Source: CCTV news client
Recently, the "Every City Supports Gun Safety" organization in the United States, which advocates gun safety, released data showing that there will be 411 accidental shootings of children in the United States in 2023, and the number of accidental shootings of children under the age of 18 in the United States last year hit a record since the organization began tracking data in 2015.
The data also showed that at least 157 people were killed and another 270 injured in accidental shootings of children in the United States in 2023.
△ Screenshot of NBC website report
Everywhere there were loaded guns with no safety off
Behind the frequent incidents of accidental shootings of children in the United States is the stubborn problem of the proliferation of guns in the United States. The United States has the largest number of civilian guns in the world, with an average of about 120 guns per 100 people, and the number of guns is more than the population. The proliferation of guns has increased the access of children in the United States to firearms, making the protagonists of shootings show a trend of younger age.
According to the Giffords Law Center for the Prevention of Firearm Violence, a non-governmental organization, about 4.6 million minors across the United States live in households that have at least one loaded gun without an insured.
△ Screenshot of the official website of the Giffords Law Center for the Prevention of Firearms Violence
On the other hand, children are also more vulnerable to gun violence. In the United States, shootings have surpassed traffic accidents since 2020 to become the number one cause of death for children in the United States.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2021, nearly 19% of deaths in the U.S. were caused by gunfire among people aged 1 to 18. That year, nearly 3,600 minors died in gun-related incidents, or 5 for every 100,000 U.S. minors.
△ Screenshot of CNN report
Innocent lives have been lost one after another, but gun control in the United States has always been difficult to see results. Some analysts believe that the U.S. government should legislate to restrict the use of firearms to reduce the number of children and young people killed or injured by gun violence.
People who oppose gun violence continue to voice their voices in public and hope that the government will strengthen gun control.
△ The Guardian: On March 30, 2023, a large number of protesters gathered outside the local government in Nashville, Tennessee, to protest against poor gun control. A few days ago, a mass shooting at a local private elementary school killed at least seven people, including the gunman, including three 9-year-old children.
At present, the regulations on gun control in various states in the United States are lenient and severe, and gun control and cross-state law enforcement are difficult.
For example, Texas, where the Robb Elementary School shooting took place, is one of the states with the most lenient gun regulations in the United States. At the time of the incident, Texas law allowed citizens over the age of 18 to purchase rifles with greater lethality. The Robb Elementary School shooter took advantage of this provision and legally purchased the semi-automatic rifle and bullets used in the crime as soon as he turned 18.
△ Screenshot of the report on the website of ABC's TV station (the left of the title picture is the gunman Ramos)
In recent years, many U.S. states have sought to ease gun ownership. On Jan. 6, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld a judge's previous ruling that halted California's new law banning the carrying of firearms in most public places, arguing that it would be unconstitutional for it to go into effect.
△ Screenshot of CBS website report
As of September 2, 2023, there are already 28 states in the United States that allow residents to carry handguns without a permit.
In the absence of strong federal laws regulating the gun trade, the black market for guns is rampant, and people can make guns with homemade kits or even 3D printers.
△USA Today website: New York City officials announced on September 23, 2023, that a "ghost gun" with no serial number and no serial number and a 3D printer could not be traced by law enforcement was found in a government-licensed daycare, and three people, including two minors, were arrested.
"Freedom to own guns" is more expensive than life?
The root cause of the proliferation of guns in the United States is that the right of individuals to legally own guns was originally written into the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Although many gun control activists in the United States have called for the enactment of a unified federal gun control law across the country, the Democratic and Republican parties in the United States have been deeply divided on the issue of gun control, resulting in Congress failing to pass any major and substantive federal gun control law for more than 20 years.
Republicans support gun freedom, while Democrats favor gun control. Democrats chant that "guns tear the soul of America," while Republicans insist that "more gun control will kill more people from guns." The vicious shooting incident has become a reason for members of Congress to attack each other, and public opinion has become a tool for political games.
△ Screenshot of the report on the website of the American "Politico".
Behind the ineffective gun control in the United States, there are also interest groups with "vast supernatural powers." The huge gun industry in the United States has formed pro-gun interest groups, including the National Rifle Association of the United States, and they have deeply bound the party politics and electoral politics of the United States through their huge lobbying teams and massive political donations, forming a deep-rooted network of interests.
VauxNews: The political debate over how to make sure guns don't fall into the wrong hands has long proven to be quite tricky. The factors that led to this tragedy have long been ingrained in American politics, culture, and law.
The intensifying gun violence has become an "American pain" that goes deep into the bone marrow. If we do not fundamentally reflect on this, the American people will continue to live in the shadow of gun violence, and the lives of people will continue to be lost.
Some American media sarcastically said that after every bloody incident, pro-gun politicians will always first "pray for an end to senseless violence" and then embrace the gun lobby. But for the American people, "we don't need your prayers, we need you to do something."
△ Screenshot of the USA Today report