Gun violence and gun industry in the United States

The American firearms industry is not only solid but growing, supported by organizations and corporations that have a strong saying in the national arena

By Susana G. Baumann

Last Friday, the National Rifle Association (NRA) shut down its Facebook page, after the tragic events at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. They had recently celebrated a milestone of 1.7M fans. Why?  Is it fear? Is it shame? Is it avoidance of the public rage?

Other than merely representing gun-owners rights and the defense of the Second Amendment, the NRA and the firearms industry are linked in ways that have profoundly impacted the culture of guns and the culture of violence in the United States.

Firearms industry in the United States

According to the Professional Gun Retailers Association, guns retail sales in the United States averages about $3.5 billion while individual retailers size the industry at $4 billion a year.  A healthy industry that has not decreased in major recessions or economic crisis, the firearms industry increased jobs by more than 30 percent and improved its economic impact by more than 66 percent between 2008 and 2011.

The United States not only produces for domestic consumption but it also exports misery. The United States is the world’s leading exporter by far.  In 2010, America exported $674 million worth of firearms, $270 million more than Italy, the next leading exporter, according to customs data compiled by the Norwegian Initiative on Small Arms Transfers, (NISAT). Worldwide weapons sales by the United States tripled in 2011, according to a new report by the Congressional Research Service.

America’s arms sales to both developed and developing nations reached $66.3 billion last year, up from $21.4 billion in 2010. Russia sold $4.8 billion, the second highest exporter in the world. The total worldwide weapon sales nearly doubled to $85.3 billion last year. The United States sold three-quarters of the total sales worldwide.

In a list of 100 countries with stricter gun control legislation, the United States ranks No. 1 in gun ownership. There are approximately 888 firearms for every 1000 Americans.  In 2006, 10,225 people were killed by the use of a gun in the United States. Suicides with firearms are also high. In 2005, 17,002 suicides were committed using a firearm.

On the other end of the spectrum, only 6 firearms are owned every 1000 people in Japan, which has the lowest rate in the world of violence murders with guns.  While in 2008, the United States had over 12.000  firearm-related homicides, Japan reported only 11, down from 2007 when the number raised to 22, becoming a national concern for all citizens.

To get a gun in Japan, not only you have to attend a class, pass a written exam and a range shooting class; in addition, a mental test and drug test is filed with the police before a thorough criminal background check. However, the search does not end there. Your family, friends, neighbors, even your co-workers are consulted.

NRA and the firearms industry

The NRA describes itself as an organization that represents the “uncompromising voice of the American gun owner” in support of a wide range of firearms-related public interest activities –such as firearms and hunting safety, marksmanship skills for sports shooters, and educating the public about firearms. The organization receives top dollars from the US firearms industry.

The history of the organization started in 1871 launched by Union veterans Col. William C. Church and Gen. George Wingate with a primary goal to "promote and encourage rifle shooting on a scientific basis.” The culture of guns was born in the United States.

Along his history, the NRA always had a clear goal in mind: to increase and promote the use of weapons in young and adult Americans. In 1903, NRA Secretary Albert S. Jones pushed for youth programs in all major colleges, universities and military academies. These programs are still an NRA’s core activity with over a million participants a year nationwide.

In civilian training, the NRA continues to be the leader in firearms education. Over 50,000 certified instructors now train about 750,000 gun owners a year. They feed the firearms industry in the country but they are not alone.

Since 2005, the NRA has received millions of dollars from donors and grants as reported on the NRA Foundation website. But who are their donors?

The organization claims to receive industry grants for education programs, funds from individual donors, and donations through programs that round up gun store customers’ purchases to the nearest dollar with the difference going to the NRA.

Corporate contributions come from manufacturers of firearms and ammunitions, industry magazines, gun distributors and dealers, and vendors of ammunition and other shooting-related products.

But the NRA’s influence in the national arena comes from its power through the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), an organization that behind closed doors decide changes to national legislation. The organization’s membership includes national and global corporations and US legislators.  It has been called the “state legislature without the people’s mandate.”

