By Kerri Lynn

I just read a NY Times article/debate on the Gun Lobby’s power in US politics and gun control.

We all know the US is slave to corporate power and the continued wealth generated by business. In fact most Aussies know that the US values business over and above people. Some have said life is cheap in China but how cheap is life where regular mass shootings, as a statistic, take out more citizens than in any other country in the world?

I am not alone in suggesting that the US needs war for the business it offers. US corporations, from uniform manufacture to rebuilding nations, thrive on the merry go round of arm a nation, bomb the nation, rebuild the nation.

Without the army, air force and navy the US would have a serious unemployment problem. The same goes for the many police and quasi military bodies who patrol and police American states. (Sherriffs, National Guard, Homeland Security, Marines, CIA, FBI, NSA, State agencies, County agencies, City agencies and University agencies to name a few. I tried to research names but when the Wiki article listed by states, then within that county, and within that … OMG! Lists within lists. All this policing and yet still so much crime).

The US corporations also makes a huge yearly profit from guns and all that rampant gun ownership requires: ammunition, storage, carrying equipment, bulletproof clothing and vehicles, camouflage etc. Then there is the huge amount of money tied up in cleaning up after gun crimes. Apart from the actual mess there is the investigation that follows. Would the US need so many law enforcement agencies if no one was shooting up the populace on a daily basis?

We know the US has inefficient healthcare programs so how does the nation pay for rehabilitating and saving the lives of the victims of gun crime? The media focuses on the deaths after the usual US shooting incident (which incidentally I don’t know about you but I am beginning to get confused as to which shooting is which) but next time you see a report have a look at the number of injured. That represents a huge amount of medical costs getting victims treated, rehabilitated, back home and to some sort of life. After their medical treatment there is their mental health treatment which must go on for years for anyone who has witnessed a lunatic enter a building and start taking pot shots at their friends and work colleagues.

Then there is the industry of litigation and civil lawsuits against shooters and the failure to protect the innocent.

It is somewhat shattering to hear that after the latest Oregon Community College shootup the citizens of Oregon went on a gun buying spree as did the citizens of Virginia after the Virginia Tech shooting and the Sandy Hook shooting and pretty much any shooting that has occurred on US soil in the last several years! Anyone who remembers the news images of the 1996- and 2003-gun buyback programs in Australia would no doubt have noted the huge piles of guns sent into the crusher. The images of the claw squeezing the life out of stacks of rifles was very comforting. A bit surprising just how many guns had been surrendered! Imagine the piles of guns the US would have to “buyback”, confiscate and destroy?

So the question I find myself asking today is: What would happen to the US economy if the politicians could muster the guts to ban certain firearms and put restrictions on many others?

Are US politicians more concerned about the huge rift in their economy if they do vote to restrict guns and repeal the 2nd amendment (the right to bear arms) than they are about the deaths of innocent US civilians at the hands of gun owners?

Would the unemployment created from cessation of manufacture of guns, ammunition, accessories, medical personnel, law enforcement staff and security personnel be such a big problem that the politicians of the day would rather turn a blind eye?

Reports abounded today in the US criticising Australia’s “draconian” gun ownership laws.

Many other American citizens look to Australia as a shining example of how gun control can work, which basically allows recreational shooters some freedom to hunt or practice their skills at a range. And so far we can be pretty proud about that. When, sadly, we do have shootings the number of victims is vastly less than if the killer were allowed multiple or fast action firearms.

Can America really ban guns?

Can they even ban just some guns?

Will they ever be able to find and confiscate any and all guns they do ban?

Will people actually hand them in?

Will they ever be able to get ahead of gun manufacture and distribution which we all know is pretty rampant?

It seems a far greater task than getting to Mars but the US seem more determined to settle life on Mars than to preserve life here on Earth!

Will they allow guns on Mars?