative options are limited. The Democrats have only the slimmest majority in the Senate, certainly not enough to push gun control legislation through without the support of at least 10 Republicans, and that assumes Biden has all the Democrats onside, which is questionable.
Opponents worry that the president is curtailing freedoms under the second amendment, which protects the right to bear arms, but he has the power to enforce new federal rules by executive order.
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The problem is that executive orders can be undone very quickly by any new president, and a Republican would be almost certain to act. Biden, for example, set aside several of Donald Trump’s executive orders, including the leaving of the Paris climate accords, in his first few hours in office.
What difference will the measures make?
The measures announced yesterday will make it harder for people to get hold of some of the types of weapons that have been used to carry out recent attacks, and will make it easier to identify those who may be trying to acquire a gun when they are mentally unsound.
The changes do not, however, stray into the more controversial areas of the legality and availability of assault-type weapons and more detailed checks on would-be buyers. They also cannot counter the old adage that if somebody is determined to carry out a shooting, it is still likely they will be able to find a gun.