Individual armament is a constitutional right in America. However, in recent years, and especially in 2022, this right is one of the most discussed issues. The reason for this is the armed attacks that occur almost every day and the actions that turn into massacres.
In most states in the USA, you need to be 18 years old to buy a gun. Although the sale of automatic weapons is prohibited, it is extremely easy to turn a weapon you buy into a semi-automatic or automatic with additional equipment available on the internet. As such, people who have mental illness, defend racist ideologies, get angry with their boss, get angry with their classmate, want to take revenge on their girlfriend, etc., and those who pick up automatic weapons for many similar reasons can raid schools, shopping malls, workplaces, subway stations and turn everything into a bloodbath.
By this date, when we arrived in mid-June, there had been more than 260 mass shootings across the USA. There were a total of 692 mass shootings in 2021 and 610 in 2020. Moreover, these numbers were experienced in years when there were curfews and similar restrictions due to the COVID-19 epidemic.
The number of mass attacks this year seems to surpass other years if this situation continues. Like almost every state in the USA, the state of New York is also the scene of mass shootings.
In the city of Buffalo, New state, an 18-year-old racist teenager opened fire at a shopping mall, especially where black Americans go, causing the death of 10 Black Americans.
Another event that causes fear and anxiety in New York is the attacks organized or likely to be organized on public transportation vehicles and especially on the subways. Finally, on the morning of April 12, when New Yorkers got on the subway to go to work, they were faced with an attack by an armed attacker, who suddenly opened fire. 16 people were injured in an attack on a subway in Brooklyn. Ten of these people were targeted by the bullets from the gun of the attacker.
The subway is the most widely used means of transportation, but New Yorkers are now worried about getting on the subway, due to the attacks that have increased recently.
As in many cities of the USA, the people of New York organized protest actions both in their own states and cities and after the attacks that took place all over the country. Young people and children chanted slogans “We are small, we want to grow up, not die”. The protests held in New York were among the actions demanding the tightening of the laws on the purchase of guns in different parts of the country.
One protester described his concern and reaction with these words: “I thought something like this wouldn’t happen in New York. But after the subway attack in Brooklyn; It was very close to where I live. I’m afraid that someone might come to my place with a gun. My sister is going to high school this year and her school doesn’t have very effective security. Someone can get up and walk in and we won’t know until the first bullet is fired.”
“I am not saying that all gun owners are terrible people. But as in the elementary school incident in Texas, it is sad that an 18-year-old can access a gun without any security investigation,” the young protester said, adding, “We want effective gun control. “We need to do security investigations of people who buy guns,” he says.
Another protester, who attended the demonstrations with her son, said: “I am a mother. Yes, I am a mother and here is my son. They want change. They demand change. They want sensible gun laws. I can not find words to say. “I can’t find a word to say in the face of these attacks still continuing and the authorities are still not doing anything,” he said.
To these calls and reactions, the first response was received from the state of New York across the country. New York Governor Kathy Hochul has increased the age to buy guns across the state from 18 to 21 with the new law she signed. With the same legal regulations, the sale of protective clothing, such as steel vests, to persons other than security personnel was also prohibited.
In the past, the US House of Representatives has also passed a law that includes regulations for the purchase of weapons. But now the Senate must similarly pass the bill and send it to President Biden for approval. The information leaked from the Senate is that a consensus can be reached this time.