ANGLAIS - Seats and forms of power

by bigbangtheorist 15:52 5 commentaires anglais gun control lieux et formes de pouvoir port des armes Seats and forms of power

This year in class, we talked about the notion “seats and forms of power”, both a source of political, social and personal integration and a source of tensions and conflicts. We illustrated these ideas with the example of the gun issue in America: guns are rooted in the culture of the country, but this is a problem still debated today between gun control and gun rights activists. It seems fair to ask ourselves if gun control is now a challenge for America. First, we’ll see how America grew up with guns, and then we’ll see how the debate has been relaunched.

I. America grew up with guns

In the USA, the right to carry arms is written in the Constitution, more precisely in the Bill of Rights. It comes from the time when the US had just achieved independence and there was no real army to defend the country. It strictly says “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed”. Since then, a majority of the population and organizations such as the NRA have considered this as an inalienable right and have consequently been opposed to any kind of gun legislation. This is how America grew up with guns, and that’s why the gun culture is deeply rooted in the mentalities and so is the idea of self defense in case of danger. For example, we find this theme in works of fiction such as "The Life Before Her Eyes" (a scary story in which a boy brought a gun to school to kill everyone), reinforced by many iconic figures like John Wayne or Clint Eastwood. But the problem is that it is way too easy to purchase a gun. In some states (for example in Colorado), you just need to be over 18 and have a clean criminal record and you don’t even have to register your gun with the administration. Your weapon must be concealed, except if you have a concealed weapons permit. Rifles, shotguns and all kinds of weapons are easy available anywhere, as well as ammunition.

Transition Gun-rights activists argue that it acts as a deterrent against crime but sometimes the guns can fall into the wrong hands and be used by criminals or deranged people to shoot at random and cause horrendous bloodshed.

II. A debate relaunched

Slaughters have affected many schools and cities such as Columbine in Colorado earlier in 1999, where 2 students, rejected by their classmates, decided to take revenge by putting a bomb in the cafeteria (but it did not work) and killing several people fleeing from school, before committing suicide. The President of the US at the time, Bill Clinton, responded to this tragedy addressing the nation: children and adults need to understand that conflicts must be resolved with words, not weapons, and maybe now America will wake up and prevent such things from happening in the future. Despite this, another shooting in 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut relaunched the debate. And again another in 2014 in Seattle which caused two dead and four hurt. The shooter, a freshman, was apparently in a fight because of a girl and died on the crime scene. In one year, guns murdered almost 10 000 people in the US. God bless America. And the NRA keeps promoting this, saying that “guns don’t kill people, people kill people”. Moreover today we see posters in which children are asking Santa for weapons. We prohibit tales to keep them safe, and not firearms. What is “safety”, then? Gun control is not about weapons, it’s about control. Where you have the most armed citizens in America, you have the lowest violent crime rate. Where you have the worst gun control, you have the highest crime rate. I would end with a quote from Eliot Spitzer: "Yes, people pull the trigger - but guns are the instrument of death. Gun control is necessary, and delay means more death and horror."

To conclude, we have seen that carrying weapons is a dilemma for America between security and risk. Weapons save and take lives, and from my point of view, today a real army is there to protect citizens. Among the controversial opinions, the country has to find a proper balance: gun control is now a real challenge.