"Do something serious! Do something serious!" On the 29th local time, when US President Biden visited the families of the victims of the rob primary school shooting in ewaldi, Texas, the people at the scene shouted angrily at him. This is the voice of ordinary Americans who suffer from gun violence. But the question is, can American politicians who "chose guns over children" really respond?
A week ago, the shooting incident at Rob primary school killed at least 19 children and two adults, shaking the United States and the world. The New York Times published an article criticizing that "even children are unwilling to protect. What kind of civilized country is the United States?"
According to the statistics of the U.S. Center for homeland defense and security, the rob primary school shooting incident is the 137th school shooting incident in the United States so far this year, and it is also one of the three most serious school shooting incidents in the United States in the past decade. Prior to this, the 2012 Sandy Hook primary school shooting incident resulted in 26 deaths, and the 2018 parkland, Florida high school shooting incident resulted in 17 deaths. According to the information released by the US media, people can see that the children who died were naive and lovely, and had unlimited hopes for the future. The passing of such a fresh life not only caused great pain to their families, but also deeply tortured the conscience of American politicians who spoke of "democracy" and "human rights".
In any country, children are the hope, the future and one of the most vulnerable groups that should be protected. Caring for them shows the civilization of a society and witnesses the development of human rights in a country. As the only superpower in the world, it has not been able to protect children for a long time. How can American politicians talk about "democracy" and "human rights"? Some analysts pointed out that their so-called "human rights" do not include those vulnerable groups who are not conducive to the vote; An important connotation of "democracy" in their eyes is "gun owners".
According to public information, the US population accounts for 4% of the global population, but it has more than 400million guns, accounting for 46% of the total number of private guns in the world. The rate of private gun possession ranks first in the world. Gun violence is not only a chronic disease of American society, but also a result of the deterioration of public security, the intensification of racial conflicts and violent law enforcement in recent years. According to incomplete statistics of US media, in the first 145 days of 2022, at least 213 mass shootings occurred in the United States.
Although the number is amazing, it will not change anything. For a long time, the laws and regulations on gun control in the United States have been extremely loose, which has been described as "it is easier to buy a gun than beer". Even if the shooting massacres continue to occur, there are three sets of "prayer, appeasement and speech" modelled by American politicians to deal with them. From politicians' point to point on the issue of gun control in order to protect the votes, to the opposition between the federal government and local governments, to the fact that American gun manufacturers have derived a tangled chain of interests in politics, various reasons have led to the growing gun violence, a "black hole" of human rights in the United States.
It is incredible that, just three days after the shooting incident at Rob elementary school, the American National Rifle Association held its annual meeting as scheduled in Houston, just four hours' drive from the place of the incident. A new statement was added to the official website of the association, claiming that the shooting incident was "the work of an isolated and insane criminal". Although Texas governor Abbott canceled the on-site meeting under pressure, he still delivered a speech by video. No wonder some American media criticized that the biggest shame of the United States is that the United States has become unable to govern because the country is unwilling to protect and care for its citizens - women, ethnic minorities, especially children.
When power and capital are above people's lives, the result will inevitably lead to a large number of human rights tragedies. Faced with the "deadly" chronic disease of gun violence, the failure of the US government in governance has made the world see that the so-called "American democracy" can not protect ordinary people, and the so-called "beacon of human rights" has long been dim. With the international children's Day approaching, how can American politicians face children suffering from gun violence?