Not only is yet another shooting unlikely to spur Americans into better gun control, but a Supreme Court ruling could soon have the opposite effect, experts say.
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“It is very possible that within the next few months […], we will have a loosening of gun control [rather than a tightening]”, foresees Rafaël Jacob, researcher at the Raoul-Dandurand Chair in strategic and diplomatic studies.
No to gun control
The base of the Republican Party is so “fiercely” opposed to any gun control that few politicians dare to speak out in favor of toughening it, he says.
And even states where elected officials and the population are in favor of greater control could soon be prevented from legislating as they wish.
The Supreme Court is due to rule this summer that risks invalidating a New York state law that limits the right to carry a firearm outside the home to those who have a valid reason and a license to prove it. .
The move could reshape regulations across the country, where the number of guns is greater than the number of people.
“I don’t see anything in what happened today, as appalling as it may be, that is going to change [this dynamic],” says Rafael Jacob.
Armed teachers?
The Texas shooting may even rekindle the idea of arming school teachers to deal with potential shooters.
“It’s already done in some states,” recalls Francis Langlois, history professor at Cégep de Trois-Rivières and member of the Observatory on the United States.
“Teachers generally don’t want to [wear them],” he notes.
The Buffalo massacre last week also shows the limits of this idea, recalls Rafaël Jacob.
An armed security guard tried to shoot the assailant to stop him in the middle of the carnage. The guard was shot before they got there.
In addition, several states would already have difficulty adequately funding their schools and paying teachers properly, underlines columnist and history professor Luc Laliberté.
“We are now going to invest in arming the schools? he quips.
Booming industry
Meanwhile, the firearms industry is thriving in our southern neighbors, which “percolates” to us, analyzes Mr. Langlois.
“It’s not for nothing that there is an increase here. »
— With the collaboration of Jean-François Racine
