In the US, guns symbolize the culture war between Democrats and Republicans (2024)

The young man who attempted to assassinate former US president Donald Trump on Saturday, July 13 at a rally in Pennsylvania was one of 16 million US citizens who own a weapon of war. An AR-15 assault rifle, reportedly purchased six months ago by his father, was found at his side after he was shot by security forces. Twenty million weapons of this type are in circulation in the country, according to the industry.

The semi-automatic rifle, used in most of the deadliest mass shootings in recent years in the US, is at the heart of recurring debates on gun control in the country. But over the past 20 years, attempts to restrict its sale and ownership have generally failed due to irreconcilable positions between Democrats and Republicans on the subject, and pressure from the powerful National Rifle Association (NRA) gun lobby.

In 2004, the federal ban on assault rifles that had been in force since 1994, adopted under Bill Clinton, expired. In the absence of a consensus in Congress, the ban was not renewed. The manufacture and sale of these weapons, in particular the AR-15, experienced unprecedented growth. And although the question of banning them re-emerged after each mass shooting, the AR-15 even became a symbol of the United States for some on the right. In 2023, without really giving any details about the need for such a project, Republican elected officials went so far as to propose a bill that would have made the AR-15 "America's national gun."

Like Barack Obama before him, Joe Biden has made several attempts to restrict access to these weapons of war, but only a dozen Democratic states have adopted measures restricting the possession of assault rifles. At a rally in Michigan the day before the attempted assassination of the former president, Biden again promised to "ban assault rifles" if re-elected, accusing his opponent Trump of having promised the NRA not to do so. During Biden's tenure, a bipartisan bill extended background checks for gun purchases, mainly for those under 21, but his administration failed to ban their sale to younger people.

Public opinion less divided than politicians

In 2022, the Supreme Court even authorized Americans to carry guns in public, a decision that "contradicts both common sense and the Constitution," according to Biden. On the other hand, the Democratic president welcomed the nine justices' confirmation, in June, that the temporary withdrawal of the right to possess firearms for perpetrators of domestic violence was not contrary to the Second Amendment of the Constitution, which guarantees the right "to keep and bear arms."

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