Through ALEC and its corporate funders, the NRA has pushed end of the ban on assault weapons, a legislation allowing people to bring guns to work in 17 states, and the “Stand your Grown” laws in more than 20 states.

In 2008, as noted by the Center for Media and Democracy, in the aftermath of the Virginia Tech massacre, ALEC adopted a model bill to remove Virginia’s state prohibitions of guns on college campuses and to allow students to bring guns to class. The NRA reports that crime has decreased in the state of Virginia by 27 percent. 

In 2005, corporate lobbyists and politicians at an ALEC task force meeting voted to approve the NRA's request that the “Stand Your Ground” or “Shoot First” or “Kill at Will” law the organization lead in Florida would be modeled by other states. Surely, it was passed later in 20 additional states.   

Other bills were drafted by the NRA and adopted by ALEC corporations and legislators as models for the rest of the country impeding laws that would help protect Americans from gun violence in the name of the Second Amendment defense.

The close fist of the NRA

The NRA is the umbrella organization for other legal entities including the NRA Foundation, the Civil Rights Defense Fund, the Institute of Legislative Action, the Political Victory Fund, (NRA-PVF) and the Business Alliance.

Fueled by the power of the Super PACs, some of these organizations run undisclosed attack ads in political campaigns; or lobby and fundraise tens of millions in undisclosed, tax-deductible donations. Others push legislation to profit from unregulated firearms sales or offer free legal representation in cases involving “significant legal issues relating to the right to keep and bear arms.”

According to the NRA-PVA, in 2008 the organization was involved in 271 campaigns for the U.S. House and Senate. It won in 230 of those races (85%) and endorsed thousands of state legislative candidates that same year with an 84 percent success rate in those elections. The NRA is feared by both Democrat and Republican legislators alike.

Does the American public have a saying?

Most NRA activities and policies are concealed from the public eye. Many still believe that the NRA represent gun-owners and,  according to polling conducted by the Mayors Against Illegal Guns in 2011, between 85 and 90 percent of both gun owners and people living in gun households surveyed agree that tougher restrictions on gun ownership is required in the United States. 

The Benghazi attack, a conspiracy theory

The American public is used to conspiracy theories, and as fast as they arise, they are dismissed by most. The term “conspiracy theory” is used to deem a story as ridiculous, paranoid or unfounded. For most Americans, “the Nile is a river in Egypt.”

John F. Kennedy’s assassination was the center of several conspiracy theories that even resulted in books, documentaries and the Oliver Stone movie. The versions involved parties such as the CIA, the American Mafia, VP Lyndon B. Jonson, Fidel Castro and many more. The likelihood that Oswald acted alone was extremely low, as proven by many, but the Warren Commission refused to release all the information. 

Coincidentally, his brother Robert Kennedy was also murdered, but of course, the American public again dismissed the possibility of a “conspiracy.” And then Martin Luther King was also a write off for many –but not all- Americans.  

When a conspiracy theory becomes true and can be proven, such as President Nixon’s Watergate break-in and cover-up, then it becomes investigative journalism or a historical fact.

In September 2001, the country was attacked by al-Qaida, in the largest operation ever known in the United States soil. 

Although the US armed forces launched the Afghanistan invasion shortly after, people around the world speculated about the Republican administration’s involvement in the attack, given the slow reaction of the then President George W. Bush, the excellent justification for the war on Iraq that followed, and the lack of “enthusiasm” in looking for Osama Bin Laden. 

Those theories have not faded away, says the BBC. Around 15 percent Americans, especially young people, believe in the possibility that VP Cheney was somehow involved in the attack. 

Over a decade later, with only less than two months to the Presidential elections 2012, the Benghazi attack occurs, damaging –or at least trying to damage–the successful Foreign Affairs performance of President Barack Obama in finding bin Laden and ending the war in Iraq. 

I just highlighted some quotes from the New York Times report on 10/1/2012:

“The Sept. 11 attack culminated several weeks of growing violence against Western and other diplomatic posts in Benghazi. State Department officials said they were aware of the worsening climate and took precautions. One American official who worked in the mission said the Americans there were able to get around with ‘appropriate prudence’.” 

