WASHINGTON —
In 2022, gun violence will surge in many communities across the United States, with the overall death rate from guns rising to its highest level in nearly 30 years. The year saw near-record mass-casualty shootings, several of which were allegedly hate-motivated.
"For God's sake, how much more are we willing to take," President Joe Biden said in a nationally televised address in May, days after the deadliest U.S. school shooting in nearly a decade Slaughter? How many more innocent American lives are going to be taken before we say 'enough'?"
after an 18-year-old gunman killed 19 at Rob Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, using a semi-automatic rifle. After the child and two adults, Biden joined the nation in mourning.
The attacker, a former student at the school, fired hundreds of bullets during the massacre. The hour-long delay by heavily armed law enforcement officers storming the school building sparked outrage in the community and across the country.
The premature deaths underscore an alarming statistic that guns are now the number one killer of children in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The tragedy came less than a month after another 19-year-old man - also armed with a semiautomatic rifle - opened fire at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, killing 10 people. The suspect said his target was African-American.
In November, five people were killed and 17 injured in a mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs. The 22-year-old suspect has been charged with murder and an offense motivated by prejudice.
"We're seeing the rate of gun violence go back to a higher level than we've seen in the long run," Jack McDevitt, a professor at Northeastern University's School of Criminology and Criminal Justice in Boston, Massachusetts, told VOA. We are starting to see more and more people using firearms against victims they think are different from themselves.”
Analysts believe that firearms, especially semi-automatic pistols and rifles, are being used more and more. Frequently used in dispute settlement and hate-motivated crimes.
Investigators are looking into whether anti-Semitism was to blame for a gunman who killed seven people and wounded dozens during a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois motivation. The suspect fired 83 rounds from the top of a building in less than a minute.
“Our sense of security is broken forever,” said Emily Lieberman, a pediatrician who witnessed the shooting with her children. She traveled to Washington in December with a group of fellow doctors to urge lawmakers to pass the A ban on assault weapons.
"With mass shootings on the rise every year, I realize that complacency is as dangerous as the attacks themselves. Now is the time to save lives," she
A mass shooting is loosely defined as an incident in which four or more people, not including the shooter, are shot or killed.
Analysts see a link between bias-motivated gun violence in the United States and an increase in hate groups and vicious speech targeting vulnerable and often marginalized populations.
Professor Carlos Cuevas, co-director of Northeastern University's Center for Crime, Race, and Justice, said: "One of the problems with seeing gun violence in the context of hate crimes is that the trauma is not just Personal, but also that community. It’s a crime against the individual, but it’s also a crime against the group.”
While mass shootings grab headlines, they only account for the more than 40,000 U.S. shooting deaths recorded in 2022 A small part of the event. Half of those incidents were suicides, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
"One of the positives in all of this is those mass shootings, while the most high-profile, are the least frequent," Cuevas noted. "It's important to provide ongoing support to the community and help them regain a sense of safety that will help them recover from these events and move on.”
Congress approved the first nationwide gun legislation in decades in June. The law seeks to prohibit the acquisition of firearms by those deemed dangerous and a threat to public safety. It would also fund new mental health programs and require stronger background checks for gun buyers aged 18 to 21.
Many Republican lawmakers opposed the legislation. “Democrats are targeting the freedoms of law-abiding American citizens that are protected by the Second Amendment,” said Sen. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, referring to the freedoms that defenders of gun rights say should be broadly protected. The constitutional right to "keep and bear arms".
But many Democrats and gun control advocates want to go further, introducing a ban on semi-automatic weapons and other restrictions.
"The moral imperative now is to take action against ghost guns [untraceable guns that are often bought online] and against assault," Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, said in December. Smaller weapons, against high-capacity magazines, against a system that allows people to keep their guns after they say they're going to kill themselves and others."
Georgia resident Henderson Masiyakurima said his views on gun legislation changed after his best friend was shot and killed in 2017. "My thoughts about weapons and guns used to be 'oh, I'm defending myself,'" he told Reuters in an interview. "But lately things just seem to be going crazy. Because there's a lot of gun violence. It's time A change has been made."
Many, many gun rights advocates were displeased by the law passed by Congress but cheered by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling. The Supreme Court struck down a New York state law that restricted the concealed carry of handguns in public.
"They are legal citizens with the right to bear arms," said Tiffany Cheuvront, an attorney for the California Rifle and Pistol Association. "And now the Supreme Court has declared that they also have the right to bear arms outside their homes Protect yourself."
The ruling came as some Democratic-led states moved to strengthen gun laws, while Republican-led states sought to challenge or roll back existing gun restrictions.
According to a report by the Administration of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), U.S. gun manufacturers produced more than 11 million guns in 2020, almost three times the number manufactured in 2000. A survey by the nonpartisan Small Arms Survey estimated there were about 400 million guns in the U.S. in 2018, more than the U.S. population.
