US Opinion and Commentary

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Gun Control: Americans Search Yet Again for Antidote to Gun Violence

Posted December 17th, 2015 at 4:15 pm (UTC-5)
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Two weeks to the day that a heavily armed radicalized Muslim couple killed 14 people at a work holiday party in San Bernardino, California, President Barack Obama tried to reassure Americans nervous about terrorism. Flanked by top officials at the National Counterterrorism Center, Obama said there are no “specific and credible” threats to the homeland. New polls indicate more Americans are concerned about a terrorist attack than gun violence, although one survey shows seven in 10 believe mass shootings have become a normal part of American life. The right to bear arms is among the most hotly debated constitutional issues. Demands for stricter gun control laws grow louder with each inexplicable act of violence: Sandy Hook, Columbine and, now, San Bernardino. The gun lobby and its supporters are no less pained by these tragedies, but say no law can stop a determined individual from buying a weapon. It is a familiar debate – one that continued on the week that first of the victims of San Bernardino were laid to rest.

Why There is No Viable Solution to America’s Gun Problem

Posted August 28th, 2015 at 10:40 am (UTC-5)
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Hand an automatic weapon to a civilized human being, and no one will end up dead. Yet the United States is a place where a not-insignificant number of people, when given access to deadly weapons, make a choice to use them for murder, often multiple murders …

US Gun Policy Obama’s Biggest Regret

Posted July 24th, 2015 at 2:24 pm (UTC-5)
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Just hours after President Obama spoke with BBC, a gunman opened fire at a movie theater in Louisiana, killing two people before shooting himself. It was the latest in a string of gun violence in the US: from the massacre of nine people in a famed black church in South Carolina to the shooting deaths of over 20 young children at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012.