By Estephania Baez
According to a new study made public by the U.S. Mass Shooting Tracker, there have been three hundred and fifty-five shootings in the U.S., most of them in public spaces. The last fifteen years have seen the worst massacres in the country’s history. Most of them have been perpetrated by teenagers, for reasons never to be known, but easy access to firearms in the U.S. has been the common denominator leading to these events.
Fifteen thousand people are killed by firearms annually in the United States; according to statistics, eighty-eight percent of its population owns a gun or some other firearm, and political analysts believe that gun ownership has become a part of U.S. culture. The ensuing political debate has come to the point that President Barack Obama has spoken in favor of amending laws the law in order to keep these tragedies – such as the one in San Bernardino, which took place at a rehabilitation center last Wednesday, December 2nd, when a young Pakistani couple ended the life of fourteen people, and left over two dozens more injured – from happening again.
Despite multiple attempts by the President to amend gun laws, the move has not garnered enough support from other U.S. officials; some do agree with the President’s position, such as California Governor Jerry Brown, who has passed measures aimed at stopping these massacres, among them the Gun Violence Restraining Order which he signed into law in 2015, enabling California residents to petition a judge to temporarily remove a close relatives firearms if they fear he poses a threat. This makes California the first state to enact measures to restrain gun possession; supporters state that if this law had been approved earlier, most of the attacks in the last decade could have been prevented.
Although some decisions have been made in regards to their use, results have been far from positive; on the contrary, the number of incidents is still on the rise. Both the California Senate and the White House have made statements as to the fact that people are becoming used to these incidents happening more often as part of normal life. Proponents of banning firearms in California are currently working on collecting the over 365,000 signatures needed in order to get the issue of firearms as a ballot measure the upcoming 2016 elections. This initiative is being led by Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom. Among the proposals are making background checks mandatory before buying a gun, requiring firearm owners to turn in high-capacity clips, and requiring firearm owners to report lost or stolen weapons, as well as those stolen from police forces.
In San Diego County, public agencies have implemented different programs to reduce the number of firearms in the home. The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department has had a program to exchange firearms for gift cards since 2013. The way it works is very simple: gun owners are asked to arrive in their car with the weapon in their trunk so that the officers can retrieve them, with no questions asked as to where the weapon came from. The Department announced that five out of ten people have a weapon at home in the county. As a result, thirty percent of fatal accidents with weapons occur inside the home.
While legislators and members of the Senate study the causes, the murders continue leaving innocent people in their wake.