As the number of guns increases, the United States continues to have the highest gun death rate among advanced industrialized nations.
Criminologist McDevitt said: "We once seemed to be doing a good job of reducing gun violence, but we have seen it come back violently in the past three or four years. The truth is that we should distinguish ourselves from other people who are very difficult. Comparing countries with access to guns, such as the UK and Japan, rates of gun violence in these countries are 10 times lower than some of the safest states in the US."
"We're seeing the rate of gun violence go back to a higher level than we've seen in the long run," Jack McDevitt, a professor at Northeastern University's School of Criminology and Criminal Justice in Boston, Massachusetts, told VOA. We are starting to see more and more people using firearms against victims they think are different from themselves.”
Analysts believe that firearms, especially semi-automatic pistols and rifles, are being used more and more. Frequently used in dispute settlement and hate-motivated crimes.
Investigators are looking into whether anti-Semitism was to blame for a gunman who killed seven people and wounded dozens during a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois motivation. The suspect fired 83 rounds from the top of a building in less than a minute.
“Our sense of security is broken forever,” said Emily Lieberman, a pediatrician who witnessed the shooting with her children. She traveled to Washington in December with a group of fellow doctors to urge lawmakers to pass the A ban on assault weapons.
"With mass shootings on the rise every year, I realize that complacency is as dangerous as the attacks themselves. Now is the time to save lives," she
said
. ) data shows that the United States will see more than 600 mass shootings in 2022, nearly double the 336 recorded four years ago.
A mass shooting is loosely defined as an incident in which four or more people, not including the shooter, are shot or killed.
Analysts see a link between bias-motivated gun violence in the United States and an increase in hate groups and vicious speech targeting vulnerable and often marginalized populations.
Professor Carlos Cuevas, co-director of Northeastern University's Center for Crime, Race, and Justice, said: "One of the problems with seeing gun violence in the context of hate crimes is that the trauma is not just Personal, but also that community. It’s a crime against the individual, but it’s also a crime against the group.”
While mass shootings grab headlines, they only account for the more than 40,000 U.S. shooting deaths recorded in 2022 A small part of the event. Half of those incidents were suicides, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
"One of the positives in all of this is those mass shootings, while the most high-profile, are the least frequent," Cuevas noted. "It's important to provide ongoing support to the community and help them regain a sense of safety that will help them recover from these events and move on.”
The debate over gun laws
Congress approved the first nationwide gun legislation in decades in June. The law seeks to prohibit the acquisition of firearms by those deemed dangerous and a threat to public safety. It would also fund new mental health programs and require stronger background checks for gun buyers aged 18 to 21.
Many Republican lawmakers opposed the legislation. “Democrats are targeting the freedoms of law-abiding American citizens that are protected by the Second Amendment,” said Sen. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, referring to the freedoms that defenders of gun rights say should be broadly protected. The constitutional right to "keep and bear arms".
But many Democrats and gun control advocates want to go further, introducing a ban on semi-automatic weapons and other restrictions.
"The moral imperative now is to take action against ghost guns [untraceable guns that are often bought online] and against assault," Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, said in December. Smaller weapons, against high-capacity magazines, against a system that allows people to keep their guns after they say they're going to kill themselves and others."
Georgia resident Henderson Masiyakurima said his views on gun legislation changed after his best friend was shot and killed in 2017. "My thoughts about weapons and guns used to be 'oh, I'm defending myself,'" he told Reuters in an interview. "But lately things just seem to be going crazy. Because there's a lot of gun violence. It's time A change has been made."
Many, many gun rights advocates were displeased by the law passed by Congress but cheered by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling. The Supreme Court struck down a New York state law that restricted the concealed carry of handguns in public.
"They are legal citizens with the right to bear arms," said Tiffany Cheuvront, an attorney for the California Rifle and Pistol Association. "And now the Supreme Court has declared that they also have the right to bear arms outside their homes Protect yourself."
The ruling came as some Democratic-led states moved to strengthen gun laws, while Republican-led states sought to challenge or roll back existing gun restrictions.
Gun Availability
As gun ownership continues to grow in the United States, so does the legal landscape for guns.
According to a report by the Administration of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), U.S. gun manufacturers produced more than 11 million guns in 2020, almost three times the number manufactured in 2000. A survey by the nonpartisan Small Arms Survey estimated there were about 400 million guns in the U.S. in 2018, more than the U.S. population.
As the number of guns increases, the United States continues to have the highest gun death rate among advanced industrialized nations.
Criminologist McDevitt said: "We once seemed to be doing a good job of reducing gun violence, but we have seen it come back violently in the past three or four years. The truth is that we should distinguish ourselves from other people who are very difficult. Comparing countries with access to guns, such as the UK and Japan, rates of gun violence in these countries are 10 times lower than some of the safest states in the US."
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