bang. you’re dead
In the aftermath of last week’s mass shooting the most perverse certainty is that gun sales in Las Vegas & Nevada will now be going through the roof. This has been the US public’s response to each and every mass-shooting in recent history, from Columbine’s High School to Orlando’s night club via Aurora’s cinema, and there’s no reason to expect it to change any time soon.
Several years ago, in ‘a gun never killed anyone’ I posted my thoughts on the Tucson, Arizona mass shooting and passed comment on the populace’s right to bear arms. Far from dampening enthusiasm for weapons, the incident led to a 60% jump in gun sales in Arizona on the following Monday, the next available shopping opportunity. On the same day, national gun sales also rose by over 5%. Go figure? Despite repeated tragedies, Americans don’t seem ready to end their love affair with the gun just yet – all 270 million of them, almost one for every man, woman and child in the country.
In fact, earlier this year a law was passed making it easier for Americans with a ‘severe mental impairment’ to buy weapons and even last week a further bill was cleared which will make it easier to buy gun silencers. Yes, gun owners can already buy silencers but their purchase is currently controlled by the hassle of fingerprinting, background checks and a fee. They could of course wear ear-plugs or, God forbid, if they’re concerned about their hearing give-up the ‘sport’! The need for such laws thankfully eludes me but rumour has it, it’s because weapon manufacturers and gun dealers are finding business a bit slow. The industry apparently needs a fresh and easy source of revenue and silencers, which can cost as much as $1000, fit the bill nicely. I suspect the irony that the only thing that gave away the location of last week’s murderer, Stephen Paddock, was the sheer noise of his fire, is not lost on any of you.
