by Robert Norman, May 30, 2022
When a lone gunman stormed Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas on May 24, killing 19 children and two of their teachers, Americans were all horrified. For the community of Uvalde, the suffering is unimaginable.
Uvalde massacre comes just days after another deadly mass shooting in Buffalo, New York and amid a rapid rise in active shooter incidents in America. There have already been about 30 school shootings resulting in injuries or death in 2022. At least 17,000 people have been gunned down so far this year, including 10 shoppers who were killed in a racially motivated attack at a supermarket in Buffalo.
After each horrendous mass shooting, public support for gun law reform spikes. The mass killing in Uvalde has unleashed an outpouring of an all-too-familiar wave of grief, sadness and outrage across the nation. It has also, once again, spurred many to ask why the United States has failed to make any significant changes to its gun laws following these tragedies that now happen with regularity. Calls for Washingtn to move on new and stricter gun legislation that previously failed to pass Congress are being raised again after Uvalde school massacre with many fearing that, if the loss of more than 20 innocent lives was not enough to spur any meanful action, nothing would be.
Americans believe gun violence is a problem, but only just about half want stricter gun control laws to tackle it. While 73 percent of Democrats say making it harder to legally obtain guns would result in fewer mass shootings, only 20 percent of Republicans agree, according to a recent study of the Pew Research Center.Views of Americans are underpinned by deeply held ideological differences.
American politicians are also deeply divided on the path forward. That divide is reflected in Captol Hill, even for specific measures with widespread public support. Some Republicans who still oppose any new gun control measures face growing outrage. The number of Republicans who say it is more important to protect the rights of gun owners than regulate weapons rose from 38 percent to 80 percent between 2000 and 2019, according to Pew. Gun control opponents, including virtually every Republican, have typically framed the gun violence epidemic in the US as a symptom of a broader mental health crisis.
In 2020, gun violence overtook car accidents to become the No. 1 cause of death for U.S. children and adolescents, according to NPR. Guns are now the leading cause of death among children and adolescents in the U.S. The dangers young people face from firearms in America go well beyond school shootings, which account for only a fraction of all gun-related deaths. Whether it’s the gun violence they face in their neighborhoods, or suicide or accidents at home when guns are left unsecured, the threat to the nation’s children and teenagers is not only bad, but worsening. While firearm-related deaths overall increased 13.5% between 2019 and 2020, among children and adolescents they surged a staggering 30%, according to Researchers at the University of Michigan. So far in 2022, more than 650 children and teens in the U.S. have been killed by guns. In addition, over 1,600 children and teens have been injured by firearms, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
Outraged by the inaction of lawmakers on gun violence, students across the country held walkouts in the wake of a brutal massacre in Uvalde. From Meridian High School in Virginia to El Camino Real Charter High School in California, students across the country took part in walkouts to demand gun control measures, according to social media reports and local news outlets. The scale and widespread nature of the walkouts, many of which were conducted in partnership with Students Demand Action, indicate just how much gun violence has permeated communities across the country. Others are pledging their support to ending gun violence by recognizing and showing solidarity with the National Gun Violence Awareness Day between June 3 and June 5. Participants are asked to wear orange as a tribute and commemoration of life, as the color hunters wear in the woods to protect themselves and others.
Speaking before NRA annual meeting in Houston, Former President Donald Trump listed the resources he believes are needed to secure schools.
“If we have $40 billion to go to Ukraine, we should do whatever it takes to keep our children safe at home,” Trump said.
Earlier in May, the US Congress overwhelmingly voted to send nearly $40 billion in military aid to Ukraine. In total, US lawmakers have sent about $54 billion to Ukraine since the conflict began. Critics, however, pointed out that sending $40 billion worth of heavy weapons to Ukraine by Biden administration could potentially generate as much as $17 billion profits for MIC and cost tens of thousands innocent civilian lives including women and children in Ukraine. U.S. weapon aid to Ukraine could easily fall into the hands of Azov Battalion, a neo-Nazi unit of the National Guard of Ukraine.
