US President Joe Biden could not hide his shock on the morning of May 25 when he received notice of a shooting at Robb Elementary School in the town of Uvalde, Texas, which left at least 21 people dead, including 19 pupils. The 18-year-old suspect was killed by security forces on the spot. It was the deadliest school shooting in the USsince the 2012 Connecticut attack, which claimed the lives of 26 people, including 20 children.
There was also a bloody shooting by an 18-year-old man in New York on May 14. The white subject opened fire on people present at a grocery store in a predominantly black residential area, killing 10 people. The gunman also broadcast the shooting live on a social networking platform before the site removed the content.
There has been a significant increase in mass shootings in the US in the last two years. According to statistics from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the number of targeted shootings in the US increased by more than 50% in 2021 compared to the previous year. 2021 alsosaw the highest number of gun deaths in the US since 2017.
Meanwhile, according to the Geneva-based Small Arms Survey, which specialises in investigating small arms, the US is the country with the largest rate of weapon ownership in the world. A new report released by the US Department of Justice shows that the arms industry in the US has “boomed” over the past 20 years. In the 2000s, there were only about 2,000 companies producing weapons in the US and this number increased to nearly 17,000 companies by 2020. More than 139 million commercial firearms have been marketed in the US over the past 20 years.
The US Justice Department said that local law enforcement agencies are also struggling to eliminate “ghost guns”, which can be made easily at home at a price of a few hundred dollars using 3D printing or orderedonline without the need for a gun license or criminal record, nor any kind of mental health certificate.
Gun control has always been a difficult problem for the White House, because the US is one of the few countries in the world that regulates gun ownership in the Constitution. The two leading political parties in the US, the Democrats and the Republicans, have long had opposing views on gun control. The majority of Republicans believe that the gun control bill would violate the US Constitution and also does not make people safer. Meanwhile, Democrats say that, without laws to control, weapons easily fall into the hands of elements dangerous to society.
Alongside gaps in gun management, experts say that discrimination and serious mental health consequences caused by the health crisis due to the COVID-19 are also part of the cause to the skyrocket in the index of gun violence in the US in the past two years.
When running for the White House, President Biden pledged to promote measures to reduce tens of thousands of gun deaths each year in the US. However, the 46th US President and Democrats failed to win enough votes in Congress to pass legislation that would requirebackground checks before gun purchases, as well as related proposals.
Facing the above situation, President Biden once again called on the American people to take stronger action, to restore the ban on the sale of assault weapons and related gun ownership laws, as well as to promote the early passage of gun control bills, which has been considered one of the most sensitive and divisive issues in the US for many years.
