11/27/22

By Aditi Jha

On Tuesday, in a Walmart in Chesapeake, Virginia, six people were killed (not including the gunman who later committed suicide), and four were injured in a mass shooting. Just yesterday, there was a shooting in Atlanta. One person died, and five were injured. According to the Gun Violence Archive, there have been over 600 mass shootings so far this year in the US. Mass shootings are defined as shootings in which four people or more die. On November 19th, a shooter opened fire in Club Q, an LGBTQ club in Colorado Springs. It killed five people and injured at least 18 others. In Uvalde, Texas, a shooting killed 19 students and two teachers. The gunman had bought guns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition just a few days after his eighteenth birthday. These mass shootings have brought up the question of why the purchase of guns is still allowed. After a mass shooting in Australia killed 35 people, former Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard, decided to confiscate and destroy 650,000 guns, establishing a nationwide reform of gun laws. He implemented the National Firearms Agreement, which, among other things, requires a permit for new firearm purchases, and created a registry of all the guns owned in the country. Additionally, the Australians who want the permit must provide a "genuine reason" ("Self-defense" does not count, though I can't imagine what you'd need to defend yourself against if there were no guns). The prospective owner also cannot be a "prohibited person." The result of these reforms? The average firearm suicide and homicide rate throughout Australia plummeted. In 2011, a Harvard study found that the suicide rate in Australia declined by 57 percent and the homicide rate declined by 42 percent. The study's authors wrote, "First, the drop in firearm deaths was largest among the type of firearms most affected by the buyback. Second, firearm deaths in states with higher buyback rates per capita fell proportionately more than in states with lower buyback rates." President Biden told reporters on Thanksgiving that the "idea we still allow semiautomatic weapons to be purchased is sick. Just sick. It has no, no social redeeming value. Zero. None. Not a single solitary rationale for it except profit for the gun manufacturers." However, after Republicans have control of the House in around five weeks, the likelihood of passing legislation restricting guns isn't high. Rep. James Comer, a Republican of Kentucky, said on NBC's "Meet the Press" that "We already have many gun laws on the books. If passing a bill would simply end gun violence, then I think you would have overwhelming support in Congress for that." December 6th will be the 10th anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting, in which 20 children and 6 adults were killed.

On Sunday, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff, said that the final report of the committee investigating the riot at the Capitol on January 6th will be "as broad and inclusive as possible." He said on CNN's "State of the Union" that the decisions made when writing the final report will be discussed as a committee and without bias. Schiff said that Wyoming Republican Rep. Liz Cheney's role on the committee was "indispensable," and that both Cheney and Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger showed "a lot of courage and backbone, something in very short supply in the GOP these days." The final report will most likely focus on former President Donald Trump's involvement in the insurrection. It will probably be released sometime mid-December and will include criminal and civil referrals to the Department of Justice. In March, US district court judge David Carter ruled that Trump "likely" committed several crimes in order to overturn the results of the 2020 election and return to office for a second term. The attorney general of the DOJ, Merrick Garland, appointed Jack Smith to oversee their investigation into the possible obstruction of justice.

That's the news for today! Stay safe!