I interviewed with El Pais in English back in December. Yesterday, they published my thoughts in this article. Below are excerpts on my thoughts about America’s gun culture:
“I grew up in a family that came from the Soviet Union,” says Gabriella Hoffman, 26, from Springfield, Virginia, who is on her way to target practice with her 9mm Smith handgun. “Some of our relatives were arrested by the Politburo and sent to labor camps. They were stripped of the right to defend themselves. If they had had weapons, not so many people would have died.”
The American media reports a rise in gun sales to African Americans and members of LGTB communities, thought to be a defense against hate crimes. In general, there are many more male gun owners than female, and more Republicans than Democrats. Hoffman, a media consultant, tells the story of a student who was raped when a man entered the window of her apartment on campus. “If she had been allowed to have a firearm, she would have been able to defend herself,” she says. “As a woman and a rather small one, I don’t want to be vulnerable. And it’s my constitutional right.”
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Hoffman is a member of the NRA and trots out all the usual arguments: it’s the people, not the guns, that kill; introducing more restrictions makes no difference since the crimes are committed by evil people who don’t respect the law. According to Hoffman, a lot of those wanting stricter measures don’t realize that the law already bans offenders and domestic abusers from buying a weapon. Regarding the most recent high school shooting, gun rights groups point out that the FBI had done nothing about Cruz despite being alerted to his state of mind. But despite what Donald Trump had to say on Twitter about their lack of focus on real crime, it is hard to see how the authorities can keep an eye on every potentially dangerous person in a country with more than 300 million firearms.