Little can be done to stop U.S. mass shootings

A girls presents flowers near Sandy Hook Elementary School with her mother, where a gunman fired on school children and staff in Newtown, Connecticut, Dec. 15, 2012. The shooting incident killed 28 people, including 20 children. (Xinhua/Wang Lei)

Little can be done to stop horrific U.S. mass shootings such as last week's killing of 20 children ages 6 and 7, said a leading U.S. expert who consults law enforcement on mass murder cases.

Last week's tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Connecticut, have re-ignited the U.S. gun debate, with calls to ban assault weapons and high capacity clips, but criminologist James Alan Fox told Xinhua no legislation will fully halt such shooting rampages in the United States.

"Mass murderers are very determined. If mass murderers cannot go into a store and find what they need legally, they will typically find an alternative means, either by buying illegally or more often by stealing it from someone else," said Fox, a professor at Boston's Northeastern University and author of 18 books.

Moreover, many mass killings have involved pistols and rifles that would not be classified as assault weapons and not subject to a ban, Fox said. Moreover, a 1994 ban on assault weapons that expired in 2004 resulted in an "extremely small" reduction in mass killings, he said.

Indeed, the 1999 mass shootings that killed 12 students at Columbine High School in Colorado occurred during the ban on assault weapons. The two shooters, students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, had in their arsenal a TEC-DC9 assault pistol, among several other deadly weapons.

Some legislation, however, such as measures restricting high capacity magazines, could save some lives during a mass killing, although it will not stop all such massacres, said Fox, noting last year' s shooting when bystanders tackled a gunman in Tucson, Arizona as he stopped to reload in an attack that killed six and permanently injured Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

Still, a gun magazine is a simple device consisting of a small metal box and a spring, and a determined gunman could rig one up himself and fit it to any weapon that can accept it, some experts argued.

"We hear a lot of pundits say we need to do X, Y and Z to insure (last week's massacre) never happens again. Well, if that's your expectation, you will be disappointed. Because it will happen again," Fox said. "All we really can expect is to reduce the likelihood."

U.S. mass shootings occur against a backdrop of a highly competitive and individualistic society with few safety nets and much economic inequality and racial injustice, he said.

"We've done a very poor job in this country of looking out for those people who are struggling," he said of Americans undergoing both financial and emotional turmoil.

A Push to close loopholes

U.S. Congress is poised for a major debate on the issue when it reconvenes come January, and observers believe this time Democrats will push for an assault weapons ban with teeth, unlike the one in the 1990s, which contained loopholes.

The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence on its website called on Congress to close gaps that allowed some assault rifles to remain available under the previous ban, despite Congress' intention to ban them.

During the 1990s ban, some gun companies tweaked their designs and gave their guns new names, which got the weapons removed from the prohibited list, although the new versions were virtually identical to the old. For example, the banned TEC-9, used in the Columbine massacre, became the legal AB-10, the group said.

Some gun companies copied assault weapons that were originally made by other manufacturers in a bid to circumvent the 1990s ban. For example, Bushmaster's XM15 was a copy of the banned Colt AR-15, with one minor design change. And because the 1994 law allowed the continued ownership and sale of "pre-ban" assault weapons, those weapons remained in circulation, the group said.

Anti-gun lobbyists are also pushing to close the so-called "gun show loophole," which allows people buying firearms from a non-dealer, the Internet, newspaper ads or another individual to skirt laws requiring buyers to submit to criminal background checks. Those sales account for 60 percent of all U.S. gun sales, the group said.

President Barack Obama said last week that "meaningful action" should be taken "to prevent more tragedies like this regardless of the politics," and Democratic Senators Dianne Feinstein of California and Chuck Schumer of New York are pushing for a ban on assault weapons.

Gun owners, however, have long made the argument that too much gun legislation leaves more firearms in the hands of criminals -- criminals tend to obtain firearms illegally -- and deprives law-abiding citizens of the ability to defend themselves against robberies, home invasions, rape, murder or mob violence when a single-shot pistol is not enough.

James Alan Fox

The Lipman Family Professor of Criminology, Law and Public Policy

Northeastern University