Gun violence an incurable pain in U.S.

Cartoon by Ma Hongliang

As of March 16, 113 mass shootings have taken place in the United States this year, according to statistics released by the Gun Violence Archive, a website that tracks gun violence data in the country.

Gun violence is one of the acutest social problems in the U.S. According to a report titled "Gun Violence in the United States: Truth and Facts", the U.S. is the country with the most civilian-held firearms. With less than 5 percent of the world’s population, it accounts for 46 percent of global civilian gun ownership.

Frequent mass shootings in the U.S. have triggered a trauma that is incurable to the American society. U.S. state and local governments have made various attempts to introduce legislation on gun control, but such efforts all ended up either long in words but short on action, or flip-flopped. Problems such as increasingly rampant political polarization, fiercer partisan fight, and deep-rooted racial discrimination have all made gun control difficult in the U.S. Gun violence has become an incurable pain in the U.S.