Despite COVID-19 restrictions, shootings in the U.S. continue unabated. 2021 could surpass last year's violence.
Pamela Cruz. Peninsula 360 Press [P360P].
The recent shooting in Orange County, California, which left four people dead, including a young boy as young as nine years old who died in the arms of a woman, adds to the chilling toll these acts have taken in the U.S. despite a COVID-19 pandemic.
A native of the city of Fullerton, 44-year-old Aminadab Gaxiola Gonzalez was responsible for the massacre that took place this Wednesday where he murdered four people in cold blood, which, according to authorities, were not random.
Thus, the Fullerton Police Department stressed that the horrific events that occurred in an Orange office lot were premeditated, as the attacker locked the gates of the complex with bicycle cable locks and was armed with a gun, as well as pepper spray and handcuffs.
They also detailed that the perpetrator of the massacre, who is in critical condition in the hospital because he was wounded after the police intervention, was connected to the victims through business and personal ties.
Orange Police Department Lieutenant Jennifer Amat said that after a call came in around 5:30 p.m. reporting shots fired at a business in the 200 block of West Lincoln Avenue, officers went to the scene and after finding the doors locked, they had to open fire, which wounded the assailant.
After the shooting, police were able to cut the cable locks with special pliers to enter the compound. In the courtyard, they found a 9-year-old boy dead and a woman - who remains in a hospital in critical condition - and who hugged the little boy, it is believed, in order to save him from the bullets.
In addition, police also found three additional bodies in other spaces: that of a woman upstairs, a man inside an office and a woman in a different room, all shot to death.
It should be noted that the Orange Police Department is conducting the investigation into the terrible act so that reports can be sent to the District Attorney's office. The perpetrator of the massacre could receive capital punishment if requested for this case.
The incident has become the third mass shooting in the country in the last two weeks.
According to the Armed Violence Archive, as of March 30, there were 119 mass shootings and 8 mass murders.
As of two days ago, the number of people killed in the country due to a weapon reached 10,580, of which 4,574 were due to homicide, murder or unintentional killing.
2021 could exceed last year's numbers
The increasing attacks suggest that this year could surpass the chilling figures recorded in 2020, which became the most violent year for guns in recent decades.
The Gun Violence Archive noted in its annual report that, in 2020, 43,535 firearm-related deaths were recorded in the US. 19,379 of these deaths were homicide, murder or unintentional, while 24,156 of them were due to suicide.
The report released on March 24, details that during the past year, in which the COVID-19 pandemic began, 611 mass shootings and 21 mass murders were reported.
The number of children aged 0-11 years who were injured by a firearm was 697, which means that 1.9 children, daily, were victims of these devices in 2020. Meanwhile, 299 were in delicate condition.
In the case of adolescents - 12 to 17 years old - the situation did not improve, since 3,061 were wounded by a weapon, 1,073 were in delicate conditions. In that sense, 8.4 young people were affected daily during one of the deadliest years in all senses.
From January 1 to March 25, 2021, the organization has registered 9,762 deaths by armed violence, 4,218 by homicide, murder or unintentional, while 5,544 have been by suicide, which reflects that the problem already marks a trend.
Thus, during the first three months of the year, 106 mass shootings and six mass murders have already been reported.
Statistics show that from 2014 to 2020, the number of gun deaths increased by 352 percent. While from 2019 to 2020 there was a rise of just under 10 percent.
And is that in 2014 there were 12 thousand 355 deaths by weapons; in 2015 there were 13 thousand 572; in 2016, 15 thousand 122; by 2017 they reached 15 thousand 718; in 2018 they dropped to 14 thousand 885; and in 2019 it reached the terrible figure of 39 thousand 532.
Joe Biden and the debate over gun use in the U.S.
According to a recent Ipsos poll of more than 500 Americans in the country, 57 percent disapproved of President Joseph Biden's handling of gun violence in the wake of shootings across the United States.
The survey revealed that two-thirds of respondents believe that reducing gun violence should be a higher priority than protecting the right to own a wide variety of weapons.
Also, by a two-to-one margin, more Americans say that enacting new laws to try to reduce gun violence is the highest priority right now.
In this regard, the document notes that "there is widespread agreement on this issue, with Americans of all ages, educational levels, racial or ethnic backgrounds, and from all regions".
However, he explains that just over one in three Republicans (36 percent) believe enacting new laws is the priority. Instead, 64 percent say protecting the right to own a wide variety of guns should be more important.
Here, too, there is a significant partisan divide, with more than nine out of ten Democrats favoring enacting new laws to reduce gun violence.
