A mass shooting in Texas on Tuesday that killed 19 children increased pressure on US lawmakers to act on the issue, and it also raised the gloomy prospect of little or no change.
According to the Everytown gun control group, it was the ninth mass shooting this year. It occurred 10 days after another 18-year-old slaughtered 10 African Americans at a supermarket in New York
However, nearly 10 years after a gunman massacred 20 children and 6 adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, and four years after 17 people were killed at a Florida high school, restrictions on gun purchases and ownership have remained largely unchanged.
“I had hoped, when I became president, I would not have to do this, again,” a distraught President Joe Biden said as he led national mourning. Thereby, vowing to overcome the US gun lobby and find a way to tighten gun ownership laws.
“Another massacre… an elementary school. Beautiful, innocent, second, third, and fourth graders,” he said. “I am sick and tired of it. We have to act. And don’t tell me we can’t have an impact on this carnage.”
Guns of all varieties, notably high-powered assault rifles and semi-automatic handguns, are now cheaper and widely available than they have ever been in the United States.
The historic increase in gun deaths
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said last week that the number of gun deaths in the United States saw a “historic” increase in 2020.
In addition, the United States witnessed 19,350 firearm homicides in 2020, up nearly 35 percent over 2019, and 24,245 gun suicides, up 1.5 percent.
The firearm homicide rate in 2020 was the highest in a quarter-century, with 6.1 deaths per 100,000 people.
According to Everytown, mass shootings have also increased.
“Since 2009, there have been 274 mass shootings in the United States, resulting in 1,536 people shot and killed and 983 people shot and wounded,” the group said.
The country is overflowing with firearms. Over two decades from 2000, US firearms manufacturers produced over 139 million guns for the commercial market. Also, the country imported another 71 million.
This includes high-powered assault rifles, which start at $500, and 9-millimeter pistols, which start at $200. They combine ease of use, great accuracy, and semi-automatic triggers.