On the 23rd, a citizen commemorates the victims in front of King Superus, a grocery store in Boulder, Colorado, USA. Boulder = AFP Yonhap News
“I can’t wait even a minute.” US President Joe Biden has urged Congress to create a gun control law right away. After six days of the Atlanta tragedy, another major shooting disaster in Colorado. However, opposition from the Constitution, which regards armed as a right, and the Republican Party, which has always advocated the possession of firearms, is a difficult obstacle to overcome.
On the 23rd (local time), President Biden urged Congress to legislate to strengthen gun control. He even volunteered to speak at the Unscheduled White House. First of all, the House of Representatives was asked to enact a bill banning offensive weapons and large-capacity magazines. Not now, but this law isn’t new at all. In 1994, a law banning the sale of war weapons such as semi-automatic rifles was introduced as a temporary law, and at that time, President Biden was the chairman of the Senate Legislative Justice Committee. However, as opposed to the Republican Party, it could not be extended and was scrapped in 2004.
The semi-automatic rifle’AR-15′, which was used for shooting in Colorado the day before, is a model that has appeared as a staple every time large firearms terrorism. It is a civilian version of the military firearm’M-16′, but AR-15 comes first at the time of development. It is popular for hunting because it is light at 3.63 kg and does not have a large recoil. However, it is not difficult to modify it to enable repeated shooting, and it is also the number one firearm in regulation because it is possible to insert a large-capacity magazine more than 30 shots.
Another problem is that virtually anyone can get a gun that’s wide like this. Under the current law, gun dealers can sell firearms if they do not receive a reply after three days after requesting a buyer’s background check to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), but it has been pointed out that the period is short. Accordingly, a bill to increase the FBI’s background check period to ten days passed the House of Representatives in January this year. A bill has also been pending in the Senate making the obligation to identify buyers for all sales, regardless of whether they have a sales license or not. In his speech, President Biden demanded that “the Senate must immediately resolve two House bills to close the loopholes in the background check.”
Combining with accessibility, it is the increasing temptation of the American society to use firearms that encourages disaster. The US media reports that the Colorado shooters had great complaints about racism. It is a public opinion that the Atlanta shootings on the 16th have nothing to do with hatred targeting Asians.
These background factors lead to actual events. The US CNN broadcast reported that there have been at least seven large-scale shootings in the United States in the last week, and the New York Times reported that there have been at least 29 shooting cases that have killed more than four people in the last five years.
However, as always, the success of Bidenpyo reform cannot be guaranteed. From the Republican Party, it’s unchanged. In the tight Senate structure, where the two parties share 50 seats each, a majority cannot be secured if the Democratic Party’s centralist breaks away. Moreover, if the Republican Party captures the bill as a “filibuster” (disrupting legitimate parliamentary action), it will require more than 60 votes to end it.
Public opinion is also hard to believe. In every major incident, there was an atmosphere that regulation was necessary, but it didn’t last long. Regulatory public opinion may be dampened during the two-week Senate recess, which begins on the 25th.
The variable is the will of the regime. There is an opinion that the filibuster should be trimmed in order to deal with major bills within the Democratic Party, and the White House is considering a plan to break through the presidential executive order if the legislation is not satisfactory. In his speech that day, President Biden said, “This (gun control) should not be a partisan issue. “It’s an American issue,” he said. “It will save the lives of Americans and we must act.”
The suspect in the shooting disaster at a grocery store in Boulder, Colorado on the 22nd, which killed 10 people, was a 21-year-old Syrian man, Ahmad Al-Aliwi Alisai, who was charged with 10 first-degree murders, the police said today. The police also revealed the ages and names of 10 victims, including one police officer.
Kwon Gyeong-seong reporter [email protected]
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