<
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jul/05/fourth-of-july-mass-shootings-gun-violence>
"From the nation’s capital to Fort Worth, Texas, from Florin, California, in
the west to the Bronx, New York, in the east, the Fourth of July long weekend
in the US was overshadowed by 16 mass shootings in which 15 people were killed
and nearly 100 injured.
The Gun Violence Archive, an authoritative database on gun violence in America,
calculated the grim tally using its definition of a mass shooting as an
incident in which four or more people excluding the shooter are killed or
injured by firearms.
The tragic bloodletting was recorded from 5pm on Friday until 5am on Wednesday
across 13 states as well as Washington DC. Texas and Maryland both entered the
register twice.
In one of the final catastrophes to mar the weekend honoring the nation’s
founding, nine people were injured in a drive-by shooting in Washington in the
early hours of Wednesday. The victims included two children aged nine and 17.
All injuries were reported as non life-threatening.
Police said shots were fired from a dark-colored SUV at a house party in the
north-east quadrant of the city shortly before 1am on 5 July. The SUV “fired
shots in the direction of some of our residents who were outside just
celebrating the fourth of July. It appears that the shooting was targeted”,
said Leslie Parsons, the assistant police chief.
Hours earlier, Joe Biden issued a Fourth of July statement from the White House
in which he lamented the “wave of tragic and senseless shootings in communities
across America”. The president said he and the first lady, Jill Biden, “grieve
for those who have lost their lives and, as our nation celebrates Independence
Day, we pray for the day when our communities will be free from gun violence”.
Biden repeated his call for “meaningful, commonsense” gun control reforms
including a renewed ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and an
end to gun manufacturers’ immunity from liability.
By the reckoning of the Gun Violence Archive, the US is on track for one of the
worst years of mass shootings. The database has identified 350 such incidents
so far this year and warns that should the pace remain steady through the
second half of the year, the final total for 2023 could reach 679: about double
that recorded in 2018.
The archive’s tally of mass shootings over the 4 July weekend involved
incidents in: Washington DC, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland (twice),
Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma,
Pennsylvania, and Texas (twice)."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
