Although the debate between Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and Republican candidate and former President Donald Trump took place immediately after a horrific shooting incident at a school in the state of Georgia, the issue of firearms did not receive its due in the major event that was watched by about 60 million Americans, according to observers.
On September 4, a 14-year-old high school student used an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, killing four people and wounding nine, making him the youngest mass school shooter in a quarter century, according to Washington Post.
Panic Buttons Prevented Greater Tragedy: New Details on Georgia School Shooting
About a week before the shooting at Appalachian High School in Georgia, every teacher and staff member at the school was given a so-called “panic button” to press in a specific way when there was a threat, which helped in the quick response to the incident.
Even days after the debate, Trump himself was the target of a second assassination attempt with an AK-47 assault rifle by a suspect named Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, who had a long criminal record and a past history of gun-related charges.
Roth had a long history of criminal convictions, including possession of a weapon of “mass death and destruction,” which would have prohibited him from owning a gun.
Over the past four years, there have been at least 2,373 mass shootings in the United States, with 385 in 2024 alone through September 5, according to the Archives. Armed violence.
In his interview with Alhurra, American political expert Norm Ornstein believes that the issue of firearms will be important to undecided voters in swing states during the November 5 elections.
How do candidates Trump and Harris view the issue of firearms?
Harris denounces ‘epidemic of gun violence’
Vice President Kamala Harris praised the Biden administration’s work to enact the bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the most significant federal gun reform in decades.
The 2022 law helps states strengthen background checks for firearms buyers under 21.
Earlier this year, Harris announced the launch of the nation’s first-ever Extreme Risk Protection Order Resource Center to support effective enforcement of state-level red flag laws that allow courts to seize guns from people they deem a threat.
But Harris called for more, including nationwide “red flag” gun laws, universal background checks and a ban on assault weapons.
However, Harris said she supports the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which protects the right of citizens to keep and bear arms, while also supporting gun safety.
After the Georgia high school shooting, Harris said we must end the “epidemic of gun violence” in the United States once and for all.
How did Tim Walz change his stance on gun rights in America?
In his first speech, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Kamala Harris’s running mate and vice presidential nominee, appeared Tuesday to raise a fundamental issue on Americans’ minds: “How can our children go to school without worrying about being shot in the classroom?”
Trump.. “The most pro-gun”
Indicative of the huge gap between him and Harris, Trump considers himself “the most pro-gun, pro-Second Amendment president.”
He vowed to repeal firearms regulations passed by the Biden administration, calling them attacks on gun owners and manufacturers.
Trump has repeatedly indicated that he will not enact any new gun restrictions if re-elected.
It is often argued in the wake of mass shootings that guns are not to blame for the tragedies, but rather a mental health problem.
After the Georgia school shooting, Trump commented, “A sick, mentally ill monster took these precious children from us far too soon.”
Ornstein told Alhurra that many undecided voters in the suburbs in swing states who have children in school or grandchildren in school have the idea that they will have to spend their lives worrying every morning about whether they will go to school and whether they will come home, indicating that this issue will receive a lot of their attention in the elections.