Georgia School Shooting: New Key Issue for the 2024 election?

A school shooting has occurred in the last few hours as of writing (4 September 2024, 21:49 hours Eastern Time) where 4 were killed: 2 students and 2 teachers. As of writing, Colt Gray, a 14-year-old has been charged and will be booked in jail tonight (later his father was also charged for providing his son- a freshman in High School- with the weapon that would go on to kill 4). This is a tragic occasion- but it also a common one in American history with this being at least the 45th school shooting in the United States in 2024 according to CNN. The gun in question that was used to murder these members of society was as CNN quoted: an “AR-platform style weapon".

Politicization of the right to bear arms The Second Amendment of the United States Constitution allows for "the right of the people to keep and bear arms [guns]". Since then, however, as time progressed and as America transitioned from a primarily agrarian economy mostly reliant on the slave trade (in the south) to an industrial powerhouse to what it is now, the leading economy with the largest GDP in the world, the need for guns for hunting and sport has transitioned from a way of life to a sport. Ever since, there has been big money poured in from both sides to tackle this issue with the most prominent member in this issue is the National Rifle Association (NRA) which primarily funds pro-Second Amendment Republican hopefuls running for Congress.

Democrats

After massive school shootings, the Democratic Party has been advocating for more gun controls and even banning assault weapons in 1994 under the Clinton-Gore administration which has since expired in 2004. Efforts to renew the ban in 2013 were thwarted by Republicans. After many shootings and 28 years later, the Biden-Harris administration signed a gun control bill that would expand background checks for all those seeking to buy a gun between the ages of 18 and 21, prevents people from convicted of domestic abuse and their current and former spouses to own a gun and funding for state red flag laws amongst other things. Democrats, by and large in at least the past 30 years, have been for gun control and saving lives from being taken away by bullets used with malicious intent. They are not for confiscating guns, but for more common-sense regulations on guns which include gun bans and gun buyback programmes to keep communities safer.

Republicans

Republicans, for the most part, have been pro-gun because the "right to bear arms must not been infringed" and have been propagating simply laughable and untrue beliefs that "the evil Democrats are taking our guns which infringes the constitution". According to Open Secrets, the top 20 recipients of gun lobby money are all Republicans, chief of which are the 45th President and 2020 election loser Donald Trump, and Texas Senator Ted Cruz (who is facing a formidable opponent, Colin Allred, in his bid for re-election to represent Texas in the Senate).

The Republicans are obsessed with preserving the Second Amendment- even after Donald Trump was shot! They do not believe guns are the problem in America, but instead blamed fault on the Secret Service, Democratic rhetoric, and mental health troubles. The Republican cope is on high levels in this race, chief of which is the conversation on guns and gun control in American politics today.

The Debate and the Election at Large

With the presidential debate happening in about a week, this incident will most likely spark a fierce argument over the future of gun control- with Democrats on offence saying that a lot more has to be done on such a piece of legislation.

Democrats will probably have the upper hand on this issue, especially as the memory of the four fallen is still fresh. Harris, a longtime supporter of gun control ever since her Senate career, will attack Trump and Republicans for still defending being Second Amendment absolutists while there are real people dying.

Voters will have gun control in their minds going into the election which is just 2 months away, and Harris will have the upper hand on this issue. Will this continue to fuel her rapid rise? Only time will tell.