Background Analysis
The recent mass shooting that occurred in Nova Scotia, Canada, drew attention to the gun control issue for another time. Now people expect stricter penalties for smuggling, safe-storage laws, and a mandatory buyback program. The latter measure to control gun circulation was also recently raised in the United States, following a weapon buyback proposal made by democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke. Gun control is a challenging political problem in the US, as there are still many cases of mass shootings. From January to April 2020, street gunfires took the lives of 135 Americans (Gun Violence Archive). The past presidential races have neglected the gun reform problem, but currently, it seems that Democrats perceive it as a critical issue that could help them win elections.
During the Democratic debate, candidate O’Rourke called for a mandatory buyback of assault weapons such as AK-47 and AR-15. It ignited the new round of debate on firearms regulation. The Texas-born politician claimed that it is not enough just to introduce the legislation banning high-capacity weapons trade (Boot). He advocated the mandatory buyback measure on the federal level in order to be sure that more than 16 million “sporting rifles” are not endangering the lives of Americans (Barton). This debate involves both Democratic and Republican candidates, who have different views on the issue and primarily target people who own and use assault rifles.
Other candidates such as Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, and Cory Booker expressed their support for O’Rourke’s initiative. However, mainstream democrats, who generally push for gun control, were skeptical about this idea. For instance, Sen Christopher A. Coons claimed that it is a risky and aggressive measure. Pete Buttigieg pointed at the importance of focusing on “red flag” laws, background checks, and prohibition of new assault weapons, instead of trying to eliminate existing ones (Boot). Republicans, of course, expressed their opposition by referring to the Second Amendment. For instance, Mike Pence highlighted that Democrats want to “steal” firearms from those who own them legally. Liz Cheney also stressed that Republicans will defend the Second Amendment and that such radical initiative will only make gun owners cast ballots for them.
O’Rourke’s buyback proposal is aimed to target all types of rifles mentioned in 2the 019 Assault Weapons Ban, including high-capacity magazines (Barton). Compensation will be determined by a special commission relating to the market value of the gun. Those who do not follow the law will be fined. Eric Swalwell’s proposal also includes the mandatory nationwide gun buyback that put logistical pressure on the ATF, which will have to set gun prices and destroy all collected weapons (Barton). He also claimed that the government should criminally prosecute those violating the policy. However, the majority of Democrats favor voluntary buybacks, including Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, and Michael Bennet.
Currently, this issue is more under formulation than the adoption stage of the policymaking process. For instance, Swalwell’s bill Freedom from Assault Weapons A,ct, and other bills related to the Assault Weapons Ban of 2019 havehasn only introduced to the House to go before Congress. All these proposals are aimed to prohibit semiautomatic firearms and their specific accessories apart from those legally owned before the ban. Nevertheless, there is no clear position on the voluntary or mandatory nature of the future buyback program. It means that this issue simultaneously covers different stages of policymaking, such as agenda building, formulation, and adoption because political forces still try to find consensus on appropriate measures to combat gun violence.
References
- Boot, Max. “Thanks, Beto. We Need to Debate an Assault-Weapon Buyback.” The Washington Post, 2019.
- Barton, Champe. “How Would An Assault Weapons Buyback Actually Work?” The Trace, 2019. Web.
- Merrifield, Clark. “Gun Buybacks: What the Research Says.” Journalist’s Resource, 2020. Web.
- Gun Violence Archive: Mass Shootings. Gun Violence Archive. Web.