“Apparently, due to the increasing violence reported, the US Embassy in Tripoli had sent Special Operations personnel, including Navy SEALs and bomb-squad specialists to reinforce the Benghazi Embassy.”

The Attack “began about 9:30 p.m., roughly 15 minutes after Mr. Stevens had finished an evening meeting with the Turkish ambassador, bid him farewell and chatted briefly with a handful of Libyan guards at the gate of the compound.”

“Mustafa el-Sagizli, an officer in the February 17 Brigade and a senior official in the transitional government, said that he repeatedly called the mission’s official translator who for most of the night was unable to reach the ambassador’s security guards.”

“Security at the mission has become a major issue as the Obama administration struggles to explain what happened during the attack, who was responsible and how the ambassador ended up alone.”

“Mr. Stevens’s own bodyguard was so far away that he needed to sprint across the compound under gunfire to reach the building where the ambassador was working at the time.”

“‘There are three villas inside and the walls are high, and the only house that got hit was the house we were in,’ said Fathi el-Obeidi, a Libyan militia commander who came to help evacuate the Americans.”

Was there any "insider information" about the situation of the Embassy and its surroundings? 

The situation surely called for chaos and confusion but I believe additional information will come out from the incident because President Obama has shown to be relentless in finding terrorists, however, … would he share the findings with the American public?

But, of course, this is just a “conspiracy theory.”

 

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EU eases trade with Latin America at Madrid summit

The European Union is opening trade with Latin America and the Caribbean, in an attempt to increase relationships with the region and bring economic growth to the EU, despite opposition from popular leaders on both sides of the Atlantic.

After a failed effort to reach an EU-US summit back in February of this year, when a planned meeting with President Obama was cancelled, the EU faces austerity measures and public sector strikes.

Right before last week summit in Madrid, the EU and a Central American block formed by Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama agreed on a trade baseline that will include total market opening for industrial products from both parties.

Similar negotiations were discussed with South American leaders from the Mercosur. However, agreements were harder to be reached due to the protectionist policies of countries in both sides. Negotiations will continue after the summit.

Spanish socialist leader Zapatero stated that "In an increasingly globalized world where the source of prosperity lies in uniting efforts, the capacity for economic growth lies in openness and liberalization." Are these agreements beneficial to LAC countries -Latin America and the Caribbean- or will this be a reinstatement of the NAFTA effect that brought misery and poverty to the LAC region?


La Unión Europea facilita el intercambio comercial con América Latina en la cumbre de Madrid

La Unión Europea abre mayor intercambio comercial con América Latina y el Caribe en un intento por mejorar las relaciones con países de la región y aumentar el crecimiento económico de sus miembros, a pesar de la oposición de líderes populares a ambos lados del Atlántico.

Después del intento fallido de llegar a una cumbre de negociación entre la Unión Europea y los Estados Unidos en febrero de este año y la cancelación del encuentro con el presidente Obama, la Unión Europea se enfrenta a medidas de austeridad y la consecuente reacción del sector público.

Antes del encuentro cumbre realizado en Madrid durante la semana pasada, la Unión Europea y el bloque de países centroamericanos formado por Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua y Panamá acordaron un base de intercambio que incluye la apertura total de mercados entre las partes para el intercambio de productos industriales.

Negociaciones similares se intentaron con líderes sudamericanos del Mercosur. Sin embargo, las políticas proteccionistas de países en ambos grupos plantearon dificultades para arribar a los acuerdos propuestos. Las negociaciones pertinentes proseguirán después del encuentro.

El líder español socialista Zapatero declaró que “en un mundo crecientemente globalizado donde la fuente de prosperidad se basa en la unión de los esfuerzos, la capacidad de desarrollo económico reside en la apertura y la liberalización.” Me pregunto: ¿Estos acuerdos son beneficiosos para los países de América Latina y el Caribe o será solo una reinstauración del efecto NAFTA que trajo pobreza y miseria a la región?

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