Washington, United States
The United States is experiencing an ‘epidemic’ of gun violence, as described by President Joe Biden, following last month’s shootings with six dead last Sunday, with no clear solution in sight, due to tight democratic majority in the Senate.
The country woke up this Sunday to the news of one attack in a Kenosha, Wisconsin bar, where three people died and two others were injured yesterday morning.
The Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department specified in a statement that the event took place in the bar Somers House Tavern approximately 00.42 local time (05.42 GMT time).
The perpetrator, identified as a black man, is being sought by authorities, who have described the incident as “specific and isolated”.
Hours later, just after noon, three other people were shot in the city of Austin (Texas, USA)
Austin local police said on Twitter that “an active shooting incident” took place Great Hills Trail and Rain Creek Parkwaywithout giving further details.
150 MASS RECORDINGS IN 2021
According to figures from Gun Violence Archive (GVA), a not-for-profit project tracking firearms violence in the North American country, so far there were 150 mass shootings in 2021, defining them as those in which at least four people are killed or injured by gunfire from bullets, excluding the author of the attack.
In all of 2020, there were a total of 610 such incidents in the US, compared to 417 in 2019, according to that source.
In the past month alone, there have been 45 “mass shootings” since March 16, the CNN television network.
The firearms attacks of recent weeks have resulted in countless voices of Democrats, including Biden’s own, calling for a change in legislation to allow greater control over these types of weapons.
This weekend, authorities reported that the Indianapolis, Indiana shooting culprit Brandon Hole, who shot eight people dead on Thursday, had legally purchased rifles two months before the attack, despite being investigated by the FBI.
The alcohol, tobacco and firearms administration has tracked down those two weapons, and police have discovered that 19-year-old Hole bought one in July last year and the other in September.
THE INDIANA ATTACKER WAS IN A PSYCHIATRIC CENTER
Months earlier, Hole was temporarily detained in a psychiatric detention center and a firearm was seized from him at the time, the FBI revealed to CNN on Friday.
His mother told that authority in March 2020 that her son could commit suicide by acting threatening, so security forces had to shoot him.
Hole was questioned by the FBI a month later, who saw no “racially motivated violent extremism” in him or found that he had committed a crime, although the confiscated weapon was not returned to him.
According to the police version, the young man haphazardly opened fire at a warehouse of the FedEx postal company in Indianapolis on Thursday night, where he killed eight people and injured five before taking the life of a shooting.
On Friday, authorities finished identifying the fatalities, four of whom were members of the Sikh community, a creed from the state of Punjab, India.
The Hole family released a statement on Saturday saying they were trying to give him “the help he needed” and expressed their “most sincere and sincere apologies” to the victims, their relatives and residents of Indianapolis for “this senseless tragedy. “.
“We have been devastated by the loss of life as a result of Brandon’s actions; through the love of his family, we have tried to give him the help he needed,” they explained in the note.
On Friday, Biden called on the Senate to strengthen firearms control and stop “accepting” violence that “has become too normal” that kills 106 in this country every day.
ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE LEGISLATION
It is practically impossible to pass legislative measures for greater control over this type of weapon in the Senate, where the Democrats – the president’s party – have such a narrow majority that they would have to convince at least 10 Republicans to pass them. .
Former Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Republican John Boehner (2011-2015), told CNN on Sunday that he would like lawmakers from his party to reach an agreement with Democrats on this type of legislation.
“Let’s hope they find a common ground because it’s frankly discouraging,” said Boehner, adding that the current situation is “embarrassing” for the country.
Boehner, led the Republican caucus during former President Barack Obama’s administration (2009-2017) and opposed taking steps to improve firearms control.
But “those in power need to figure out what can be done now. It’s not about what everyone wants, it’s a matter of doing two things,” he said.