U.S. gun control efforts blocked despite country’s persistent bouts of gun violence

A shooting that took place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the U.S. on June 4 local time killed three people and wounded at least 11. Just three days before this incident, shootings took place in multiple places across the U.S., including one that occurred on a hospital campus in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which killed at least five people, another at a high school in Los Angeles county, California, and still another happening inside a supermarket in Peterson, Pennsylvania, U.S. media reported.

Why did so many shootings take place on U.S. soil during such a short period of time, and why doesn’t gun control work in the U.S.?

Gun crime incidents have hit a record high in the U.S. after the outbreak of COVID-19 in the country. As a result of political divisions and ineffective social governance, the gap between the rich and the poor has continued widening, and millions of people have meanwhile lost their jobs and medical insurance. Racism has soared as well, with hate crimes and extreme incidents happening noticeably at greater frequently in the U.S.

The impact of gun violence in the U.S. has been greatest on the country’s juveniles. A survey found that the risk of gun violence was 30 percent higher compared with the pre-pandemic period in the U.S. School shootings have taken place frequently and the number of hospitalized children who have been wounded due to gun-related incidents has risen significantly. In 2021, gun violence resulted in 44,750 deaths in the U.S., including 1,533 children and juveniles under the age of 17.

On May 24 local time, a shooting took place at an elementary school in southern Texas, killing at least 19 children and two teachers. The shooter was an 18-year-old student.

After the Texas shooting incident, at least six people were killed and 32 others were wounded in shootings in Chicago, which included children among its victims.

Research data provided by the University of Michigan indicates that gun-related violence has become the leading cause of death for children and juveniles in the U.S., and 75 percent of American juveniles think that gun violence has become a major source of pressure that they are faced with every day.

Shoes representing the children killed in school shootings since the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012 are seen on the lawn in front of the Capitol in Washington D.C., the United States, on March 13, 2018.  (Xinhua/Shen Ting)

In the face of the tragedies caused by gun violence, a majority of the general public in the U.S. has called on their government to take actions to stop these tragedies from repeating themselves over and over again. However, after the most recent string of mass shootings took place, what U.S. politicians did was to just reflect on the problem of gun violence, taking no concrete action and shifting the blame onto each other.

Some 76 percent of Americans see gun violence as "a very big problem" or "a moderately big problem" in the country, according to a Pew Research Center survey carried out in April 2022.

A report published by The Hill on May 25, which cited a recent public opinion poll, said that 59 percent of the respondents think that it is very necessary for the U.S. to adopt stricter gun control laws, while 34 percent of the respondents said that imposing restrictions on gun ownership should be a top task for the U.S. Congress.

Some 76 percent of Americans see gun violence as “a very big problem” or “a moderately big problem” in the country, according to a Pew Research Center survey carried out in April 2022. (Screenshot from the website of the Pew Research Center)

Although gun-related tragedies always make headlines in media circles and spark heated debates on tightening gun control in the U.S., Washington has failed to pass any nationwide gun control laws in a period of 20 years.

Photo taken on Oct. 8, 2021 shows the vases of flowers temporarily installed to memorialize gun violence victims at the Battery Park in New York City, the United States. According to the organizers, 1,050 vases of flowers, which represent the number of people in New York State who died from gun violence in 2020, were installed at the gun violence memorial, aiming to inspire people to fight against gun violence. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)

On May 25, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer expressed that there is a slim chance that the Democrats and Republicans will reach a consensus on the adoption of renewed gun control legislation.

The reason for Washington’s inaction in implementing gun control is that there is a deeply rooted network of special interests that have been knitted by pro-gun interest groups, which are engaged in party politics and electioneering politics in the U.S.

Statistics from the National Rifle Association (NRA) of the U.S. show that the size of the firearms industry in the U.S. reached $70.5 billion by 2021, with at least 5.4 million people estimated to have bought guns for the first time in 2021.

The huge firearms industry in the U.S. has given rise to various pro-gun interest groups, including the NRA, which propagandize anti-gun control rhetoric among the American general public in an attempt to influence the latter and in this way further strengthen the country’s pro-gun culture.

These pro-gun interest groups also support pro-gun politicians to become lawmakers by making political contributions and engaging in lobbying efforts. Together they form a close-knit network of special interests.

Three days after the tragic shooting at the Texas elementary school, the NRA held its 151th annual meeting on May 27 as scheduled, inviting former U.S. President Donald Trump to address the meeting. In a speech he delivered at the meeting, Trump reiterated that he didn’t support any gun control measures. Credible sources indicated that the NRA had offered a political contribution of $30 million in favor of Trump’s run for the U.S. president.

Whether or not to support gun control has become one of the core issues debated between the Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. Many politicians have chosen to act in a perfunctory manner because they want to neither disappoint pro-gun control voters nor offend pro-gun interest groups.

The New York Times on May 25 said in an article that it had reached out to all 50 Republicans in the Senate to see whether they would support a pair of House-passed measures to strengthen background checks for gun buyers. However, most of the respondents either refused to answer the question or said they didn’t support gun control.

According to CNN, U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said on June 1 local time that what he had done was to encourage some bipartisan discussions that were going on. However, he avoided making it clear whether he supports gun control legislation, and reiterated the significance of safeguarding the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Gunshots have continued to shatter the American dream for generations of U.S. residents. Although the lives of many Americans have been lost, Washington still hasn’t taken any immediate and concrete actions to stop such tragedies from happening again. In the face of rising political polarization, buck passing between politicians, and ineffective social governance, the U.S. still has a long and arduous way to go in order to put an end to its tragic gun violence.