At least 69 people have lost their lives in mass shootings in the United States so far this year. President Joe Biden is again advocating for tighter gun laws.
Just over three weeks into the new year, there have been 39 mass shootings in the United States, according to the website Gun Violence Archive. At the same time last year, there had been 28 mass shootings.
A mass shooting is defined as a shooting incident in which at least four people are injured or killed.
The shooting in Monterey Park in Los Angeles on Saturday 11 people lost their lives and is thus the deadliest so far this year.
The death toll could probably be even higher if not 26-year-old Brandson Tsay overpowered the 72-year-old who was behind the attack during the Chinese New Year celebrations in the city. He took his own life after the crimes.
Three mass shootings in California
Only a few days later – night to Tuesday Norwegian time – was seven people killed in another mass shooting in Half Moon Bay in the same state, California.
Seven people were injured and one was killed in another California mass shooting Tuesday. This time at a gas station in Oakland.
Before this latest shooting in California, President Joe Biden addressed the events and advocated for stricter gun control.
“For the second time in a few days, California mourns the loss of loved ones to senseless gun violence,” Biden said in a statement on Tuesday.
Later Tuesday, at least three people were shot and killed at another gas station in Washington state.
According to ABC News the gunman arrived at a Circle K station in the city of Yakima and apparently fired indiscriminately.
The man then fired shots into a car, which he threw himself into and disappeared. The police therefore do not rule out that there may be a fourth victim after the shooting, writes NTB.
Ask for a ban
President Joe Biden in his statement Congress again to pass laws to ban so-called assault weapons. These are military-style weapons that are often used by perpetrators in mass shootings.
– I once again call on both chambers of Congress to act quickly and deliver an assault weapons ban to my desk, and take action to keep American communities, schools, workplaces and homes safe, Biden said.
Biden has long been a champion of tightening the US’s gun laws, and wants, among other things, a ban on the sale of assault weapons to civilians.
In 2004, the law banning assault weapons in the United States expired. In recent times, there has not been enough political support to counteract the powerful arms lobby in the US and reintroduce the arms ban, writes NTB.
Biggest cause of death among young people
The number of mass shootings has increased in the United States since 2014, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
In 2021, the number was 690, which is more than twice as many as in 2015. Last year, the number was somewhat lower with 647 mass shootings, although this is also more than in previous years, writes New York Times.
– There is no place left in America that is safe from gun violence, signed Senator David Min of California Twitter after the Monterey Park shooting.
– This must stop. Enough is enough, he emphasized.
Gun injuries are the leading cause of death for people under the age of 24 in the United States, according to a study published in the journal The journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics last December.
