With more than five million members and millions in assets and revenue, the NRA has had a major presence in American politics and has A-grade front people, like former Hollywood star Charlton Heston a five-term president of the association from 1998 to 2003.
But the Trump incident – a bullet grazed his ear as he spoke at a rally in Pennsylvania – has once again highlighted US gun laws.
The gun crime statistics in the US paint a dark picture of Americans, their guns and what they deem as their fundamental human right.
Every day, 327 people are shot in the United States. Of those, on average, 117 will die.
Every day, 23 minors are shot in the United States.
In 2023, there were 656 mass shootings across the US, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as an incident in which four or more people are injured or killed. Their figures include shootings that happen in homes and in public places.
For each of the past four years – 2020-2023 – there have been more than 600 mass shootings yearly – almost two a day on average.
Yesterday on Ryan Bridge’s Early Edition programme on Newstalk ZB, US presidential historian Allan Lichtman – a distinguished professor of history at American University – said the political violence may well have a silver lining, as it did after the shooting of Ronald Reagan in 1981.
“His press secretary, a staunch conservative Republican, James Brady, was grievously wounded. Instead of seeking revenge or attacking his political opponents, he formed the Brady campaign for gun control – and for a while, brought the country together in an effort to stop the epidemic of gun violence in America,” Lichtman said.
“Political violence has been endemic in modern America... the worst example of recent political violence was perpetrated by Donald Trump himself, inciting the January 6th insurrection...”
Lichtman said he hoped America could now come together to stop gun violence. The world hopes so too.
