China Daily Global Edition (USA)
Yet more blood shed in US
With 10 dead in weekend mass shootings, outrage aired but reform doubts remain
PHILADELPHIA — Ten people were gunned down and over two dozen others wounded in four weekend mass shootings in the United States, the latest in a string of deadly gun attacks that have left lawmakers scrambling to tackle the crisis.
The shootings — late on Saturday in Philadelphia, early on Sunday in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and in Saginaw, Michigan — further jolted a country facing a gun violence epidemic that has already claimed several thousand lives this year and shows no signs of abating.
They came as politically polarized US senators find themselves under pressure to craft a measure that codifies at least basic, preliminary steps to help reduce the carnage.
In Philadelphia, a confrontation between two men escalated into a gunfight that sprayed bullets into a crowded bar and restaurant district, killing three people, wounding 12, and setting off panic as people tried to flee, police said.
In Chattanooga, the shooting broke out after midnight near a bar in the Tennessee city, killing three and wounding 14, according to police.
In the Michigan attack, three people were killed and two were wounded in Saginaw, WEYI television reported, citing a police statement.
No suspects in any of the shootings were reported to be in custody as of Sunday evening.
And in Clarendon County, South Carolina, five teens and a 12-year-old were among seven people wounded in a shooting at a graduation party on Saturday that killed one adult, police said in a statement.
The violence struck as communities in three other cities are still grieving from massacres. In those incidents, 10 people were killed at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York; 21 were gunned down at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas; and four people died at a medical building in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Gun violence has become almost commonplace in the country, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit research group tracking shootings nationwide. But the shock felt over the recent mass shootings has spurred ardent cries for action.
There have been at least 240 mass shootings in the US this year, according to the group. It defines a mass shooting as one in which at least four people are shot, excluding the shooter.
In Uvalde, people buried 10-yearold Alithia Haven Ramirez on Sunday. She was one of the 19 schoolchildren killed in the rampage by an 18-year-old man armed with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle.
Chris Murphy, the lead Democratic senator working on bipartisan gun safety talks, said on Sunday that he thinks a package including investments in mental health and school safety and some changes to gun laws can pass Congress.
The brazen nature of the shootings left officials aghast. Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney called it “horrendous, despicable and senseless”, while Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said “we’re absolutely devastated”.
“Congress needs to do their jobs and pass common-sense regulation that will help stop this nonsense,” an angry Chattanooga mayor told reporters. Tim Kelly called for “mandatory background checks and prohibiting high-capacity magazines that allow shooters to hurt dozens of people without even having to reload”.
While Republicans have successfully blocked most efforts at gun control for years, some have recently spoken out for change.
In conservative, gun-loving Texas, more than 250 self-declared firearm enthusiasts, including donors to Republican Governor Greg Abbott, signed an open letter supporting efforts at bipartisan gun reform, The Dallas Morning News reported.
The letter, running as a full-page advertisement in the newspaper, endorsed an expansion of background checks, raising the age to buy guns to 21, and creating “red flag” laws intended to keep guns from people deemed to be at risk of violence.
US President Joe Biden last week called for new gun control legislation. On Sunday he renewed his call for restrictions on semi-automatic rifles.
A CBS News/YouGov poll published on Sunday found 62 percent of respondents back a nationwide ban on semi-automatic rifles. Support is even higher for background checks on all gun buyers (81 percent) and “red flag” laws (72 percent).
US gun violence has killed 18,574 people so far in 2022, including nearly 10,300 suicides, according to the Gun Violence Archive.