WASHINGTON LETTER
Joe Biden elicited some laughter when he noted in his April 28 address to Congress that deer did not wear bulletproof vests. The President of the United States wanted to emphasize the absurdity of the militarization of the Second Amendment to the Constitution, which enshrines the right to own a firearm. He was referring to the generalization of semi-automatic weapons, used almost systematically in mass killings, or even high-capacity magazines, another guarantee of massacres, sometimes justified in the name of the practice of hunting.
Against this “Epidemic”, According to Joe Biden, for whom there is no vaccine apart from reason, the president urged Congress to act without much illusions, despite the tragedies which have again plagued the United States for two months. His modest hopes for better regulation actually hinge on the rebirth of a shabby federal service, the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Bureau (called “ATF”), officially charged with this controversial subject, but which is in a dire state under pressure from the National Rifle Association (NRA).
Ubuesque situation
One would expect that the United States, which allowed itself all the excesses in the years of “war on terror” to have at least a computerized file of the weapons in circulation in the country. But the gun lobby’s attacks on the ATF produced a gruesome situation. This documentation exists, but only on paper, in files stored inside dozens of containers lined up in the small West Virginia town of Martinsburg, which houses the offices of the branch office responsible for identifying the weapons found at a crime scene.
Every verification request involves grueling manual research. The weight of these cubic meters of invasive forms has already caused a floor collapse on site, according to the New York Times, which devoted an investigation to the ATF, Monday, May 3.
A sign of the power of the NRA, the ATF’s strength remained at the level of the 1970s, as the number of privately owned firearms tripled. It is now over 400 million, which is far more than the 331 million Americans recorded in 2020. Likewise, the NRA has successfully thwarted the appointment of an ATF official by ensuring that it be confirmed by the Senate. In the absence of consensus between pro and anti-firearms within the Upper Assembly, the post was vacant from 2006 to 2013, then since 2015.
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