Gun rights protesters in Michigan (Photo via AFP)
During an appearance at a Senate hearing on the mass shooting at a Buffalo grocery store that preceded another mass shooting at a Texas elementary school, an expert on extremism warned that the United States is facing the "worst of both worlds" when it comes to trying to rein in the easy availability of high-powered weapons.
Pressed by Sen. Maizie Hirono (D-HI) on what the country is facing as lawmakers struggle to agree on what to do about the wave of gun-related violence that is plaguing the country, Professor Robert Pape of the University of Chicago painted a bleak picture.
"If we do not do anything and nothing changes I am worried that it is going to continue into the future," he told the Democratic senator. "A point about guns, ma'am, if I may: we are now in the worst of both worlds, we are pushing gun legislation that will almost surely not last -- that is my view as a political scientist. This is according to our data on our nationally represented surveys, it is making those individuals who would have the violent sentiments even more concerned and more dangerous."
"There are many people in this 18 million that I pointed out that are already concerned the federal government is coming for their gun rights," he continued. If we push legislation which goes nowhere, what we are doing is inflaming the problem more than we are solving it."
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Pape added, without specifying who, that there are "media figures" and "politicians" who are also exacerbating the problem.
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06 07 2022 11 29 56 youtu.be
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