2 Foreign Views

FRANCE:
Denis Lacorne est directeur de recherche au CERI (Centre d'études et de recherches nternationales) et responsable du mastère sur les Etats-Unis à Sciences-Po.

[Denis LaCorne is Director of Research at the Center for International Studies and Research where he oversees the United States political science group.]


"La tradition d'accès aux armes est beaucoup plus forte dans le sud des Etats-Unis"
"Le lobby des ventes d'armes détourne le sens de la Constitution"
"Ces événements ne font que renforcer le discours de ce lobby"



[The tradition of gun availability is very much stronger in the southern United States. The gun dealer lobby has hijacked the meaning of the Constitution. These events will only reinforce the chatter from this lobby.]

--Le Monde CLICK
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ENGLAND:

Despite the worst mass shooting in US history, gun control campaigners face formidable and probably insurmountable opposition. The pro-gun lobby has consistently quashed pressure for change following previous massacres.

Pro-gun groups led by the National Rifle Association (NRA) have powerful arguments in their armoury. They draw on, and entrench, the notion of the country's so-called "gun culture", rooted in its frontier and rural history and what is billed as the early settlers' self-defence against Native Americans (though their tactic would often be more accurately described as offence).

They also lean on the Second Amendment, which supports the need for a "well-regulated militia" and protects the "right of the people to keep and bear arms". Advocates of gun control argue that the framers of the amendment had no intention, when they passed it, that it would apply to "every wacko with a beef" as one columnist put it today. But that subtlety has often been lost in the debate, with the NRA continuing to hold the upper hand.

The NRA was founded in 1871 as a body devoted to improving marksmanship. It came to prominence in the 1930s and became increasingly politically active from the 1960s when the first calls for gun control were heard.

Critics maintain that the NRA retains a stranglehold over the debate because it bankrolls politicians, particularly in marginal mid-western seats. It has donated $14m (£7m) in as many years, overwhelmingly to Republican candidates, spending a similar amount in addition on lobbying Congress.