Washington, 8 Jun (Xinhua) -- Washington, D.C., recently unveiled the "National Monument to Gun Violence in the United States, made up of tens of thousands of silk flowers." According to organizers, 45,000 silk flowers were placed near the Washington Monument to mourn the victims of guns in the United States, show the severity of gun disease, and demand that Washington stop doing nothing.
This is a silk flower photographed near the Washington Monument in the United States on June 6. (Photo by Aaron)
A row of display boards is placed next to the flower sea, listing a series of shocking data: in 2020, 45,222 people died in gun violence in the United States, an increase of about 5,000 people over 2019, of which gun-related murders increased by 35% year-on-year; The gun problem has become the number one culprit in the deaths of minors in the United States...
Lunda Hart from Santa Fe, Texas, poses with the temporary "Monument" and has a very heavy heart. Four years ago, a minor gunman attacked Santa Fe High School, claiming 10 lives, including Hart's 14-year-old daughter.
"Too many innocent people have died at gunpoint." Hart murmured. What she found most ironic was that there were also politicians who promised to move forward with gun control to their injured parents, but the facts of the past four years showed that it was just a show.
Tragedy repeats itself over and over again. On May 24, a shooting at Rob Elementary School in Uvaldi, Texas, killing 19 students and two teachers, was the worst school shooting in the United States in a decade. Hart felt as if the families of the victims of the shooting, like himself, had once again been unbroken.
Citizens keep vigil for the victims of a shooting on May 29 in a town square in yuvaldi, southern Texas. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wu Xiaoling
In the wake of the Rob Elementary School shooting, a series of supportive gun control campaigns have been held or are planned across the United States, including washington. The day before the "Sea of Mourning Flowers" unveiled, a group of minors attended a rally at the foot of the Capitol building to demand that Washington push for gun control legislation. Children in black bulletproof vests stood in front of eye-catching white placards and chanted in unison: "Don't look away!" ”
The children also held up all kinds of placards - "The campus should be safe", "I want to attend the graduation ceremony, not the funeral", "only mourning and praying can not save lives"...
"We ask senators not to look away, the deadly crisis of gun violence is seriously affecting each of us." One girl recalled in her speech that 3 years and 6 days ago, there was a vicious shooting at her father's workplace, and "many of the families involved were like my family, suffering while waiting for news from their relatives." Luckily, my father escaped, but the trauma was always with us. ”
American teenagers attend a gun control rally at the foot of the Capitol in Washington, D.C., on June 6 (video clip)
As always, whenever a vicious shooting incident that shocks the United States occurs, there will be a call for gun control, from the White House, the Capitol to the state government, some politicians will also "show their faces" under the pressure of public opinion, and lawmakers from both parties will symbolically "wrestle" on gun control legislation. However, politicians actually know that the positions of the two parties on the gun issue are almost clear, and the parliamentarians must consider their own interests and partisan interests when voting, and the political influence of the "silver vote" of the gun-holding interest group on the "vote" cannot be underestimated, especially in the election cycle of this year's midterm elections, it is difficult for Washington to make substantive action on gun control legislation nationwide. When the heat of public opinion drops, Washington will once again shift its "eyes" elsewhere.
The United States has experienced another bloody weekend in the shadow of gun violence. According to the "Gun Violence File" data on the US website, there were 12 shootings in the United States on the 4th and 5th, causing at least 4 deaths and injuries, resulting in a total of 15 deaths and 66 injuries. Since the beginning of this year, more than 18,000 people in the United States have lost their lives to gun problems, including more than 700 minors. (Participating reporters: Liu Jie, Wu Xiaoling; Editor: Shen Haoyang; Editors: Sun Hao, Wang Fengfeng)
Produced by the International Department of Xinhua News Agency
Produced by Xinhua News Agency's International Communication Integration Platform
Source: Xinhua News Agency