Rampant gun violence in U.S. reflects hypocrisy of American-style human rights

Cartoon by Ma Hongliang

Gun violence has caused over 26,000 deaths in the U.S. since the beginning of the year, with the country having already seen 392 mass shootings, each of which saw four or more people killed or wounded by gunshots, according to the latest data published by the Gun Violence Archive of the U.S. on August 3.

The world’s beacon of human rights, as Washington would like to call itself, has been plagued by repeated outbreaks of gun violence. The U.S. is the country with the gravest situation worldwide in terms of gun violence and yet the number of people wounded or killed by gun violence on American soil has constantly hit new highs. Just this past weekend, incidents of gun violence took place in Chicago, Orlando, and Omaha, causing multiple deaths and injuries.

Gun violence has become a tumor bedeviling American society. The shooting that took place on July 4, the Independence Day of the U.S., further revealed that American society has become increasingly torn apart.

When gunshots rang out during a fireworks show, people were seen running for their lives while screaming at the top of their lungs. In such a nightmare scenario, who was there to protect the human rights of American citizens?