More Mass Shootings — The Gun Control Debate Continues
On March 31, 2021, another mass shooting took place. This one was in Orange, California, and four people were killed. The shooting occurred in an office building; one of the murdered people was a child.
That same month, on March 16th and 22nd, mass shootings took place in Atlanta and Boulder, respectively. The Atlanta shooter killed six women of Asian descent and two others. In Boulder, ten people were killed.
Although at the time of the Atlanta shooting a year had passed since the previous mass shooting in a public place in the U.S. (some sources say), researchers say that this kind of violence never went away during the pandemic. It was just hidden from view.
According to data from the Violence Project, in 2020 there were more than 600 shootings with one shooter and four or more victims. This is up from 417 in 2019.
There were seven mass shootings in the U.S. between March 16 and March 22; there were three on Saturday, March 20, alone.
There are discrepancies in how mass shootings are defined. Some agencies (like the New York Times) only consider an event a mass shooting if four or more people are killed. Others (like the Violence Project) consider an event a mass shooting if four or more people are shot, fatally or not.
The U.S. government does not have a database or centralized system to track firearm incidents or mass shootings nationwide. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tracks some gun violence data and reports that nearly 40,000 people were killed in firearms incidents in 2019.
Regarding last week’s Colorado killings: the shooter, a 21-year old man, had purchased an assault weapon less than a week before. He killed 10 people, including a police officer. This was the deadliest mass shooting since the 2019 El Paso, Texas Walmart shooting, where 22 people were killed. That shooter targeted Mexicans.
Two House-passed bills will be brought forward by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, he said. The bills will require expanded background checks for those who purchase guns.
Biden supports the measures and has encouraged Congress to enact stricter gun control measures. On March 23, Biden urged legislators to enact a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. He also called for an end to loopholes in background checks.
Ten days before the Boulder shooting, a judge blocked a ban on assault rifles that was passed by the city of Boulder in 2018. The ban was initially passed after the 2018 mass shooting incident at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, where 17 people were killed.
The Boulder bans were challenged quickly in a lawsuit backed by the National Rifle Association (NRA). The judge was able to strike the ordinance under a Colorado law that prevents cities from making their own rules about guns.
After the judge blocked the ban, the NRA celebrated the ruling saying the judge “gave law-abiding gun owners something to celebrate.” They continued to tweet about their rights to keep and bear arms after the Colorado shooting.
Just hours after the shooting, the campaign of Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) sent a fundraising email requesting that donors and followers reject any gun control efforts from Washington.
Gun control advocates insist that all these mass shootings are clear evidence that stricter gun control is required. Their opponents point to the Second Amendment and staunchly contest any attempts at control. Despite the hundreds of mass shootings occurring with horrifying frequency, little has changed over the years in the way Americans procure and keep weapons.
