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- By Supratik Das
- Sat, 13 Sep 2025 08:22 AM (IST)
- Source:JND
Charlie Kirk news: The assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University has once again underscored the United States’ deep and polarising relationship with firearms. Kirk, a well-known gun rights supporter and close friend of President Donald Trump, was shot in the neck and killed on Wednesday while responding to a question about mass shootings. Authorities have verified that the alleged gunman is under arrest but have not stated how he obtained the high-powered rifle used in the attack.
Boeden Seitzinger, an 18-year-old attendee, recalled the moment of horror. “I saw blood just spraying from his carotid artery. It was obvious that he wasn’t making it,” he told AFP. Despite witnessing the tragedy, Seitzinger remains opposed to stricter laws. “It wouldn’t have changed anything. People get guns, no matter what,” he added. Kirk himself had once remarked in April 2023, “I think it’s worth it…to have a cost of some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights.”
US Has More Guns Than People?
The US remains the only developed nation where civilian gun ownership has not only been protected but expanded over the decades. A 2018 global study reported there are 1.2 guns to every individual in America, which is more than two times that of Yemen, the subsequent highest country. Americans possess more than 45 per cent of all civilian firearms globally despite having fewer than 5 per cent of the population on earth. Recent Statistics from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed close to 47,000 firearm-related fatalities, including over 16,000 homicides.
America’s Open Carry Challenge
The Charlie Kirk case has also thrown fresh light on open carry laws in the US Utah, where the incident occurred. It allows adults over 20 to carry firearms without a permit. On college campuses, even 18-year-olds may openly carry guns with the proper license. These open carry laws create ambiguity for enforcement at public events. Police often cannot distinguish between a lawful gun carrier and someone preparing to commit violence, which hinders response times and increases dangers.
Key US gun laws
• National Firearms Act (1934): Places taxes and registration requirements on machine guns, silencers, and short-barreled rifles.
• Gun Control Act (1968): Controls the sale and ownership of firearms; mandates background checks for purchases from licensed vendors.
• Brady Act (1993): Established the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).
• Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (2022): Expanded red flag provisions and cracked down on illegal trafficking.
Yet, loopholes remain. Private sales and gun show purchases often bypass mandatory checks, while 41 states now permit open carry laws.
An Addiction Hard To Break
Historians argue that the gun problem is not rooted in weak regulation alone, but in the cultural mythology of firearms. Richard Hofstadter, writing in 1970, described the US as a “gun culture,” where firearms symbolise resistance to tyranny and personal freedom.
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In practice, this has meant that even after tragedies from school shootings to political assassinations, public demand for reform often meets fierce resistance. The National Rifle Association (NRA) and allied lobbies frame gun ownership as a constitutional right under the Second Amendment, ratified in 1791.
Comparisons with other democracies are stark. After Australia enacted sweeping reforms in the 1990s, its gun death rate plummeted. In Japan and the UK, gun homicides are nearly zero. The US, meanwhile, records a gun homicide rate 26 times higher than peer nations, according to Everytown Research. As America reels from the killing of Kirk, the paradox stands out, even with laws on the books, culture, politics and profit keep guns deeply embedded in US society.