Opinion | In the wake of the Florida school shooting, expect more controls – but only on what you say, your guns are safe

Robert Delaney says the latest school shooting in the US will only spark more surveillance by government agencies of what people say online, instead of stricter gun control

Reading Time:3 minutes

A mourner sits by a cross at a memorial for victims of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, US. Photo: Reuters

Published: 12:15pm, 19 Feb 2018Updated: 3:28am, 26 Jun 2018

As the US news media scrambled to uncover details of the killer and the victims in last week’s school shooting, one headline stood out from the usual follow-up coverage.

“Veteran congressman can still remember when inaction on gun violence actually presented a moral dilemma,” the spoof-news website The Onion reported.

It might seem callous to use humour to address a tragedy in which 17 people lost their lives, but the foundational principles of the United States ensure that, with the exception of thoughts and prayers, Americans distraught about the carnage guns inflict on its citizens do not have much else.

Survivors of Florida school shooting take on Trump and Washington in push for stricter gun laws

In the days after the shooting, House speaker Paul Ryan said lawmakers “probably have to do a better job” making sure mentally ill Americans don’t have access to guns.The word “probably” is key. It’s a signal that no laws will be passed that would restrict the availability of firearms. The lawmakers will not do the “better job” that Ryan speaks of, and until the horror of last week disappears from the news cycle, they will spew the usual thoughts and prayers and stick with inaction on guns.

Anyone wondering how this can be needs to know that “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed” – the actual wording of the US Constitution’s second amendment – resonates deeply in a country that threw off colonial exploitation and gained independence through gun barrels.

Guns then helped the new nation spread west to the Pacific Ocean (subduing and decimating entire civilisations along the way, but that’s a whole other debate).

‘Very sad’: Trump turns on FBI over school shooting after criticism from survivors

While novel ideas about equality and governance derived from the Enlightenment established the template for America, unfettered access to firearms helped make the project happen.

Throughout this history and until the present day, many Americans feel strongly that they need guns as a measure of protection against anyone, be they lawmakers, bureaucrats or trespassers, who might seek to infringe on their rights.