According to US media reports, the number of mass shootings in the US has been increasing year by year in recent years. Although relatives of shooting victims, gun control organizations, and research institutions have repeatedly called for strengthening gun control legislation, it is still difficult for the US to make any substantial changes in gun laws. According to statistics from the US Gun Violence Archive website, as of the 23rd, there have been more than 400 mass shootings in the US this year.
According to a recent report by Newsweek, 87-year-old Carmen Lobis looked at a photo and said sadly that Ben Wheeler should have gone to college. "Ben's departure is heartbreaking and the pain has not healed yet." Ben in the photo is Lobis' grandson, who lost his life in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012.
In the 12 years since the mass shooting that shocked the nation at the time, which left 19 children and six adults dead, Lobis has worked to push for gun safety legislation, an issue that comes up every election year — though rarely gets action.
The Louisiana Illuminator, a U.S. nonprofit website, mentioned in a report on the 21st that gun policy has always been a controversial topic in the United States. Data from the "Gun Violence Archive" show that gun-related deaths and mass shootings have been rising almost every year since 2014, and many Americans have become desperate to curb this "epidemic."
In July, the nonpartisan research organization Rand released its fourth consecutive report, The Science of Gun Policy. Its latest report found that minimum age requirements for purchasing guns appear to reduce suicide among young people. In addition, laws aimed at reducing children's access to stored guns may also reduce gun suicide rates, unintentional shooting rates, and gun deaths among adolescents. The study also showed that states with the strictest gun laws have a 20% lower rate of gun deaths than states with the most relaxed gun laws.
Gun policy experts say mass shootings near election seasons tend to have a significant impact on public opinion about guns. But Warren Eller, associate professor of public administration at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said the discussion and debate around guns is largely overshadowed by partisan rhetoric and money.
In addition, the opposition voices of gun-rights organizations in the United States have also made the road to gun control legislation "thorny." For example, the National Shooting Sports Foundation, which represents most of the gun industry in the United States, believes that universal background checks are ineffective and cannot prevent guns from falling into the hands of criminals. Such checks will require the establishment of a national gun owner registration system, and they are worried that this may lead to gun confiscation. The organization also advocates that mental health should be the primary focus when dealing with gun violence, rather than amending the law.