US descends into terrifying everyday gun violence: columnist

OTTAWA - Mass shootings have become so common that they are sending the Unites States into terrifying everyday gun violence, a columnist said in The Globe and Mail on Tuesday.

Gary Mason, the national affairs columnist, said that every year, the United States is on pace to set a new record for mass shootings and this year is no exception, with over 200 mass shootings (at least four people were killed or injured in each shooting) so far.

There is no will, political or otherwise, to do anything about it, the author said.

That is the thing that is truly demoralizing. Guns are so entrenched in American culture that there is no turning back. Some states like California have adopted tougher gun laws, but it hasn't stopped mass shootings, the author said. "It still remains too easy to get your hands on a powerful semi-automatic weapon there."

According to the columnist, there are lots of theories about why gun control is so controversial in the United States. A provocative one suggested it was mostly white Americans who refused to give up their weapons because it was those weapons that enforced white supremacy. Guns are the instruments that prevent whites from being dethroned. It does not matter how many mass shootings take place, how many children are butchered in their classrooms or how high the homicide rate climbs.