THERE are two names that have become popular in discussionsacross the globe since Saturday the 12th day of July 2024. These are, “Donald Trump” and “Thomas Matthew Crooks”. While at a rally in Pennsylvania, Crook, a 20-year-old student, shot at Trump with his father’s AR-15-styl rifle from an adjacent rooftop just 145 feet away. Whereas Trump survived the assault, he did not escape unscathed. The bullet grazed his right ear leaving a trail of blood behind as evidence. Crook on the other hand was shot dead by Trump’s secret service protection detail. A spectator was killed at the rally, while two others were injured.
Guns in the United States
America has witnessed several assassinationattempts on its presidency. The four US presidents who were assassinated in office were all shot. Abraham Lincoln was the first president to die by assassination. He was shot in the head by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theatre in Washington DC in 1865. James Garfield was shot at a train station in Washington DC in July 1881.He died in September from the wound.William McKinley was shot in September 1901 in Buffalo, New York. He died from the gunshot wound days later. John F. Kennedy was killed by a sniper in Dallas in November 1963 while he was in an open-topped limousine in a parade.
There were a number of presidents, ex-presidents and presidential candidates who survived assassination attempts.
- There was an attempt to shoot President Andrew Jacksonwhile attending a funeral in Washington DC. The gun jammed. 2. Theodore Roosevelt was shot on his way to deliver a speech in Milwaukee by a saloon keeper. His 50-paged speech folded inhis jacket slowed down the bullet. Whereas he survived the attack, the bullet stayed in his body for the rest of his life. 3. There was an assassination attempt on Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933. The shooter missed him but killed Chicago Mayor, Anton Cermak. 4. Harry Truman who took over presidency from Roosevelt was shot across from the white rock in 1950. 5. George Wallace was shot in 1972 after a campaign rally outside Washington D.C. The shooting left him paralyzed from waist down. 6. Gerald Ford faced two assassination attempts in 1975. One was at Sacramento in California.The other was at San Francisco17 days later. 7. Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981 outside the Hilton in Washington DC after a speech. 8. An Idaho man was charged withthe attempted assassination of Barack Obama when he fired shots at the White House in 2011. 9. A man was charged with trying to assassinate President Bill Clinton in 1994 after shooting at the white house. 10. Robert F. Kennedy who was running for presidency in 1968 was killed at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.
There had been a total of 12 assassination attempts on the presidency of the United States from 1865. It is therefore customary to assign secret service to US presidents past and present, until their deaths. Sadly, gun attacks are not restricted to presidents, ex-presidents and presidential candidates. In 2022 alone, there were more than 48,000 firearm-related deaths in the United States i.e. about 132 people died from firearm related injury each day. Nearly 43 000 firearm-deaths were recorded in 2023.Another 48,832 deaths happened in 2021, even though the pandemic reduced human interactions, and about 45,222 people died in 2020 in the heat of the pandemic from gun related injuries.
As at today, the government is unsure how many guns are owned by its citizens. However, it is rumoured that there are more guns in the US than there are people. Guns have become an endemic plaguing the United States of America.
Gun Ownerships, gun laws and the history of America
Gun ownerships and gun laws are as old as the United States of America. America was originally home to the red Indians before the arrival of the Europeans. The European settlers therefore met with a hostile resistance from the natives. Also, they were faced with danger from wild animals and antagonism from the French and the Dutch. It was therefore necessary for the European settlers to bear arms for their protection. In July 30 1619, twelve years after the arrival of the first European settlers in Virginia, there was a deliberationon series of laws to govern the fledging colony. One of the thirty enactments from the 5-days deliberation was a “gun control law” which precluded any “man to sell or give any Indian any piece, shot, or powder, or any other arms offensive or defensive, upon pain of being held a traitor of the colony and of being hanged as soon as the fact is proved, without all redemption”. If the punishment for giving the native Americans arms was the punishment of death without redemption, it goes to suggest the level of enmity, tension and confrontation that existed between the settlers and the indigenous population.
