Civilian shoots killer: US arms lobby praises 'hero'

Another association for the defense of the right to bear arms , the CCRKBA, took up the same credo: “We carry arms to defend ourselves and others against criminals and the mad,” said its boss Alan Gottlieb in a press release.

“Let's be clear: if guns strengthened our security, America would be the safest country in the world,” retorted Kris Brown, president of the Brady Campaign, which campaigns for better regulation of firearms.

Similarly, Shannon Watts, founder of the organization Moms Demand Action, reproduced graphs placing the United States at the top of developed countries in terms of weapons per capita, but also deaths by weapon firearms.

Nearly 400 million guns were in circulation among the civilian population in the United States in 2017, or 120 guns for every 100 people, according to the Small Arms Survey project.

< p>More than 24,000 people have been shot and killed since the start of the year, including 13,000 by suicide, according to the Gun Violence Archive website, which recorded 354 shootings over the period that killed at least four people.  

Several of them, in a school in Texas or a supermarket frequented by African-Americans, have participated ully shocked the country, whose elected officials succeeded in June, for the first time in 30 years, in agreeing on a – modest – reform of the laws on weapons.