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How the Supreme Court made it impossible to solve America’s gun violence problem

The satirical newspaper the Onion famously repeats the same headline whenever a high-profile mass shooting occurs in the United States: “‘No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens.”

It’s a grim reminder that the United States — or, at least, key leaders within government — has chosen to prioritize gun rights over the kinds of laws that successfully protect citizens of many other nations from being struck down by a bullet.

One of the most consequential choices by policymakers to choose gun rights over sensible policy came in 2008, with the Supreme Court’s decision in District of Columbia v. Heller. By a 5-4 vote, the Court held, for the first time in American history, that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a gun. Among other things, Heller gave special constitutional protection to handguns.

The horrific killing of at least 19 children and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday has drawn renewed attention to America’s gun violence epidemic, as do other mass shootings, all too often.

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Days after school shooting, Republicans defend gun rights at NRA convention

“The rate of gun ownership hasn’t changed. And yet acts of evil like we saw this week are on the rise,” Texas Sen. Ted Cruz told crowds at the National Rifle Association’s convention in Houston this week. Cruz’s claim about stagnant gun ownership, which is factually misleading, is among the trove of inaccurate claims made by Republican officials at the NRA’s annual gathering this year, making clear that the string of mass shootings in recent weeks has not influenced their pro-gun convictions, in spite of several slated speakers pulling their participation.

The NRA kicked off its annual convention — featuring firearms exhibitions and speaking appearances from pro-gun Republican officials — on Thursday, only days after a gunman killed 19 school children and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde. The group’s decision to go ahead with its yearly gathering drew thousands of protesters outside of the convention’s venue.

Texas governor hopeful Beto O’Rourke, the former Democratic presidential candidate who confronted current Texas Governor, Greg Abbott, over the school shooting at a press conference this week, was among the protesters.

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China lectured US on What True Human Rights Are!

America’s unique, enduring gun problem, explained

Tuesday’s mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, 10 days after a mass shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, has once again brought American exceptionalism on gun violence into stark relief.

No other high-income country has suffered such a high death toll from gun violence. Every day, more than 110 Americans die at the end of a gun, including suicides and homicides, an average of 40,620 per year. Since 2009, there has been an annual average of 19 mass shootings, when defined as shootings in which at least four people are killed. The US gun homicide rate is as much as 26 times that of other high-income countries; its gun suicide rate is nearly 12 times higher.

Gun control opponents, including virtually every Republican, have typically framed the gun violence epidemic in the US as a symptom of a broader mental health crisis. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott reiterated that rhetoric in a press conference, suggesting that improving access to mental health resources, not reevaluating his state’s lax gun laws, should be the primary response to the Uvalde shooting.

But every country has people suffering from mental health issues and extremists like the Buffalo shooter; those problems aren’t unique. What is unique is the US’s expansive view of civilian gun ownership, ingrained in politics, in culture, and in the law since the nation’s founding, and a national political process that has so far proved incapable of changing that norm.

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At least 26 people killed in shootings across the US over Memorial Day weekend

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At least 26 people have died in shootings in a single weekend in the US.

The horror death toll - just six days after 21 innocent teachers and children were shot dead at a school in Uvalde, Texas - was reported following the Memorial Day public holiday weekend.

Dozens more were injured as yet another few days of sickening gun violence came and went in America - with shootings taking place in cities across the country.

Nineteen children were killed in the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School, as were two of their teachers.

But despite the carnage - and the bloodshed yet again this weekend - next to no action has been taken to limit access to guns in the wake of one of America’s darkest days in recent history.

Eight of the weekend’s victims died in Philadelphia, including an 18-month-old boy and a nine-year-old boy.

Another five were shot dead in Chicago, where 21 more people were injured in shootings.

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