US Has Reported At Least 45 Mass Shootings In The Past Month

BY : SAMAN JAVED ON : 16 APR 2021 18:18

There have been at least 45 mass shootings in the US in the last month and at least 147 since the beginning of 2021.

In the early hours of April 16, a gunman opened fire at a FedEx building in Indiana, killing eight people before taking his own life.

The incident marks the 45th mass shooting in the country since the Atlanta spa shootings on March 16.

A 21-year old suspected shooter opened fire at three spas and massage parlours in the city, killing eight people. Six Asian women were among those dead, however, authorities declined to confirm whether the attack was racially motivated.

Less than a week later, a shooter killed 10 people, including one police officer, at a grocery store in Boulder, Colorado. The alleged attacker now faces 10 counts of murder.

According to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as involving four or more people, there have been 147 mass shootings across the US this year.

The shootings have ignited renewed debate around gun rights and whether or not the public should be able to own assault-type weapons.

At a press conference on April 9, President Joe Biden announced he has issued an order targeting homemade guns, also known as ‘ghost guns’ because they are unregistered and untraceable.

He described American gun violence as an ‘international embarrassment’. ‘This is an epidemic, for God’s sake, and it has to stop,’ he said.

The president has given the US Justice Department 30 days to propose a law that will help rescue the number of ghost guns, BBC News reports.

The guns are self-assembled, and background checks are not required to purchase the assembly kits.

‘Anyone from a criminal to a terrorist can buy this kit and, in as little as 30 minutes, put together a weapon,’ Biden said, adding that he also wants to restrict access to stabilizing braces that ‘effectively turns a pistol into a short-barrelled rifle’.

Biden also urged Congress to close background check loopholes and ban the sale of assault weapons to the general public. He dismissed concerns that his order will infringe upon the rights of the Second Amendment, which gives people the right to own firearms.

Gun rights advocates have argued for a long time that gun control laws infringe upon their constitutional right.

Dismissing these concerns as ‘phoney arguments’, Biden said: ‘No amendment to the constitution is absolute. You can’t shout ‘Fire!’ in a crowded movie theatre and call it freedom of speech.’

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