In my defence

Columbine. Sandy Hook. Santa Fe. Uvalde. Now NashvilleThe capital of the state of Tennessee, USA, known for its music history. . Flowers, vigils, tears. Again, and again, and again, and again.

For many, there is a fatalismThe belief that all events are predetermined and cannot be changed. around the shooting that took place at Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee on Monday, claiming the lives of six people. It seems as if they will never end.

As ever, there are calls for change. After the tragedy, President Joe Biden renewed his demand for a ban on the sale of assault weapons. But this is unlikely to happen.

Indeed, no-one seems to expect anything to change. Even if the USA could pass a ban on certain guns, they say, it is not clear it would have any effect.

People are unlikely to give up their guns, because gun ownership has become yet another part of the USA's divided politics. 

Some 44% of Republican PartyAlso known as the Grand Old Party or GOP, it is one of the USA's two major political parties. Its first president was Abraham Lincoln. It sits on the right of the political spectrum. members own guns, compared with just 16% of DemocratsMembers of the Democratic party, the left-leaning US political party. Joe Biden and Barack Obama are both Democrats. .¹ Republicans are unlikely to hand their guns over to a Democratic government peacefully. And no Republican government is likely to propose restricting gun ownership.

So why has shooting after shooting failed to change some Americans' minds on guns? They say they need guns for self-defence.

It is an ideal that goes to the heart of American identity. In the 19th Century, thousands of Americans started migrating westwards across the continent. In the West, known as the "frontier", only those who could defend themselves and their property would survive.

A century later, the pull of the frontier, and its values of self-reliance and individualism, on the American imagination is huge.

But critics say this is just mythology. In fact, most frontier towns had strict gun control.

And, they say, guns are still ineffective for self-defence. In fact, the rate of deaths in school shootings is almost three times as high when there is an armed guard present.

Yes: Self-defence is the right on which all other rights rest. We cannot exercise any of our rights if we are dead. An armed people is the best deterrent against both crime and government power.

No: There is no evidence that carrying weapons makes you any safer, and plenty of evidence that being around people carrying weapons makes you less safe. Self-defence is a dangerous myth.

Or... Self-defence can be understood as a collective right. We all agree to entrust our right to self-defence to the government, which then protects us from criminals so we do not have to.