President John Dramani Mahama has challenged the United States to confront the widespread availability of firearms, saying easy access to guns is contributing to the country’s persistent gun violence.
He said the American public needed to reckon with the violent nature of its society, particularly the ease with which individuals could acquire firearms, following the fatal shooting of 15-year-old Ghanaian Jatvis Frimpong in the Bronx, New York.
Speaking upon his return from the 28th Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Antigua and Barbuda, President Mahama said the teenager’s death was particularly distressing because he had moved to the United States barely a year earlier to join his father.
“The issue with Jatvis Frimpong is he was so young, I mean 15 years old, and he had just been in the United States for barely a year to join his father,” he said.
The President acknowledged that the circumstances surrounding the teenager’s death were not yet clear, cautioning against drawing conclusions while investigations were ongoing.
“We don’t yet know exactly what the cause of it is. Some ascribe it to bullying, but of course the NYPD is investigating it. And I think that we should let the investigation go and find out exactly what happened,” he said.
However, he used the incident to raise concerns about the availability of firearms in the United States, pointing to the constitutional right to bear arms under the Second Amendment.
“But I do think that the American people have to reckon with the violent nature of their society, especially gun violence,” President Mahama stated.
He questioned the ease with which individuals could obtain firearms, saying, “And so anybody can go to a gun shop and buy a gun.”
The President argued that the combination of widespread access to weapons and the pressures of modern life created a serious challenge, particularly as mental health concerns continued to emerge.
“And in the world today, there are so many stress factors of modern living. And so mental health is becoming a major crisis,” he said.
He illustrated the potential consequences by referring to workplace and school shootings, where individuals experiencing personal difficulties could turn firearms against colleagues and children.
“So I think that one of the issues America has to deal with is the level of gun violence in their society,” he added.
President Mahama’s remarks come amid reports of two Ghanaian deaths in New York within days. Apart from Jatvis, he referred to another Ghanaian man, aged 24, whose body was reportedly discovered at a dump site.
The President said the deaths highlighted a wider concern about violence affecting people in the United States, adding that the issue was not limited to Ghanaians.
The New York Police Department is investigating the circumstances surrounding Jatvis’ death, with the President urging the public to allow the process to establish what happened.
