Firearms regulations are unlikely to be tightened in the US, despite horror scenes like those experienced by residents of Lewiston in the state of Maine on Wednesday night.
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“The issue of gun control is not a priority,” says Francis Langlois, a gun policy specialist.
Although Americans’ opinions on the issue vary widely from state to state, overall support for tightening controls and banning certain models “is around 60%,” Mr. Langlois says.
However, the measures taken by the American government and the demands of citizens are sometimes very different.
“There is a dichotomy between what people generally want and what politicians will deliver,” specifies the expert.
Since the 2000s, more specifically since 2010, several states have cracked down on the rights granted to citizens to own firearms, but new policies imposed by other levels of government sometimes render the progress that has been made “obsolete.” .
“In states like Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine there is little regulation, and the population actually doesn’t seem to want more regulation,” Langlois adds.
According to him, this reluctance is due to the relatively low homicide crime rate in these northeastern states.
Psychiatric problems and firearms
The federal government requires licensed firearms dealers to conduct criminal and psychiatric background checks.
However, citizens do not always purchase their weapons from such stores.
Many people buy their rifles from resale shops or even directly from private individuals, explains Francis Langlois.
In these situations, verification is “left to the goodwill of the persons who will carry out the transaction.”
Additionally, “there are many ways to bypass verification procedures in the United States,” he adds.
The expert reiterates that “the federal government can certainly carry out reviews, and it does a phenomenal amount of them every year, but the fact remains that it relies on the cooperation of the states” and some of them “are not very careful about it.” “Transmitting both judicial and psychiatric data on persons living in its territory”.
Unfortunately, atrocities like those in Lewiston can and will continue to be committed anywhere “as soon as this type of weapon is lying around,” the specialist concluded.