world

According to an American organization, more than 400 large-scale shooting cases occurred in the US last year, causing over 40 000 casualties.

This means that more than one gun-related crime happened a day and more than 110 persons were killed or wounded by shots.

Such victims included many children and young people, 224 and 1 030 of whom were children under the age of 11 and those in the 12 to 17 age group respectively.

It is only in the US that shots ceaselessly ring out and bloody murders occur one after another everywhere though it is not in wartime.

As to the causes of the gun-related crimes, a former official of the US Department of Homeland Security said that the number of people thinking that only violence is the only way to express their faith is gradually increasing, adding: The number of people distrusting the government, businesses and other organizations are increasing in US society. They think that they are victims of improper acts. The viewpoint that it is natural to use violence to express their ideological opinions or discontent is being embedded in the society.

The absence or looseness of firearms control measure is also the major cause of gun-related crimes.

In the US everyone is granted the right to own weapons according to the second amendment to the constitution enacted in 1791. So the number of firearms in circulation in the country at present far exceeds its total population.

It has become natural for everyone to carry firearms and it has become all right for them to carry out their intentions by means of their firearms, with the result that a “gun culture” has been established in the country.

Consequently, the structural contradiction in society and the “gun culture” have made gun-related crimes inevitable and commonplace in the US. This is the true feature of the country as a human rights desert.