On July 1st, local time, a shooting occurred near the campus of the University of Cincinnati in Ohio, resulting in 3 deaths and 2 injuries.
This is the latest known mass shooting in the U.S. that has caused at least four casualties excluding the shooter.
According to real-time updates from the Gun Violence Archive, there have been 261 mass shootings in the U.S. as of July 3rd this year.
Including other firearm-related incidents, a total of 8,535 people have died from various forms of gun violence in the U.S. this year.
“It’s Impossible to Make This Country Give Up Guns”
In today’s America, marked by polarized partisan politics and deep social divisions, shootings have become ubiquitous. The motives are varied, and random shootings are becoming increasingly common.
Just a few days ago, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy released the first public health advisory report on gun violence, categorizing it as “an urgent public health crisis.”
The report indicates that gun violence claims tens of thousands of lives annually in the United States and affects millions of others, including survivors, witnesses, and victims’ families.
Some U.S. media outlets noted that this is the first time a leading national public health official has formally addressed gun violence, focusing on the “complex consequences” it brings.
The report specifically highlights the devastating impact of gun violence on American children and adolescents.
According to investigations, 56% of accidental gunshot deaths among American children and teenagers occur in their own homes, partly due to unsafe gun storage by parents: in such incidents where details are known, 74% of the guns were loaded, and 76% were not secured with a safety lock.
These accidental shootings not only cause physical harm but also damage mental health. Fear of gun violence is particularly widespread among children.
Murthy stated, “This issue has been worsening over the past two decades, and now gun violence has become a leading cause of death for children and teenagers. We must not accept this as the new normal; it is anything but normal.”
As Murthy issued the above warning, NBC published a lengthy report detailing the tragic story of 3-year-old Skye McBride.
One day in February this year, Skye, who lived in Flint, Michigan, mistakenly took her father’s loaded revolver, which had been left on the bed, as a toy. She pulled the trigger, and the bullet passed through her right eye and exited through the top of her head.
After undergoing two surgeries, the little girl, who was initially thought to be “unlikely to survive,” miraculously pulled through. However, no one knows whether Skye will be able to live a normal life, either physically or psychologically.
Research has found that due to the sharp increase in gun ownership in the United States, approximately 4.6 million children currently live in homes with unsecured firearms. Consequently, accidental shootings involving children have also increased.
However, Michael Anestis, head of the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center, expressed frustration, stating that the only realistic goal to address this issue is to reduce risk rather than eliminate it.
“We have more guns than people… The only way to achieve better outcomes is to minimize gun-related harm because it’s impossible to make this country give up guns.”
“In the Future, We’ll Be Talking About 100 or 200 People Being Killed”
To reduce gun-related deaths, Murthy’s public health advisory report proposes a series of recommendations, including banning automatic rifles, implementing comprehensive background checks for gun purchases, and penalizing those who fail to store guns safely.
However, in a country where gun culture is deeply ingrained and political decisions are heavily influenced by gun lobby groups, almost none of these recommendations have a realistic chance of becoming nationwide laws with bipartisan support.
The National Rifle Association (NRA), the largest gun lobbying organization in the U.S., arrogantly responded that the Surgeon General’s report is merely an extension of the Biden administration’s “war on lawful gun owners,” insisting that “criminals, not guns, are responsible for America’s crime problem.”
Republican Representative Richard Hudson further incited on social media, saying, “Murthy is abusing his power by targeting the Second Amendment. This is yet another attack by the Biden administration on your constitutional right to bear arms, and we will not allow this to happen.”
This scenario is indeed unlikely to happen in the United States.
According to the latest data from the FBI, in the first four months of this year, nearly 5.5 million guns were sold nationwide, equivalent to Americans purchasing over 1.3 million guns per month on average.
Although there is a prevailing impression that Republicans support gun ownership while Democrats support gun control, ironically, when it comes to buying and selling guns, the U.S. shows no distinction between “red” and “blue.”
Statistics show that the highest gun sales are in Republican-governed states like Texas and Florida, as well as Democratic-governed California. These three states accounted for 22% of the nation’s gun sales from January to April.
Analysts believe that the upcoming presidential election is a significant factor driving the surge in gun purchases and sales. Previously, gun sales in the U.S. peaked in 2020 due to the political division and social unrest triggered by the presidential election.
On one hand, Americans who fear that the Democrats will gain strength after the election are rushing to buy “self-defense weapons” before the next administration can potentially introduce stringent gun control measures. On the other hand, Americans who advocate for gun control worry that if Republicans win this presidential election, the prospect of implementing gun control in the future will become even more bleak.
The signs are already showing.
Just over half a month ago, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 6-3 vote, struck down the federal government’s previous ban on bump stocks, declaring the ban illegal.
“Bump stocks” are used to modify semi-automatic rifles, enabling them to achieve a rate of fire comparable to that of automatic rifles. In the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, the gunman used weapons equipped with bump stocks, resulting in a high number of casualties. As a consequence, in December 2018, the U.S. government at the time classified bump stocks as illegal.
However, just a few years later, the conservative-majority U.S. Supreme Court overturned this decision. Many believe that the latest ruling by the Supreme Court marks a significant regression in the country’s gun control efforts.
Fred Guttenberg, the father of Jaime Guttenberg, a victim of the 2018 Parkland school shooting, expressed his anger in an interview, sarcastically stating, “Because of this ruling, in the future, we will no longer be talking about 15 or 20 people being shot, but 100 or 200 people being killed.”
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