US needs to rethink its ‘sacrosanct’ gun possession rights

As the killing spree in Las Vegas has left 59 people dead and more than500 injured, the bloodiest mass shooting in modern US history hasreignited the perennial debate over US gun ownership laws. Despite manysenseless gun-related massacres over the years, America has treated itsgun rights as virtually sacrosanct. Here is the simple maths equation: Americans own more guns – a culturalicon in the US - than anybody else on earth, even adjusted forpopulation, with the number of firearms in private hands is now thoughtto be in excess of 310mn. Guns are involved in the deaths of more than33,000 people in the US annually, about two-thirds of which aresuicides. The US is witnessing estimated 20-plus mass shootings everyyear.The “gun ownership culture” and the resultant violence are interwoven deeply into the American society. Thirty-two students and teachers were killed and 17 others injured by alone shooter at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute in Blacksburg onApril 16, 2007, the worst mass shooting until then in the US history.And on December 14, 2012, 20 children and six adults were gunned down bya 20-year-old assailant at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown,Connecticut. Since the Sandy Hook tragedy, more gun massacres have occurred includingthe September 9, 2013 killing of 12 people at a naval office buildingin Washington, DC, by a lone gunman, who had a history of arrests forgun-related crimes that could have possibly appeared in backgroundchecks.The Las Vegas tragedy follows the June 2016 attack at an Orlando night club that left 50 dead, including the shooter.Why are, then, US gun-control laws so hard to pass? The answer pointslargely to the powerful gun lobby led by the heavily-funded NationalRifle Association. Few legislators – Democrats and Republicans alike –dare to take on the NRA, which has spent millions of dollars in the USelection cycles, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.Many Americans also take it for granted that with the Constitution’sSecond Amendment, (“A well-regulated militia, being necessary to thesecurity of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms,shall not be infringed”) individuals have unrestricted access to guns. The pro-gun lobby got a boost this year with Donald Trump in the WhiteHouse and restriction-averse Republicans controlling both chambers ofCongress. In February, Trump signed a law to rescind a rule adopted byhis predecessor, Barack Obama, aimed at preventing people with seriousmental-health problems from buying guns. The Las Vegas shooter’s high-powered weaponry included 42 guns, explosives, and ammunition.A pattern has emerged in the US following every fatal of episode of gunviolence. Mass shooting leads to knee-jerk discussions gun control; themere possibility of stricter gun control and propaganda by the NRA andits allies bring about the rush to buy more firearms; but ultimatelygun-control laws do not change much, or change at all.The right to live is sacrosanct, not the right to own guns.