Washington Navy Yard rampage reignites US gun control debate

“We are confronting yet another mass shooting. And today it happened on a military installation in our nation’s capital,” President Barack Obama said on Monday. Needless to say, the massacre at the Washington Navy Yard is most likely to reignite debate on security at critical installations, not just in the United States, but worldwide.   [caption id=“attachment_1114497” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image: Reuters[/caption] Simultaneously, the focus has returned to gun control, on which Obama was unable to muster enough support this summer. While Senate negotiations favoured better background checks, the universal approach backed by Obama faced stiff opposition. Despite the Newtown school massacre of last December in which 20 children died, the debate on gun control actually thinned out in the US this year especially after the Senate defeated measures to strengthen gun restrictions in April this year. A report in the New York Times says some sweeping new laws in Democratic-led states such as Maryland and New York have expanded the debate on either side. “Now those on both sides in the debate are raising money, developing new strategies and turning their focus to potential battles in at least half a dozen states,” the report states. Opponents of gun control have long argued that most mass shootings are perpetrated by psychologically disturbed individuals and that better mental health services should take primacy. Canadian-American columnist, a promoter of gun control, tweeted his five rules on gun ownership: “Rule 5: Gun ownership is essential to freedom, as in Serbia & Guatemala. Gun restrictions lead to tyranny, as in Australia & Canada.” In this opinion piece, he argues that just as better safety measures and clamping down on drunk driving were essential to control road accident-related fatalities, better mental health provision may contribute to reducing gun offences. “But America’s uniquely grisly record of gun death cannot be addressed without addressing guns.” About security at military installations, this report in the Washington Post claims that an audit by the Defense Department of the Navy’s procedures for granting access to bases showed at least 52 convicted felons having access to military installations in recent years. The same report also refers to a Department of Defence independent review of security of military installations undertaken in the aftermath of the FortHood shooting. Many of the recommendations in that report were never implemented either, the report says.