Editor's note: John Gong is a professor at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing and is also a research fellow at the Academy of China Open Economy Studies at UIBE. The article reflects the author's views and not necessarily those of CGTN.

This piece is going to be about another American tragedy – a tragedy that is not going to go away and one that has killed way more Americans than the million death toll from COVID-19. America prides itself to be a nation that is absolutely uncompromised about the pursuit of individual freedom. In 1775, on the cusp of the Revolutionary War, Patrick Henry famously said in a speech to the elected delegates of the Commonwealth of Virginia, "Give me liberty, or give me death!" Ironically, today many Americans end up having both.

Every day, on average, 316 people are shot in America, of which 39 are murdered and 65 are from suicide, according to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. That is over 100,000 lost souls a year.

The firearms industry, in the meantime, makes a killing by peddling the thing that purports to defend freedom. Last year gun sales shot through the roof. 19.9 million guns were sold, more than the number of cars sold. And I haven't even counted the "ghost guns" made illegally in the privacy of people's homes with widely-available gun kits on the market. Today, the simplest hammer- and striker- fired pistol can even be made with a 3D printer.

A few days ago, a little town in West Texas put its name of notoriety on the national map with yet another mass shooting, and this time at a school again. In Uvalde, at least 19 children and two teachers have become the latest victims.

Gun control legislation is more likely to fail in today's political climate, no matter how many mass shootings America is going to see in the days to come and how many victims each one will claim. The National Rifle Association gun lobby and their Republican supporters will not disappoint those Second Amendment disciples every step of the way to the Supreme Court.

Their stale argument is about liberty and safety. But those who are well versed in America's gun culture clearly understand that one doesn't need half a dozen weapons to protect family members and certainly doesn't need an AR-15, which is essentially the same as the M-16 semi-automatic weapon often seen in Vietnam War movies, to pursue liberty. Gun ownership is fundamentally about the dark, evil instinct and desire of man to conquer, which can be traced back to the earliest history of man's time in jungles.

In America, that unfettered instinct and desire has been well maintained throughout the history of that country, manifested in a campaign to slaughter Indians and steal their land, in institutions to enslave people as a way of life, in countless wars to expand national territory, and in a foreign policy that is consistently war-lovingly aggressive.

This is obviously genetic now – socially and culturally genetic. But they pay a price, too, such as in Uvalde.

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