Recently, a thirty-three-year-old man killed eight people, including children, in a mall in Allen, Texas. The motive is not yet known, the police are investigating the killer's possible connection with the neo-Nazi scene. Just a few days before, a man had killed five neighbors simply because they asked him to stop his target practice that he practiced every night.
News about such events is only the tip of the iceberg. According to the "Gun Violence Archive", 55 people die from firearms in the United States every day. There are also crimes and involuntarily fired shots. Sometimes young men accidentally ring the wrong doorbell and pay with their lives.
A sad trend
For this year, the "Gun Violence Archive" organization has already counted 8 victims who were killed by intentional or unintentional gunshots by May 14.798. And mass shootings, i.e. the use of firearms in which at least four people were injured or killed, occurred 202 times.
However, this is not only happening in the United States of America, but also in other countries. In Serbia, citizens were shocked by two mass murders a few days ago, and in Germany, after the seven-fold murder in Hamburg that happened in March, the debate about tightening the law re-ignited.
What would stricter gun laws do?
US President Joseph Biden, after the rampage in Texas, demanded stricter gun laws, as well as a ban on the sale of the AR15 automatic rifle, a weapon that was not only used in the mass shooting in Texas, but also in numerous similar shootings before. However, so far such an intention has been blocked by opposition Republicans.
Would such a measure even have the desired effect? There is not a complete consensus among experts on this, although at first glance it would be logical. However, experts see a correlation between strict laws and the number of mass shootings in certain American states. However, it is still being examined which legal provisions are really effective.
Such research was encouraged only after Biden came to power and was not even remotely financially secure. Researchers of the "Rand Corporation" analytical center investigated the effect of certain measures and analyzed the results of all the researches already carried out. They concluded that mass shootings would be reduced by banning more than 20-round cartridges for short barrels or more than ten-round cartridges for rifles—including the AR15.
Other measures rated as unconvincing include an age limit for gun ownership, a ban on possession by violent individuals, and fitness to carry weapons. This does not mean that these measures have no effect, but the lack of verifiable data does not allow scientific confirmation of their effect.
In addition, all laws and regulations must be reviewed from the point of view of their actual application. Critics of the possible tightening of the law in Germany also warn of this. And that review is difficult and complex.
A license might help
Other experts point to a clear link between legislation and gun violence. The Baltimore-based "Johns Hopkins Center", which deals with possible solutions to the problem of gun violence, has been collecting data from a number of American states, which have different laws, in the last three decades. Daniel Webster, who works at the Center, says: "I have to admit that it is a very difficult discipline, which, to be honest, is not scientific".
However, based on the analysis of these data, two measures stand out as effective. First, the granting of a license, so some kind of permission to own a weapon. And secondly, the already mentioned ban on large cartridges as well as semi-automatic weapons that shoot faster and thus lead to a greater number of victims.
Other experts believe that the easy availability and abundance of weapons in the country also play a role. "The high availability of firearms in the United States compared to other countries is the only plausible explanation," says political scientist and criminologist Daniel Nagen of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.
It is impossible to determine how many firearms are in circulation in the United States since there is no mandatory registration. Estimates based on surveys or numbers of pieces sold paint a gloomy picture. According to the data of the international research agency "Statista Research Department", in 2022, about 45 percent of surveyed US citizens stated that they own at least one firearm in their household.
What is Germany's share?
German arms manufacturers make good money in the American market. Firms like "Heckler & Koch" are considered prestigious and are represented at meetings of the American Rifle Association (NRA).
The German daily "Tagesspiegel" and the journalists of the German Second Television Program (ZDF) "Magazin rojal" learned that the German Ministry of Economy for decades organized a stand for German companies at the world's largest firearms fair in the USA, and that it was partially and funded. As of this year, that practice should be stopped.
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