Australia: GOP candidates refusal to deal with gun laws

PJ: Turning a blind eye to recent shootings across the US will not solve the problem. President Obama's mere presence on the political scene created a spike in firearm sales in a country by people fearful (due to the rhetoric from the rightwing) that he would take their guns away. And even though the US is no stranger to gun violence from gang violence to school massacres to murders in shopping malls and houses of worship, politicians in both parties are reluctant to tackle the issue of gun crime. Random acts and calculated killings are all too common in the US with politicians more likely to defend 'the right to bear arms' than to provide any meaningful dialogue about curbing access to deadly weaponry.

Sydney Morning Herald

Republican candidates refuse to take aim at US gun laws

AS REPUBLICAN presidential candidates campaigned around Wisconsin yesterday morning, a Korean man shot dead seven fellow university classmates at a religious Californian college.

But Rick Santorum, the conservative alternative to front-runner Mitt Romney in the Republican primaries, said it was not cause to reconsider US gun laws.

''This is not a firearms issue, it is a human issue,'' he told CNN's Piers Morgan.
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He said the right to bear arms was a crucial right for Americans, and one that could allow people to protect themselves should they find themselves caught in a mass shooting.

Last night, neither the candidates nor the President, Barack Obama, had made an official statement on the shooting.

Earlier in the day Mr Santorum boasted to supporters at a bowling alley in the town of Menasha that he enjoyed an A+ rating from the National Rifle Association. (The powerful gun lobby group ranks all politicians.)

He criticised Mr Romney for once supporting some gun control regulation in Massachusetts, where he was governor.

Mr Santorum has made his support of the liberal gun laws a key part of his campaign. Last week, at a gun club in Louisiana, Mr Santorum took time to fire a few rounds from a 1911 colt when a supporter yelled out ''pretend it's Obama'', prompting a brief Secret Service investigation.

For his part, yesterday Mr Romney maintained his tactic of attacking Mr Obama rather than Mr Santorum, casting himself as the presumptive candidate.

The availability of handguns did not attract political attention even as the controversy over the shooting of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin by a self-proclaimed neighbourhood watch captain, George Zimmerman, threatened to overwhelm the campaign last month. Instead, most pundits focused on the so-called ''stand your ground'' law Mr Zimmerman is expected to rely on should he be charged over the shooting.

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http://www.smh.com.au/world/republican-candidates-refuse-to-take-aim-at-us-gun-laws-20120403-1watd.html