Editor's note: Mariam Shah is an Islamabad-based independent researcher in the field of conflict studies and military psychology. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

The U.S. is in a grip of brutal mass shootings, as there have been two horrific incidents in a span of 10 days, which shows that it is one of the most poorly managed issues in the U.S. First, it was a supermarket in Buffalo, New York and now it is a primary school in Texas, where innocent children were mercilessly killed by an 18-year-old young man.

As per the initial reports, 21 people were killed including 19 children in the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. It is also the deadliest shooting at a school since the Sandy Hook massacre in Connecticut in 2012 that left 26 people dead, including 20 children. As per the recent estimates and figures, there are 400 million firearms in the U.S. and this is 27th school shooting of 2022.

Unfortunately, both incidents took place in minority community areas; the Buffalo mass shooting targeted the predominantly Black community and the Texas shooting occurred in a school where nearly 90 percent of the students are Hispanic and about 81 percent are economically disadvantaged as per the data.

Why is gun violence out of control?

The ubiquity of guns/arms and a lenient approach to deal with them have contributed to 'out of control' gun violence in the U.S. As per 2021 Gallup Survey, Americans' support for stricter gun control has fallen to 52 percent, the lowest since 2014, while 35 percent said they should remain the same. Small Arms Survey, a Swiss-based leading research project approximated that there were 390 million guns in circulation in 2018 and the U.S. ratio of 120.5 firearms per 100 residents has increased from 88 per 100 in 2011, far exceeding that of other countries around the world. Statistics also show that in 2020 more than 45,000 Americans died due to gun violence, whether by homicide or suicide and the figure shows a 43 percent increase from 2010.

As per Amnesty International, "individuals can lawfully carry concealed firearms in public in every state in the U.S. and can lawfully openly carry firearms in public in most states. However, there is no nationwide uniformity in laws governing the carrying of firearms in public, and in some states there are no laws at all: 12 states allow individuals to carry concealed weapons in public without any license/permit and 30 states allow the open carrying of a handgun in public without any license/permit." Shockingly, in 45 states, it is allowed to carry firearms in public openly and all 50 states and Washington, D.C., it is allowed to carry concealed firearms in public.

Gun violence and discrimination: What is the connection?

The figures as per Amnesty International, show that discrimination and gun violence are relatively interrelated in the U.S. Somehow, armed homicide disproportionately impacts African American communities, particularly targeting young black men. In 2017, 14,542 people in the U.S. lost their lives in gun homicides and African Americans made 58.5 percent of these countrywide deaths, despite making up just 13 percent of the entire U.S. population. 

Firearm killing was the leading cause of death for black men and boys aged 15-34 in 2017, and they were 10 times more likely to die from firearm homicide than white men and boys of the same age group. It is important to note here that, most children who are victims of firearm killings in the U.S. are from minority communities and homicide is the second leading cause of death among black children and 65 percent of those killings are committed with guns.

The recent shooting incident, which killed 10 people on May 14, 2022, struck a supermarket that was also in a predominantly Black area in Buffalo, New York. As per the U.S. Department of Justice they are investigating it "as a hate crime and an act of racially motivated violent extremism." Racist hate crimes are getting common in the U.S., which it clearly shows a failure to address systemic discrimination, structural violence and failure to tackle gun violence through laws and prevention programs.

Unfortunately, young men's easy access to guns means there are no guardrails for them to mindlessly kill anyone, be it primary school children or elderly, either for thrill, out of hate or for some underlying conditions. Witnessing all these homicides and mass shootings, the U.S. must address its "hate-filled domestic terrorism" and "gun violence" with extensive awareness and de-radicalization programs especially targeting the vulnerable youth groups.

Gun violence has become endemic and it is a huge human rights issue in the U.S. which needs utmost attention and will of both the masses and politicians to counter and contain it.  

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