Letters | US must course-correct on gun violence after Texas school massacre to save itself

The continued sight of children being gunned down at school raises doubts over whether the US still has the ability to correct its course
The country needs a transformational leader who can bring about real change and help students feel safe at school again

Gun violence in the US

Letters

Published: 2:30pm, 6 Jun 2022

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I clearly remember the scene when tears rolled down US President Barack Obama’s cheeks following the shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, on December 14, 2012. Twenty-six people died in the tragedy, including 20 children. Wiping away tears again in early 2016, Obama recalled the Sandy Hook shooting and said US inaction on gun control must end.

However, things have not changed much. Ten years later, when a similar tragedy happened at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, President Joe Biden said, “When in God’s name will we do what we all know in our gut needs to be done?”

I feel powerless. I am quite sure nothing will change. This massacre will be forgotten by the public several months from now, just as the numerous similar shootings in the United States have been. Sometimes I have to wonder whether the US has lost its ability to correct its course.

Some people insist on the Second Amendment to the US Constitution, which protects the right to keep and bear arms. Remember, though, this law was made in 1789. At that time, the most popular gun was the crude and ineffective musket. In the latest school massacre on May 24, the killer used a semi-automatic AR-15 rifle. The situation has changed, so why does no one dare change gun laws that were drafted more than 200 years ago?

Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Britain have all acted to control guns after mass shootings happened in their countries. Can’t the US learn something from these countries? If it really is difficult to ban all kinds of guns, it could try to limit those that cause the most destruction while allowing citizens to keep shotguns for self-protection and hunting.

06:45

Horror and grief after Texas school shooting, Joe Biden calls for action

Even a nation as powerful as the Roman empire will fall into decline sooner or later if it ignores its endemic problems for a long time. Guns are clearly the endemic problem of the US.

I am reminded of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, whose New Deal helped save the US from the Great Depression. The country needs another great leader to take real action and show the world the US can still course-correct. It must show it can become a country that can protect its children and keep them free from fear of mass shootings.

Li Yanzhou, Sham Shui Po