Andrew Bolt: Fear still driving gun ownership madness in US

In a world where bad guys are armed, good guys won’t go defenceless. If the US wants to crack down on guns, it must tackle violent crime — or risk burying more kids.

The US, under President Joe Biden, should start with trying to do something serious about public

You think the murder of 19 little children in a Texas school will at last shock Americans into giving up their guns? Dream on.

It’s not just the US Constitution. It’s not just the powerful gun lobby.

Just think fear.

You’re an American who has just seen a 18-year-old whacko with a handgun and an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle turn a primary school in Ulvade – much like your own – into a slaughterhouse.

That’s just after you saw a pro-Beijing Chinese American shoot Taiwanese Americans in their church, a white racist shoot black shoppers and a black racist shoot train commuters.

And that was all after a doubling of such “active shooter” incidents in two years, says the FBI, plus a 30 per cent jump in murder in just one year.

So, seeing all that do you:

a) Want to give up your own gun; or

b) Wish you were armed yourself, in case you’re next?

You think the murder of 19 little children in a Texas school will at last shock Americans into giving up their guns? Dream on. Picture: AFP

To be frank, if I lived in Texas – where a third of residents own guns – I’d be headed to the gun store myself. In a world where bad guys are armed, it seems nuts for good guys to go defenceless.

And the higher the fear, the more Americans will want their own gun in their house.

That said, the gun laws and gun culture in Texas are plainly nuts. Just last year, Governor Greg Abbott signed a law allowing people to openly carry handguns without licenses.

This is also the state where the Ulvade killer, Salvador Ramos, could buy two assault rifles on his 18th birthday.

That should have pleased Abbott, who seven years ago tweeted he was “embarrassed” that Texas was behind California in buying new guns, and urged: “Let’s pick up the pace, Texans.”

Plainly, this must change. The data seems clear: states with the toughest gun laws tend to have lower crime rates.

Gun deaths in the US are not just about laws, they are about culture. Picture: AFP

The push to crack down on gun ownership is usually strongest after these horrors, but the willingness of people to give up guns will be when they feel safer. The US should start with that if it really wants to do something serious about guns. How did the country let violent crime explode?

But this isn’t just about laws. It’s also about culture. Why do rappers still celebrate shooting people? Why is Hollywood still making films showing extreme violence is the way to solve a problem – and make you famous?

Fix it all, or bury your children.