More mass shootings than days of the year: The grim reality of gun violence in the US

The gun problem in the United States is grave. On late Saturday (21 January), at least 10 people were killed and 10 more injured by a gunman at a ballroom dance club in California’s Monterey Park city during Lunar New Year celebrations.

The police found a 72-year-old suspect identified as Huu Can Tran dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on Sunday.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said the shooter used a high-capacity magazine pistol to fire at the ballroom dance venue frequented by older patrons.

With a population of 60,000, Monterey Park comprises mostly Asian immigrants from China or first-generation Asian Americans, reported Associated Press (AP).

The Saturday incident was the deadliest mass shooting in the US since the massacre at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, in May last year, wherein 19 children and two teachers were killed.

As per the non-profit research group Gun Violence Archive, on Sunday alone, the US saw three mass shootings – two in Louisiana and one in Mississippi – that left 24 injured.

Another stunning revelation by Gun Violence Archive shows that America has reported 36 mass shootings in just 23 days of the first month of 2023, CNN reported.

This means that there have been more incidents of gun violence in the US than there have been days this year.

The non-profit describes a mass shooting as where four or more people are killed or injured, not including the shooter.

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Let’s take a look at some of these deadliest mass shootings in 2023 and the startling statistics on firearms in the US.

The other California shooting

Six people, including a 17-year-old mom and her months-old baby, were killed when assailants barged into a home on Harvest Avenue in California’s Goshen on 17 January.

Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux told reporters that the shooting was a targeted attack by possibly a “drug cartel”, reported Los Angeles Times.

The police also said that there were at least three survivors.

Florida shooting

A person died and seven others were injured in a shooting at a block party in Fort Pierce, Florida on 16 January.

The victims were among the 1,000 people celebrating Martin Luther King Jr Day in Ilous Ellis Park when the attack took place.

Cleveland home killings

Four people died and one was injured at a home in Cleveland’s Brooklyn Centre following a shooting on 13 January.

The suspect, identified as 41-year-old Martin Muniz, was related to the victims, the WKYC report said.

ALSO READ: California mass shooting: Gun laws in the state are stricter than in the rest of US, but are they enough?

Alabama shooting

A deadly massacre in Alabama led to the death of two women at a strip mall outside Huntsville on 7 January. Nine others were also injured in what Madison County Sheriff Kevin Turner said was a “random shooting".

Two people were in custody on “reckless murder charges” in connection with the incident, reported Al.com.

Utah family murder

On 4 January, a 42-year-old insurance salesman, Michael Haight, shot dead seven members of his family before killing himself in Utah after his wife filed for divorce.

The victims included the man’s wife, his five children and his mother-in-law, the police said, as per BBC.

Gun violence in the US

A study published in the December 2022 edition of journal Pediatrics says that firearm injuries have become the leading cause of death among people below the age of 24 in the US.

Switzerland-based Small Arms Survey estimates that there are as many as 393 million privately owned firearms in the US – which means 120 guns for every 100 Americans, reported CNN.

Around 45 per cent of adults in the country say they have guns at their homes, as per an October 2022 Gallup survey.

A study published by the Annals of Internal Medicine discovered that 7.5 million US adults became first-time gun owners between January 2019 and April 2021, reported BBC.

The gun homicide rate in America is 26 times that of other high-income countries, and the US gun suicide rate is around 12 times more, according to Everytown Research & Policy.

Last year alone, 648 mass shootings and 44,000 gun-related deaths were seen in the US, as per Gun Violence Archive data.

In 2021, 49,000 people died from firearm injuries in the US, out of which half were suicides, reported AFP.

As per Pew Research, “45,222 people died from gun-related injuries in the US” in 2020.

In June last year, America had passed a gun safety bill following a series of deadly mass shootings.

The bipartisan bill was passed with a majority of 65-33 votes in the Senate, which included 15 Republicans who voted in favour of the gun control measure.

The reforms included strict background checks for gun buyers below 21, funding to encourage states to impose “red flag” laws to remove firearms from people considered a threat to themselves or others, and providing federal funding for mental health programs and security upgrades at schools, reported BBC. 

The bill also penalised straw purchasing – meaning buying firearms on behalf of someone else.

However, the reforms have hardly been successful in curbing gun violence in America as is evident from the regular mass shootings.

Unlike the US, countries such as Australia, South Africa and Britain have achieved “significant changes” after implementing laws to tackle gun-related deaths, as per a CNN report.

With inputs from agencies

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