Shootings intensify reform efforts in US

SMITHSBURG, Maryland－With protests planned for Saturday after the mass shootings in Uvalde, Tulsa and Buffalo, gun control advocates hope to intensify pressure on Congress to pass laws and provide additional funding for research to help curb the growing violence.

It came as an employee opened fire at a factory in rural western Maryland on Thursday, killing three co-workers before the suspect and a state trooper were wounded in a shootout, authorities said.

Washington County sheriff Douglas Mullendore said three victims were found dead at Columbia Machine in Smithsburg and a fourth victim was critically injured. Mullendore said at a news conference that the victims and suspect were all employees at the facility.

Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen lamented the loss of lives in his state, which came soon after other recent shootings, and vowed action.

"Today's horrific shooting comes as our state and nation have witnessed tragedy after tragedy, and it's got to stop," he said in a statement. "We must act to address the mass shootings and daily toll of gun violence on our communities."

Gun control advocates said they are prepared to use philanthropic money and their own fundraising to support their advocacy until public attention forces meaningful changes.

This time, March for Our Lives and other gun control groups plan to mobilize supporters to push Congress to require universal background checks, pass red flag laws allowing guns to be confiscated in certain cases and raise the age limit to buy certain guns.

With all that said, they recognize that political leaders have not delivered meaningful action on gun control in the United States.

"If it wasn't for the movement, I would not have any faith in politicians," said Noah Lumbantobing, a spokesman for March for Our Lives. "But given that the movement is so strong and it's so clear that it is so strong, I think something will happen."

In a speech last week, US President Joe Biden proposed numerous reforms, including restoring a ban on the sale of assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines, as well as implementing background checks and red flag laws. At the same time, he made clear that he recognizes that Republican opposition makes it unlikely that most of those changes will become law.

Views of the majority

Surveys show that Republican resistance to gun control does not reflect the views of a majority of people in the US. Most US adults think mass shootings would occur less often if guns were harder to get and believe that schools and other public places have become less safe than they were two decades ago, according to survey findings.

Nonprofits, community groups and advocacy organizations said they have gained insight into why gun violence occurs and how to reduce it, including interventions that do not require legislation.

According to a latest New York University study, hundreds of lives might have been saved had a federal assault weapons ban been in place throughout the past four decades in the US.

On Wednesday, Australian media outlet The Conversation reported the study which evaluated the effects of a 10-year federal ban on assault weapons on mass shootings in the US.

During the 10 years between 1994 and 2004 when the ban was in place, the number of deaths from mass shootings fell, the study showed.

After the ban expired, however, the country saw an "almost immediate－and steep－rise in mass shooting deaths".

The risk of a person in the US dying in a mass shooting was 70 percent lower during the period in which the assault weapon ban was active, while the proportion of overall gun homicides resulting from mass shootings was also down, with nine fewer fatalities related to mass shooting per 10,000 shooting deaths, according to the data.

Had the federal assault weapons ban been in place from 1981 through 2017, the study suggested that 314 of 448 mass shooting deaths might have been prevented.

It is difficult to say conclusively that reinstating the assault weapons ban would have a profound impact on curbing mass shootings, as people in the US have been allowed to purchase and stockpile such weapons over the past 18 years. "But given that many of the high-profile mass shooters in recent years purchased their weapons less than one year before committing their acts, the evidence suggests that it might," it said.