This law was adopted by other colonies, although the effectiveness of this law dwindled because of several factors, including the difficulty of monitoring arms trading in early America, the profitability of the venture, the arms intervention by other nationals including the French and the Dutch, and the fact that the natives allied with the settlers against various foes later on.
This was the earliest attempt to regulate guns in early America. From the creation of America in the late 18th century until 1934, there had been more than 1000 gun laws of every variety including gun ownership, brandishing, sale or transfers, hunting and military activities. According to Anthony Frassetto, militia laws, hunting regulation, laws on gunpowder storage and weapon firing were left out of his list because they were too many to be counted. The tone of these laws was mostly antagonistic to the ownership, carriage and use of guns from the end of the American Civil War in 1865. This was spurred by the overarching concern of American’s early governments for public safety. In their opinion, there was peace and tranquillity. Therefore, Americans no longer need guns for protection.
Many banned the possession, ownership, sale and transfer of guns, except for use in the military. Since firearms were prohibited, most business people and leaders pushed for the establishment of local police forces who were paid from taxes paid by the locales. They therefore protected the people against criminals, and establishments capable of threatening peace, such as gambling houses and local bars. Prohibiting carrying guns was also enforced by police. During this era there were few homicide cases. The western-style shoot-outs portrayed in many movies and books were almost unheard of. The need for bearing arms had faded out of relevance and the society was the better for it.
In 1907, a Washington state court in the case of State v Gohl held that “Nearly all the states have enacted laws prohibiting the carrying of concealed weapons, and the validity of such law has often been assailed, because denying to the citizens the right to bear arms; but we are not aware that such a contention has ever prevailed, except in the courts of the state of Kentucky”. It is evident that from the early 1900s, both the legislatures and the courts (apart from the court in Kansas) agreed that there is no more need for firearms.
The Supremacy of the United States Constitution
It has been argued several times that the enforceability of these state laws cannot be sustained on the basis of the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution which states that “…the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” The second amendment was adopted on December 15 1791, at a time when there was still a need to bear arms. That era no longer exists. Rather, several Americans have become the threats that guns prevented in the 17th and 18th centuries, a danger to other inhabitants of America because they feel like pulling the trigger, yet the proponents of gun rights claim that guns don’t kill people, people kill people.
The second amendment still has the force of law because of the provision of Article VI, Clause 2 of the United States Constitution which provides that:
“This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.”
Whereas there had been several clamours for gun control and the review of gun rights, these arguments have fallen on deaf hears on the imposing supremacy of the United States Constitution. If there was no gun right, Crook’s father would not possessan AR-15-styl rifle. Crook would have no access to the gun that did not exist in the first place, or have the right to attend a gun range. If this was the case Trump (and others) would never have been in danger of such assassination attempts. Some other 40,000 Americans would not have to die yearly, and several others injured. Many survivors of assassination attacks such as John Hinckley, the press secretary to Ronald Reagan who sustained more injury than Ronal Reagan in 1981 have clamoured for stricter gun controls. It is time for Americans to admit that they do not have to wait until they all have a death experience before they cancel gun rights and trust their effective law enforcement agencies to guarantee the security of lives and property.
Admittedly, halting civilian possession and use of guns may prove an up-hill task, however, measures should be put in place urgently to progressively reduce civilian possession of firearms. This is because the United States of America is now more at risk from an internal collapse than external attacks. There are currently polls on the internet on whether there should be stricter gun control in the US because of Crook’s attack on Trump. America should take advantage of this to halt gun civilian gun possession and use.
On the 12th day of July 2024, Trump joined the long list of presidents, former presidents or presidential candidates of the United States of America that survived assassination attempts. The next inhabitant of the United Sates of America may not be that lucky.
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AARE AFE BABALOLA, OFR, CON, SAN, LL.D (Lond.)
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