Between the mountains of ammunition, the neatly lined up rifles and the bulletproof vests, the excitement reigns at the gun fair in Ontario, California. Nothing would suggest that a week earlier, the Chinese New Year ended in bloodshed 50 kilometers away.
Thousands of people marched on Saturday in the cultural center of this city located in the outer suburbs of Los Angeles, where admission was free for children under 12.
Among the dozens of stands set up for the weekend, mothers with strollers eye mini-pistols, while sturdy fellows eye semi-automatic rifles capable of accommodating different calibers.
But despite the precision glasses on sale, few want to tackle the elephant in the room.
In a grieving California, most visitors refuse to talk about the recent killings in Monterey Park, a Lunar New Year-hit suburb just a 30-minute drive away, and Half Moon Bay near San Francisco, which left 18 dead last week.
“Nobody talks about the incidents, but there is an increase in purchases this week,” one of the sales assistants, Crystal Markanson, told AFP. “Every time the media talks about a mass killing, people buy guns because they’re afraid they’ll be banned.”
The two massacres in California have indeed revived the eternal debate around firearms in the United States. President Joe Biden has put back on the table a proposed federal ban on assault rifles, which has no chance of being voted on in Washington.
“Targeting certain types of weapons is not the right solution,” indignant Brett Reeves, under his cowboy hat. In California, where the law is one of the most restrictive in the country, assault rifles have already been banned for more than 30 years, he observes. “And yet, we still have mass killings.”
Rifles, shotguns, pistols… Of the dozen weapons that this libertarian owns, none is officially registered: he assembled them himself, by combining different parts purchased separately at fairs like the one in Ontario. .
With his experience, the 30-year-old was not surprised when he learned that the weapon used by the Monterey Park killer was illegal.
“The restrictions encourage people to go under the radar”, judges this seller of air conditioning, supporter of self-defense.
“Psychopaths will continue to prey on innocent people,” he sighs. So for him, “Texas is much safer (than California), because you can easily carry a gun there. (…) We must be able to protect ourselves against these crazy people”.
“Our laws are working, the rates of gun violence in California are much lower than in the rest of the country,” corrects Garen Wintemute, director of the Center for Research on Violence Prevention at UC Davis University.
But the United States has 400 million firearms, more than people, he recalls, a proliferation unmatched in the world.
Unlike many places across the country, no one can walk away from the Ontario Fair with a ready-to-use gun or revolver. Buyers must prove they are over 21, their criminal record must be checked, and if cleared, they must wait 10 days before acquiring the firearm of their choice.
Thanks to these restrictions, a Californian’s risk of dying in a mass shooting is reduced by a quarter compared to other Americans, according to the California Institute of Public Policy.
“These tragedies must stop, people should be able to be safe and not get shot,” said Adolfo Garcia as he left the fair, where he had just stocked up on ammunition for his semi-automatic rifle.
But for this 56-year-old engineer, passionate about shooting and perfectly in good standing, legislating cannot be the only answer, in a country where the right to carry a weapon is guaranteed by the Constitution.
“It’s sad to say, but from a purely legal point of view, I am more legitimate to own a weapon than my daughter to have an abortion”, sighs this Democratic voter.
“There really is a cultural issue, and also a mental health issue, that we have to deal with,” he said. “Look at Switzerland, they have a lot of weapons and you don’t see this kind of tragedy there.”
30/01/2023 04:58:53 – Ontario (United States) (AFP) – © 2023 AFP