Children and MPs with machine guns,Who supports the chaos of arms in America, despite the massacres?

Pictures of US Republican lawmakers carrying submachine guns next to Christmas trees with their families have sparked controversy among the American public. While it comes a few days after a shooting inside a secondary school that killed three students, as the arms trade continues in the country.

In a controversial photo posted by Republican Congressman Thomas Massey on his Twitter page, he and his family are seen beside a Christmas tree carrying automatic submachine guns. Accompanied by: "Merry Christmas! We're asking Santa (Santa Claus) to bring the ammunition."

In support of her colleague, who was criticized for the aforementioned photo, Republican Congresswoman Lauren Popartt published a similar photo of her with her four children armed to the teeth next to the Christmas tree. "The Boapartes have your back, Thomas Massey!" she said. "But we'll leave you no ammunition!"

While the two photos received critical reactions, led by Fred Gutenberg, the father of the teenage Jaime Gutenberg, who was a victim of a high school shooting in Parkland, Florida in 2018, who said in a tweet: “Since we share family photos, here is my picture: one of them is the last one.” I picked it up for Jaime, and the other is where she was buried due to the Parkland school shooting." Other tweeters described the photo as "domestic terrorism."

This is the ignorant Congresswoman who joked stereotypical racist jokes about the association of her colleague's veil, Ilhan Omar, with bombs and terrorism. This is her picture on the occasion of the Feast of Christ, peace be upon him. I doubt she knows anything about him. Reminds me of some of my students at university. Most of them thought he was born in Italy. https://t.co/bVEotbtlU7

The American-based Palestinian journalist, Samar Jarrah, tweeted: "This is the ignorant Congresswoman who made stereotypical racist jokes about her colleague Ilhan Omar's association with bombs and terrorism. This is her picture on the occasion of Christ's Day, peace be upon him. I doubt she knows anything about him. My students are in university. Most of them thought he was born in Italy."

Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez commented on the matter, denouncing it: "I don't remember when Jesus commanded that his birth be commemorated by showing off weapons!" She added, "It is ironic that Republicans spend years in the hysteria of 'the danger of obliterating the values ​​of Christmas' and are doing it themselves."

On the other hand, the controversy over the two photos coincided days after a shooting took place inside a high school in rural Oxford, Michigan, which killed four people and wounded eight people, including a teacher, with injuries of varying severity. Which brings up the issue of the legalization of arms trade and possession in the United States, whose continuation is opposed by the progressives, but the conservative right clings to it firmly.

Who clings to the arms trade?

The US Constitution legalizes gun ownership for adult citizens. In recent years, with the increase in indiscriminate shootings, especially in schools, a desire has grown within a large segment of Americans for the need to put an end to the threat of guns spreading without any supervision.

The Democratic Party, and its progressive movement in particular, took it upon itself to advocate on this issue and push for the adoption of policies to legalize the arms trade. President Joe Biden had promised during his election campaign to pass tough legislation to tighten gun sales, ban all online sales and ban the manufacture and sale of assault weapons.

Last March, the White House ordered the Senate to pass a law that would tighten gun trade procedures. This bill hits a real political hurdle, as any measure to legalize guns would need 10 Republican votes in the Senate to pass. This is what prevents the conservative right from clinging to this trade.

Republicans oppose bills aimed at tightening gun sales because they see them as "limiting Americans' freedom to own guns." As well as their close relations with pressure groups that work for the arms companies, especially the huge money that these groups give to members of the conservative party.

Headed by the "National Firearms Association", which plays a major role in blocking any law to tighten gun trade procedures, and considers the latest bill as "an unconstitutional measure unbecoming of the United States of America and fiercely opposed to it."

The dangers of proliferation of weapons in the United States

The proliferation of weapons in the United States represents a major threat to public safety, as the incidence of indiscriminate shootings and targeting of civilians are increasing year after year. The country recorded more than 600 shootings in 2020 alone, compared to 419 in 2019.

25 of these incidents resulted in mass killings. According to the statistics of the "Everytown Research Foundation", during the past 12 years, more than 1,280 Americans were victims of random shootings, and a quarter of them were children, compared to 973 wounded.

Schools are one of the most prominent places for indiscriminate shootings to occur. In 2021, 29 school shootings were monitored, killing at least 11 people and wounding 48. In general, 138 school shootings have been recorded so far in the United States, including 26 It resulted in one or two deaths each time.