Gun control in the U.S. [File photo]

Over the years, spiralling statistics of mass shootings in the U.S. have given rise to many questions. How can one of the world's most rich and powerful countries be facing such a crisis? In the year 2016 alone, 483 mass shooting incidents were recorded by the Gun Violence Archives, which defines a mass shooting as "four or more individuals being shot or killed in the same general time and location." As such incidents, according to this same website, become an everyday affair in the U.S., with varying amounts of casualties, the November 14th shooting at a California school became the 317th mass shooting in the U.S. for the year 2017. Statistics for other years are available here; even though the rate at which these incidents occur may have become less frequent this year, the number is high enough to entail a security crisis.

But even as the security situation drastically worsens, U.S. citizens still possess 42 percent of the world's guns. Not only that, 31 percent of gunmen in such incidents worldwide from the year 1966 to 2015 happened to be Americans as well, found by Professor Adam Lankford from the University of Alabama in his research. As of now, it is the war-torn country of Yemen that has the highest amount of gun owners in the world after the U.S. Professor Lankford has explained that a country's gun ownership rate corresponds with mass shooting incident statistics, while countries with high suicide rates have a very low incidence of mass shootings.

Apparently mental instability is not the main factor, and this aspect gets crossed out as less than 5 percent of 120,000 gun-related killings in America between 2001 and 2010 were committed by mentally instable people according to the American Journal of Public Health. Another research estimates that mental health factors are only responsible for 4 percent of such incidents. Video games violence also has little correlation with these crimes. From any angle, the root of the problem remains the rate of gun ownership: countries with lower gun circulation like Canada and Britain have a gun homicide rate of 5 per million and 0.7 per million respectively while the U.S. rate was 33 per million in 2009. Along with that, criminal incidents in America are 54 times more likely of culminating with fatalities, according to a University of California study by Franklin E. Zimring and Gordon Hawkins.

Why not then control the issue with legislation? Another analysis comprising of 130 studies from 10 countries suggests that gun legislation would help reduce such crimes. Instead, American society is getting progressively more violent, as shooters start using more powerful weapons with high-capacity magazines. David Hemenway from the Harvard School of Public Health says, "There are more people being shot in a shorter amount of time -- with more bullets in them." Digging deeper into the problem, it has come to light that a law placing a ban against high potency rifles in 1994 was done away with in 2004. Alarmingly, every time firearms restrictions were placed, gun sales shot up alongside and bigger mass shooting incidents took place.

Even though such crimes are not absent in other countries, mass shootings have now become synonymous with the U.S. Such alarming frequency is not found anywhere else but in America, which ranks higher than Australia, Canada, China, England, France, Germany and Mexico according to a research undertaken by Jaclyn Schildkraut and H. Jaymi Elsass. It only ranked lower than Norway, Finland and Switzerland, who have tiny populations and where even one mass-casualty events may result in a higher per capita rate.

Considering the magnitude of the problem, it could be thought that strict gun laws would remain in place to tackle the issue, but powerful gun lobbies in the U.S. prevent any such moves. Politically powerful, members of the National Rifle Association seem to be sentimental about guns and contribute generously to electoral candidates and political action committees pledging to remove any impediments in gun sales. Spending millions has ensured that deadly semi-automatic weapons get passed off as "modern sporting rifles;" right now 6 to 10 million semi-automatic rifles are in circulation, awaiting only to end up literally as "weapons of war." 

The occurrence of mass shootings in the U.S. could be easily reduced by limiting the availability of weapons, as the majority of the "shooters" are mentally stable, but things remain in limbo. Even though these crimes now happen on a daily basis, guns can be obtained legally sans any limit. It is guns and not a lack of health care or racism that is the main cause of this security crisis and it is in the U.S. government's hands.

Sabena Siddiqui (Twitter: @sabena_siddiqi) is a foreign affairs journalist and lawyer based in Pakistan.

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.

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