THIS year, the US state of Oregon became one of only 18 states that require mandatory background checks for all gun sales. Public records do not indicate Chris Harper-Mercer had a previous criminal history. But the checks did not prevent the 26-year-old from committing his mass shootings at Umpqua Community College. The weekend murder spree, which left nine people dead and seven injured, forced Barack Obama, for the 15th time since he was sworn in as US president, to address the issue of mass gun violence and the laws that allow it to happen. Obama said the shootings had become routine, as had the reporting of the shootings, as well as his responses at the podium. In a country with nearly as many guns as people, the killings have indeed become routine. There are thought to be about 300 million guns, concentrated in the hands of about a third of the population. That's nearly enough guns for every man, woman and child. More people die from gunfire in the US than wars and terrorism. The death toll between 1968 and 2011 eclipses all wars ever fought by the country. There were about 1.4 million firearm deaths in that period, compared with 1.2 million US deaths in every conflict from the Revolutionary War to Iraq. And the US spends more than a trillion dollars per year defending itself against terrorism, which kills a tiny fraction of the number of people killed by ordinary gun crime. According to the figures, 11,385 people died on average annually in firearm incidents in the US between 2001 and 2011. In the same period, an average of 517 people were killed annually in terror-related incidents. In a nation with a homicide rate that is nearly seven times higher than the average of other developed countries which have much stricter regulations, the all too regular experience of mass murder committed with firearms in American is tragic and senseless. These killings have to be called what they are, a natural consequence of a society that just has too many guns, too few controls, and no political process that can do anything about it. Why does gun reform fail, no matter how intense the outrage from horrendous attacks? The most important and obvious factor is the overwhelming power of the gun lobby, one of the most sophisticated in the US. The National Rifle Association and other gun rights organizations employ a full arsenal of lobbying tools, from disputed constitutional arguments, to a massive campaign finance war chest, to voter mobilization drives, that are enough to influence members of both political parties. In the 2014 midterm elections, the NRA spent $12 million, with 95 percent of its candidates victorious. Whenever the issue comes up in Congress, the NRA mobilizes and makes it clear that there will be payback for any representative or senator who supports gun control. Americans are the most heavily armed people in the world per capita. Their guns are also in the hands of thousands of killers, too. But the right of citizens to own those guns is protected by the Second Amendment of the US Constitution and fiercely defended by lobby groups such as the NRA. The laws are being driven by politics, and the politics are being driven by powerful groups and the circle never meets. Which means school and other shootings will remain a disturbing reality of American life. No major, if any, changes are expected in gun laws after Oregon. A nation that did nothing after the murder of 20 school children at Sandy Hook in 2012 is not going to act, no matter the number and grotesqueness of the murders thereafter.
