Gun violence an indelible stain on the US political system

According to the Gun Violence Archive website, there have already been 72 mass shootings in the United States so far this year.

The US ranks the first in the world in terms of both the total number of private guns and the number of guns per capita. Data show that there are about 393 million privately-owned firearms in the US, or 120 guns per 100 US people.

Widening social gaps and racial discrimination have increased US people's lack of sense of security, prompting more of them to buy guns for self-defense.

Gun Violence Archive website shows that 44,309 people in the US died from gun violence in 2022, while both the number of both mass shootings and deaths they caused increased by three times since 2013.

But the US government has done little to prevent it. The Second Amendment to the US Constitution lays the legal basis for the right of individuals to hold guns, but a heated debate is going on about the explanation of the amendment. A rule of the Supreme Court in 2022 overturned a New York State law that restricted people from secretly carrying guns in public places, which weakened the ability of state and local governments in New York, California, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, and New Jersey to monitor guns.

The New Yorker magazine even said the US is hardly possible to prevent more mass killings with guns because of the lack of an effective gun control law at the national level.

Gun violence reflects the decline of US governance, as effective gun control has almost become a "mission impossible". It is the political system that is at the root of the country's poor gun control. Laws on gun control vary from state to state and cross-state law enforcement is increasingly difficult.

The two US parties are so increasingly polarized that they can hardly reach a compromise on gun control. Interest groups provide legal channels for gun groups to engage in money politics and influence members of Congress.

These problems have prevented the US government from effectively controlling guns. Now the US people increasingly realize that gun violence is a plague in the US that will never end.

The right to life is the greatest human right. Some politicians in the US have long criticized human rights in other countries, while ignoring the right to life of their own people. They should have the courage to face up to and solve their own country's problems.