The Economist - UK (2022-05-28)

34 UnitedStates TheEconomistMay28th 2022

duceduniversalbackgroundchecksonall

gunsalesfailedintheSenate.Therehas

beenlittlefederalactiononguncontrol,

because of Congress’s unwillingness to

staredownthebarrelofthenra, whichre­

mainsinfluentialinWashingtondespite

thegroup’sownfinancialandreputational

problems.Inordertogetthingsdone,Mr

Bidenhastriedtochangepolicybyexecu­

tive order, including regulating “ghost

guns”thatcanbeassembledfromparts

boughtonlineandwhichhadpreviously

evadedregulation.

Moreactionhasoccurredatthestate

level.Forexample,aftertheshootingat

MarjoryStonemanDouglasHighSchoolin

Parkland, Florida, in 2018, many states

passednew gun­controllaws, including

the Republican­led Sunshine State. But

therehasalsobeenalooseningofrules.

Texas has embraced “permitless carry”

laws,which allow people to carry guns

aroundinpublicwithnopermitortrain­

ing.Intheabsenceofstrongerfederalleg­

islation,placeswithstifferrestrictionssee

theresultsoftheireffortsdilutedbyanti­

gun­controlstates.Thisiswhythereisan

“iron pipeline” of guns trafficked from

statesintheSouthwithfewerrestrictions

to those in the north­east which have

stricterpolicies,saysMrSakran.

AlthoughtheshootinginUvaldebreaks

hearts,willit changeminds?Aspoliticians

prevaricate,moregunscirculate. During

2020 and 2021, an estimated 43m guns

were sold in America. Universal back­

groundcheckswouldbethemostmean­

ingfulreform—thoughanelusiveoneina

dividedCongress.SomeDemocratswant

tolengthenthewaitingperiodforgunpur­

chases.Currentlythefbihasthreedaysto

conducta backgroundcheckfora gunsold

bya federallylicensedgundealer,andifit

doesnotobjectinthatquickwindow,the

buyerreceiveshisfirearm.Thishappened

withtheassailantinagrimshootingin

Charlestonin2015.

ThemostlikelychangeoutofWashing­

toncouldcomesoonfromtheSupreme

Court,whichisgoingtoruleona casere­

gardingtheconstitutionalityofNewYork’s

restrictions on people’s ability to carry

gunsinpublic.Manyexpectthecourtto

ruleagainstNewYork,makingiteasierfor

individualsto carryfirearmsandpoten­

tiallyleadingtomorestates’gunrestric­

tionsbeingstruckdown.

MessingwithTexas

InTexas,voterswillsoonbeabletoindi­

catewhethertheyarecontenttotolerate

thestatusquo.Inthewakeoftwomass

shootingsin2019,MrAbbottpromisedto

lookintosolutionsforavoidingfutureat­

tacksbutfailedtoact,insteadsigningper­

mitless­carry into law.Beto O’Rourke,a

Democratwhoisrunningforgovernor,has

madegun­controlcentraltohispolitical

career(heconfrontedMrAbbottata news

conferenceinUvaldeonMay25th).Buthis

chancesofvictoryagainstMrAbbottare

low,andthereislittlehecoulddotoregu­

lategunsina Republican­controlledstate

legislatureanyway.

OnMay27ththenraiskickingoffits

annualconference,withspeakersinclud­

ingMrAbbott,TedCruz,a Republicansen­

atorfromTexas,andformerPresidentDo­

naldTrump.ThattheUvaldeatrocityand

thenra’sgatheringwilloccurinthesame

state,inthesame week,is asymbolof

America’sdivisionsanddysfunction.n

Too many tragedies

Sources:MotherJones;pressreports

*Shootingswiththreeormorefatalitiesexcludingperpetrator(s).BeforeJanuary 2013,

withfourormorefatalities.Notcomprehensive †At4amEST,May 25th

United States, number of fatalities from mass shootings*

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

1982 85 90 95 2000 05 10 15 20 22 †

21 McDonald’srestaurant,

SanYsidro,CA

13 Columbine

HighSchool

Littleton,CO

32 VirginiaTech

Blacksburg ,VA

12 Movietheatre,Aurora,CO

27 SandyHookElementarySchool,

Newtown,CT

26 First Baptist Church

Sutherland Springs, TX

23 Walmart

ElPaso,TX

17 MarjoryStoneman

DouglasHigh School

Parkland,FL

21 Robb

Elementary

School

Uvalde, TX

10 Tops

Friendly

Markets

Bualo, NY

14 InlandRegionalCentre,

SanBernardino,CA

49 Pulse nightclub

Orlando, FL

5 Las Vegas Strip

Las Vegas, NV

Individual incident

Incident with more than ten fatalities

9 African Methodist Episcopal

church, Charleston, SC

23 Luby ’s cafeteria

Killeen, TX

Georgiaprimaries

A slap for Trump

F

or thebetter part of a decade, the con­

tingent  of  Americans  hopeful  that  Do­

nald  Trump’s  spell  over  the  Republican

Party  would  soon  break  have  been  dealt

setback  after  setback.  The  night  of  May

24th proved to be a respite. In two closely

watched  Republican  primary  elections

held  in  the  state  of  Georgia,  two  incum­

bents—Brian Kemp, the governor, and Brad

Raffensperger,  the  secretary  of  state—

managed to keep their seats despite vigor­

ous  challengers  stirred  up  by  the  former

president. Is the Trump wizardry waning?

Before 2020, both Mr Kemp and Mr Raf­

fensperger  were  seen  as  rock­ribbed  Re­

publicans.  But  when  Mr  Trump  could  not

face  the  fact  that  he  had  narrowly  lost

Georgia to Joe Biden, he and his surrogates

resorted  to  a  campaign  of  extraordinary

pressure on the state’s top election officials

to  reverse  the  result.  When  they  refused,

they earned the president’s permanent ire. 

In the end, it was not particularly close.

Mr Kemp won 73.7% of his vote, smashing

David  Perdue—an  ultra­wealthy  former

business executive and senator. Mr Perdue,

who unconvincingly reinvented himself as

a  conspiratorial  nationalist  with  no  dis­

cernible  character  traits  save  Trumpism,

has probably authored his permanent and

ignominious exit from politics. By a small­

er margin of 19 percentage points, Mr Raf­

fensperger fended off a challenge from Jo­

dy Hice, a pastor and congressman whose

higher calling appears to be chanting about

fraud  in  the  2020  election  and  returning

Mr Trump to power.

However  real,  the  repudiation  is  not

wholesale. Early data show that registered

Democrats, who are allowed to participate

in Georgia’s open primary, came out in re­

cord  numbers—not  enough  to  seriously

dilute  the  heavily  Republican  electorate,

but  perhaps  enough  for  Mr  Raffensperger

to avoid a run­off. (There is no doubt that

even  among  true  Republicans,  Mr  Kemp

delivered a walloping to Mr Perdue.)

More  importantly,  the  race  was  not  a

referendum on Trumpism. Both men were

careful  never  to  betray  any  animosity  to­

wards the former president. “I’m not mad

at  him.  I  think  he’s  just  mad  at  me,”  Mr

Kemp said before the vote. He received an

endorsement  visit  from  Mike  Pence,  the

former  vice­president  whom  Mr  Trump

now  despises  because  he,  too,  would  not

overturn a democratic election. “In all the

Trump­Pence administration, there was no

ATLANTA

The triumph of two Republicans the

former president tried to oust