This rise usually occurs when there is a shooting with many dead, as investors expect an increase in the purchase of weapons due to possible restrictions
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A man looks at a rifle in a gun store in Florida. DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD/ZUMA PRESS/CONTACTOPHOTO
The shares of the main arms manufacturers in the United States rose this Wednesday, a day after the shooting at a Texas school that left 19 children and two teachers dead, as investors anticipate an increase in demand due to fears of possible restrictions on arms sales.
< p class=”paragraph”>At 10:27 local time (14:27 GMT) shares of Smith & Wesson Brands – the largest manufacturer of short firearms in the United States – rose 9%, those of Vista Outdoor added 6.74% and those of Sturm Ruger & Company 3.46%.
This rise usually occurs when there is a shooting with many deaths, as investors expect an increase in the purchase of weapons due to possible restrictions.
The president of the United States, Joe Biden, visibly shocked yesterday when he heard the news, said: “As a nation we have to ask ourselves when in the name of God we are going to confront the pressure groups in favor of of weapons (and) do what deep down we know to do”.
The gun control debate recurs every time there is a massacre, but it comes up against the right to “carry firearms outside the home in self-defense” contained in the Second Amendment of the Constitution.
And every time there is an indiscriminate shooting, not only the laxity of the laws that allow even teenagers to buy weapons is debated, but also the responsibility of the arms industry itself in the death of innocent civilians< /b>.
EFE/EPA/ERIK S. LESSER/File
The past February, the families of nine victims of the 2012 shooting at the Sandy Hook school in Newton, Connecticut, where 26 people died – the most serious massacre in a school-, reached a historic settlement to receive $73 million in compensation from the Remington gun company, which had manufactured the AR-15-style rifle used in the massacre.
It was one of the most significant settlements to date, as federal immunity for gunmakers provides a strong shield against litigation, according to the New York Times
The National Rifle Association (NRA), an organization that wields great influence over politicians and thus gun laws, said nearly five million people became members after the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting.
However, several analysts pointed out that the organization inflated its data and lowered that figure to three million new members.
In the United States, you can own a gun and not be a member of the NRA. Based on 2021 data, less than 20% of civilian gun owners in the US are members.
Gun sales increased across the country during the pandemic , as some feared the outbreak could spark civil unrest.
Guns in America
Yesterday, Democratic Senator from Connecticut and gun control advocate Chris Murphy said he would “get on his knees” to beg his colleagues to pass gun control legislation.< /p>
Senate Majority Leader New York Democrat Chuck Schumer also introduced a motion to put two gun control bills on the Senate calendar. camera.
But they were countered by Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz, who criticized Democratic efforts to change gun laws in the immediate aftermath of the shooting.
The House approved the Last Wednesday a bill to increase the fight against domestic terrorism just days after another massacre, a racist shooting in the New York town of Buffalo, in which ten people died, most of them African-Americans.
The initiative, baptized “The Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act of 2022″, proposes the creation of specialized units in the FBI and in the departments of Justice and Homeland Security to track and investigate possible threats of domestic terrorism, including racist and white supremacist groups.
Following approval in the Democratic-majority lower house, the bill now moved on to the Senate.
(With information from EFE)