The last line of a seemingly endless litany, the massacre in Boulder, Colorado, adds to all the previous “
mass shootings
” that the United States has known in recent decades.
As always, in the aftermath of these tragic events, voices are being raised to call for stricter legislation on the possession of firearms.
This time it was the new president, Joe Biden, who called for a ban on automatic weapons.
Read also: In Virginia, pro-gun activists in resistance
However, the years and the shootings have made little progress in federal legislation.
More than a hundred bills were thus refused in Congress between 2011 and 2016, during Barack Obama's second term.
Yet opinion polls in favor of stronger regulation are increasing.
In 2021, two-thirds of Americans said they were in favor of tighter regulations, according to a USA Today / Ipsos poll.
A study by researchers at UCLA and Harvard suggests that the shootings do trigger a legislative reaction, but at the state level.
In fact, it often leads to a relaxation of the control of the carrying of weapons.
The study focuses on the twenty-four years between 1990 and 2014. During this period, more than 20,000 bills concerning firearms were proposed, nearly 3,200 were adopted.
The study concludes that in the aftermath of these attacks, states recorded a 15% increase in proposed legislation aimed at regulating the carrying of weapons.
"Republicans are more likely to relax gun laws in the year following a mass shooting than in other years"
“The impact of mass shootings on gun policy”, Journal of Public Economic, January 2020.
Republican states enact 32% more laws in the year following a shooting than in other years, compared to just 7% for Democratic states.
But the answer is not the same: the study notes that "
Republicans are more likely to relax gun laws the year after a mass shooting than in other years,
" while on the Democratic side , the effect of the laws adopted is "
insignificant
".
Their results indicate that a mass shooting increases the number of laws that relax gun restrictions "
by about 120%
" in Republican states.
Carrying a weapon, a profitable subject for Republicans
Although representing only 0.13% of deaths by firearms, these "
mass shootings
" have a shocking effect on public opinion and lawmakers.
However, "
political parties focus on issues that they have a reputation for successfully dealing with in the eyes of their constituents,
" commented the study's authors.
However, for the Republicans, the question of firearms and their control is a subject much more profitable electorally than for the Democrats.
In fact, Republican voters are more likely to own a gun than their fellow Democrats: 44% versus 20%, according to a 2017 study by the Pew Research Center.
In addition, a 2006 study already illustrated that Republicans were more likely than Democratic voters to mobilize on the issue.
But if the Republican states pass more pro-gun laws directly after the killings, it is also because in the
Republican
doxa
, the best way to fight against the shootings is to arm the citizens to allow them to intervene.
"
Politicians in favor of looser gun restrictions say more people carrying guns would allow law-abiding citizens to arrest perpetrators,"
notes Christopher Poliquin, one of the study's authors. , in an article published on March 24.
So, in the aftermath of the Parkland shooting in which a former student returned to his old high school to kill 17 people, Florida passed a law allowing teachers and volunteers to carry guns in schools.
“
It allows the good guys to stop the bad guys.
The keeper is the last line of defense.
He or she will be present when a police officer is not,
“explained Chuck Brannan, who sits in the Republican ranks in the Florida parliament.
Ditto
in Texas, where the
school marshal program,
which trains teachers to carry guns, was extended after the Santa Fe shooting. "
What stops people with guns is other people with guns fire,
”commented Republican Representative Tony Tinderholt.
Joe Biden has placed the control of the sale of arms at the heart of his program.
The Boulder massacre cruelly reminds him of his promise, which he was quick to reiterate on Tuesday, March 23.
“I don't need to wait another minute to take common sense action that will save lives in the future,
” he said at the time.