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Al-Ahram Weekly 11 - 17 May 2000 Issue No. 481 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 11 - 17 May 2000 Issue No. 481
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Books Features Interview Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters The unconscionable loop
By Nyier AbdouSometimes, as an American living abroad, one feels like a reluctant White House spokesperson -- a badly-paid, thankless position from which it is impossible to resign. And with all the noise about gun control, I have been issuing terse statements left and right to the effect "If gun legislation doesn't happen now, I don't know when it ever will."
In recent months, the issue has taken on enormous momentum, culminating in recent weeks in the first anniversary of the Columbine school shootings in Colorado and the shooting two weeks ago of seven children at the National Zoo in Washington DC by the 16-year-old son of an incarcerated drug lord. DC Mayor Anthony Williams called the shooting a "wake-up call," but for many Americans, it was a point that hardly needed to be made.
Though most people are aware of the problem, many remain ignorant as to its causes -- which do not, in fact, lie with the US Constitution's infamous Second Amendment, which gives people "the right to keep and bear arms." While most pro-gun lobbies argue that this unequivocally gives the right of gun ownership to the American populace, the amendment actually attributes the right to "a well-regulated militia" -- a reference to the militia's maintained by each state at the time of the Constitution's drafting. This interpretation has been upheld in five US Supreme Court rulings, the most recent being in 1990.
The thorny issue of gun control comes under many guises, be it the face of actor and National Rifle Association (NRA) President Charlton Heston cutting pro-gun ads attacking the Clinton administration for lax enforcement of existing laws, or actress and talk-show host Rosie O'Donnell unleashing her own string of celebrity ads rallying support for the upcoming "Million Mom March" this Sunday. Gun legislation has swallowed up swathes of political rhetoric and barking, but the bite has never cut so deep as the seemingly endless slew of recent child crimes related to gun violence.
Two months ago, the nation's youngest child killer, a six-year-old in Michigan, shot and killed his classmate Kayla Rolland, also six, with his uncle's friend's .32 semi-automatic -- found in his uncle's bedroom. President Clinton, dogged by ever-rising school violence, met with lawmakers days after the shooting to push gun-control measures through Congress before the anniversary of the Columbine tragedy on 20 April, which came and went with little more than a ripple in the fabric of lawmakers consciousness.
Teenagers Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris unleashed a battery of gunfire on their high-school classmates in Littleton, Colorado, in April of last year, killing 12 students and one teacher before turning the guns on themselves. The event was seen as a watershed moment in the growing disquiet about children and guns, but one year later, gun legislation still languishes in Congress, despite the president's exasperated backing.
The Columbine shootings were themselves an eerie replay of the March 1998 shootings by 13-year-old Mitchell Johnson and his cousin, eleven-year-old Andrew Golden, at their middle school in Jonesboro, Arkansas -- Clinton's home state. The boys lured classmates out of the school by setting off the fire alarm and let loose a hail of 27 bullets, killing four children and a teacher and wounding 10 others.
Attempts at a far-reaching gun-control bill have abjectly failed in Congress, with Democrats blaming the vise-like grip of a flag-waving gun lobby. During a March interview on the ABC News programme "This Week," Clinton accused the NRA of "winning through intimidation," claiming that the gun-control bills passed by the House and Senate last year are yet to be reconciled due to the strong-arm tactics of the three-million strong NRA. The association's executive vice president, Wayne LaPierre, responded on the same programme that he believed Clinton was "willing to accept a certain level of killing to further his political agenda and his vice president, too."
Delighted at finally landing on an issue under which they could clasp hands and champion, Clinton and Gore hung back and let the NRA do the dirty work of building the platform they would stand on. They didn't have to wait long before the unrepentant LaPierre accused the president of being culpable for the death of a university coach last year in Chicago, Ricky Byrdsong, telling ABC that the president had "blood on his hands" for failing to apprehend his killer when he was turned away from a licenced firearms dealer. Better fighting words were never spoken and the end result was a public relations boost on both sides: Democrats smugly commanded the moral high ground, and NRA membership actually increased.
The NRA may be good for some outlandish assertions, but can it really be the sole obstacle blocking the path to safer streets and gun-free schools? For over nine months, the same gun legislation has remained idle, stalled between the House and the Senate. The stumbling blocks are simple but critical, basically centring on child-safety trigger locks on all guns -- supported on both sides of the issue -- and the so-called gun show loophole. A ban on the importation of high-capacity ammunition clips also has bipartisan support.
Provisions passed last May by Democrats in the Senate as part of a broader juvenile justice bill call for all vendors at gun shows to perform background checks and allow three business days to do the checks. Democrats also want to widen the definition of a "gun show," requiring permits for any event with more that 50 guns for sale by two or more people. The House's juvenile justice bill failed to include measures on gun control.
Under current laws, selling guns to "hobbyists" and "collectors" does not require a licence, and dealers, therefore, do not have to perform federal background checks. Detractors aligned with the gun lobby argue that gun shows often fall over weekends and three-day background checks would diminish "impulse buys." The computerised National Instant Check System (NICS) -- which was passed in 1998 to replace the five-day waiting period for all handgun sales included in the original Brady Law -- is suggested as a compromise. But because records are kept only at the state level and mental health records are not computerised at all, NICS is not widely regarded as an effective substitution.
In addition to the gun-show loophole, little legislation exists addressing the issue of children's access to guns. The Columbine shootings involved four guns purchased at gun shows. According to the Center for Disease Control, the rate of firearm deaths of children up to the age of 14 in the US is close to 12 times that of 25 other industrialised nations combined. A Child Access Prevention (CAP) provision -- opposed by the NRA -- would require parents to store loaded weapons away from minors and hold the parent culpable for any crime committed with their gun if a child gains access to it. CAP laws have been passed in 17 states.
A resolution is up to a joint House-Senate conference committee but seems lost in the downward spiral of an outgoing administration -- which brings us to this year's presidential candidates. Texas Governor George Bush -- who signed laws allowing Texans to carry concealed weapons and preventing Texas cities from suing gunmakers -- is falling under serious heat from the Gore camp.
The mud started slinging when the NRA cut an ad featuring NRA first vice president Kayne Robinson claiming that Gore is an "anti-gun fanatic" and that with Bush in the White House, "we'll have a president ... where we work out of their office." Saying the NRA would have "unbelievably friendly relations," with a Bush administration, the NRA wasn't doing Bush any favours.
"I don't want to disappoint the man, but I'll be setting up shop in the White House," AP quoted Bush as responding. "It'll be my office, I'll make the decisions as to what goes on in the White House."
Not so fast. Gore has given the gun-control issue heavy play, supporting licencing all new handguns and limiting gun purchases to one a month. The two candidates agree on raising the minimum age for gun ownership to 21, but Texas is one of the few states that has no minimum age requirement. The two also agree on developing "smart-gun" technology, which would allow a gun only to be fired by its owner. It is possibly the first time gun control has played so prominent role in a presidential race.
The issue will see its most unusual face in the coming weeks, with the Million Mom March this Mother's Day in support of CAP laws and common-sense policies. But this is no warm-and-fuzzy Hands Across America -- not if the Second Amendment Sisters have anything to say about it. The Dallas-based group was organised to counter the Million Mom March and has organised its own Armed Informed Mother's March.
"We didn't want the Million Mom March to have a day of free press coverage where they make it seem like they speak for all women because, believe me, they don't," declared Debra Collins of Second Amendment Sisters, AP reported.
And it goes on and on.
