There have been 130 mass shootings this year with at least four deaths and injuries. Gun violence has torn apart American society
Six people, including three children, were killed in a school shooting in Nashville, Tennessee, USA on the 27th. So far this year, there have been 130 mass shootings in the United States that have killed or injured at least four people. The intensifying problem of gun violence has once again become the “worst nightmare” of the American people.
In the face of successive shooting tragedies, American politicians can hardly see any real actions other than “habitually” voicing their positions and wrangling each other. Due to the polarization of partisanship and the obstruction of interest groups, the legislative process of strengthening gun supervision and curbing gun violence is struggling.
America’s children have been let down again
Flowers and toys mourn the dead at the makeshift memorial at Covenant School in Nashville, where the shooting took place. “I can’t believe what happened,” the family of the victim Evelyn grieved. Evelyn was the victim who was only 9 years old. The other three victims were the principal and two teaching staff. The city’s mayor, John Cooper, said it was “the worst day ever” and that Nashville was on the “horrific, long list of people who have lived through school shootings.”
The shooting is the deadliest school shooting in the United States since the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas, in May 2022. “America’s children have been let down again.” CNN reported.
Nashville police identified the shooter as Audrey Elizabeth Hale, a 28-year-old local who attended the school. According to police, Hale had been treated for “emotional disturbances” and the motive for the crime was uncertain. Hale legally purchased seven guns at five Nashville gun stores and was carrying three of them, including an AR-style assault rifle.
According to data from the US “Gun Violence Archives” website, as of the 28th, tens of thousands of people have lost their lives to gun violence in the US this year, including more than 400 children and teenagers. Studies have shown that gun-related injuries have surpassed car accidents as the leading cause of minor deaths in the United States. Senator Dick Durbin, a Democrat in the US Congress, said frankly that gun violence is an “uniquely American” problem.
Politicians’ ‘familiar’ reaction
U.S. President Biden ordered the White House and other federal government buildings to fly at half-mast on the 27th to pay tribute to the victims of the shooting, saying that this is a family’s “worst nightmare” and that gun violence is tearing apart the “soul” of American society and the country. The next day, Biden called on the U.S. Congress to take action to legislate against the sale of assault weapons.
However, the American people have no hope of changing the status quo of the proliferation of guns. CNN reported that people have become frustrated with the repeated shootings, and that the process after each tragedy is “so familiar” that Republican politicians were quick to express “sorrows and prayers” or remain silent, while Democrats demanded a more thorough investigation. Gun legislation reform, “the president’s calls have almost become a habit,” but he “may be doing something like that again soon.”
Considering that the current U.S. House of Representatives is controlled by the Republican Party and the Democratic Party has a weak advantage in the Senate, it is almost impossible for Biden to call for legislation to ban the sale of offensive weapons. In the past few days, a group of Republican congressmen have clearly opposed the “blocking” of AR-15 rifles and other offensive weapons, and at the same time turned their finger on gunmen’s mental health and campus security issues.
In fact, the U.S. Congress approved the assault weapons ban in 1994, prohibiting civilian manufacture and sale of AR-15 and other semi-automatic firearms defined as assault weapons and magazines with more than 10 bullets, but this ban expired in 2004 was not extended. Since then, under the vigorous marketing of the American firearms industry, the AR-15 has even become one of the most respected guns by American gun lovers. Many gunmen use this easy-to-modify rifle to commit crimes.
The worship of guns outweighs the respect for the right to life of fellow citizens
In the United States, shooting incidents and other violent crimes continue to be rampant, and more and more people choose to own guns for self-defense. Statistics show that in the past three years, a large number of gun-owning individuals and families have increased in the United States, and the total number of background checks for gun sales has exceeded 55 million.
Historically, there are deep cultural reasons for the proliferation of guns in the United States. Before the founding of the United States, European immigrants relied on guns and other weapons to invade and occupy the land and resources of indigenous peoples in the North American continent and establish colonies. In 1776, 13 colonies in North America declared independence and founding a country, and the American militia with personal guns played an important role in the War of Independence.
In 1791, the United States ratified the Second Amendment to the Constitution, guaranteeing the right of citizens to keep and bear arms. During the “Westward Movement”, white immigrants used guns to drive out the aborigines, expand and protect the occupied land, and hunt at the same time. Guns gradually became one of the cultural symbols of white Americans. The concept of gun ownership is a manifestation of so-called freedom and independence. deeply embedded in American values.
The American historian Richard Hofstadter once wrote that guns were originally necessary in the United States for agricultural activities and for the expansion of territories, but now, whether in the West or elsewhere, the United States is “the only country that persists A Modern Industrialized Nation with a Gun Culture”.
According to Rex Hepke, a columnist for USA Today, many shootings in the United States would not have happened at all if guns were not so easy to obtain. “Perhaps it is time to admit that the reason mass shootings are so common in America, on campuses and just about everywhere imaginable, is because we worship guns more than we respect the right to life of our fellow citizens.”
(According to Xinhua News Agency, Washington, March 28)