The thriving gun culture in the United States

New Delhi, Dec 18: Gun control in the U.S. has been a matter of debate for years. The debate recently got fueled after the horrific shooting at a Connecticut elementary school that left 20 children and six adults dead. It's a stunning irony that Newtown, Connecticut, is also the headquarters of one of the main components of the American gun lobby. The state has been central to the firearms industry for more than 200 years, with companies such as West Hartford's Colt Defense LLC, whose founder, Samuel Colt, invented the revolver in 1836.As it is widely known that handguns and assault weapons are ubiquitous and near freely accessible to the American masses. The fallout from US massacre tends to follow an all-too familiar pattern - "Now is the time to debate." Prominent gun-rights advocates in US Congress are now calling for a national discussion about restrictions to curb gun violence."As a country, we have been through this too many times," US President Barack Obama had said, after giving an emotional address to the nation on live television, wiping away tears. With such tragedies happening again and again one may wonder how bad is the situation currently in the world's most powerful country. According to the Congressional Research Service, in 2009 there were an estimated 310 million firearms in the United States (not including weapons on military bases), of which 114 million were handguns, 110 million were rifles, and 86 million were shotguns. Things really become difficult when it comes to just how many guns are in private hands since there is no central firearms registry. Additionally, the annual statistical report from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, suggest that in 2010 more than 5.4 million firearms were manufactured in the United States. In the last two decades, from 1990 to 2010, an average of 4 million firearms were made in the United States every year. That means that no other country can come close to matching that arsenal — or the carnage that comes with it. Such a high ownership means that that the rate or murders by gunfire is also twenty times higher than the average rate in 22 other high-income countries which are facing the same rate of other crimes. Here's another interesting fact: the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the trade association for the firearms industry, has a membership of more than 7,000 manufacturers, distributors, retailers, shooting ranges, and other businesses. Moreover, the companies which are into this business employ nearly 1 lakh people and they brought in over $31.8 million in total economic activity in the country, according to NSSF. As per a report from Congressional Research Service, per capita, the civilian gun stock has roughly doubled since 1968, from one gun per every two persons to one gun per person.As per the statistics available with the FBI Uniform Crime Statistics, in 2011 firearms were used in 68 percent of the nation's murders, 41 percent of robberies, and 21 percent of aggravated assaults. Another startling figure: the state data compiled by the GAO, there were approximately 8 million active concealed-carry permits in the United States as of the end of 2011.However, under the US federal law, it shall be considered a crime, if a person sells or transfers a firearm to any person who has been “adjudicated as a mental defective or has been committed to any mental institution.”Recreational use remains one of the major reasons leading to higher sales of firearms. The gun ownership in the country has gone mainstream with a growing number of Americans considering firearms a natural part of their lives. Following the heinous Connecticut shooting, US President Obama has vowed to use "whatever power this office holds" to protect US kids against the gun violence, suggesting some political action behind an assault weapons ban. However, it remains to be seen what Obama and US Congress can do to turn this rhetoric into some concrete action so that such mass shootings can be restricted to a minimum.