By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
West Virginia two weeks ago launched a lottery programme to give money, scholarships, and guns, among other incentives, to residents who take part in coronavirus vaccination, just to juice up interest in a health scheme meant to save lives.
The lottery will be drawn from June 20 through August 4 to provide more deadly weapons to citizens to kill themselves in the United States where Congressional Republicans rail against gun control while the casualties pile up.
Between January and June 13, gun deaths rose 40 per cent higher than in the same period in 2020, and about 65 per cent higher than in the same period in 2019.
The escalation of violence rides on the back of the insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6, instigated by former President Donald Trump, whose utterances and actions in the White House stoked division and incitement against others.
Though defeated and disgraced at the ballot box, Trump has not relented from making toxic statements which pour fuel on the hatred in the hearts of his hardcore supporters, many of whom – like him – are anarchists, misogynists, and racists.
Gun possession in the US originated with European settlers who felt unsafe with Native Americans whose land they were grabbing, and the settlers decided to dominate the natives by force of arms.
The right to bear arms is protected in the Second Amendment to the US Constitution but gun rights advocates take this too far by opposing laws, such as background checks, to ensure that unreasonable people do not possess weapons to destroy lives.
The opposition mounted by the National Rifle Association (NRA) and its Republican cohorts against gun control initiatives floated by Democrats now spills blood and takes lives in a daily ritual.
CNN reports that as the US marked the fifth anniversary of the Pulse nightclub massacre in Orlando on Saturday, it has a staggering and grim new statistic to contend with for 2021.
So far this year, we have suffered 272 mass shootings, according to Gun Violence Archive.
From Friday afternoon to Sunday, at least nine people were killed and another 47 were injured in eight mass shootings in six states, according to data compiled by CNN and the Gun Violence Archive.
An 18-month-old and four-year-old were among the youngest victims, authorities said.
The total number of mass shootings is about 40 per cent higher than at this point in 2020, and about 65 per cent higher than at this point in 2019, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive.
There were an estimated 194 mass shootings in the US during this same period in 2020, and an estimated 164 mass shootings in the US in this same period in 2019.
CNN defines a mass shooting as four or more people shot, excluding the shooter.
This weekend’s mass shootings include incidents in Georgia, Illinois, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas and Washington state.
“We are saddened that Austin has joined the far too lengthy list of communities that have experienced mass shootings,” Dewitt Peart, president and CEO of the Downtown Austin Alliance, said in a statement, reported by CNN.
“Our nation has endured heartbreak time and time again resulting from the acts of deranged individuals intent on killing and harming others. This senseless violence must end.”
On June 12, 2016, a gunman attacked the nightclub in Orlando, killing 49 people and upending countless lives.
Today, as four more cities struggle in the wake of large-scale gun violence, Orlando still feels the club’s absence, which is particularly painful for LGBTQ residents and LGBTQ people of color. “People are still healing,” says Joél Junior Morales, director of operations at the LGBT+ Center.
Here is a look at some of the most recent incidents, per CNN.
Washington
Police found two people dead after they responded to a shooting in White Center, just south of Seattle, on Friday afternoon.
Two other people were hospitalized following the shooting, Sgt. Tim Meyer with the King County Sheriff’s Office said.
One survivor was listed in critical condition at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, while the other was in serious condition Friday night, according to Harborview spokesperson Susan Gregg.
Meyer said Friday evening that they did not yet have a suspect or motive identified in the case.
Georgia
At least eight people were shot, including one fatally, in Savannah, Georgia.
A 20-year-old man was killed and seven others were wounded in a Friday night shooting in Savannah, Georgia, according to police.
People were standing outside a residence around 9 p.m. when a dark colored or red sedan approached, Savannah Police Chief Roy Minter said. The occupants of the vehicle then began shooting into the crowd before driving off, the chief said.
Several victims were found at the scene, while others had been taken to the hospital in a personal vehicle. The victims’ ages ranged from 18 months to 33 years old, Minter said.
North Carolina
Officers on patrol heard “numerous shots fired” just before 10 p.m. Friday night. according to a press release from the Winston-Salem Police Department.
They found four victims suffering from gunshot wounds, including a 17-year-old, the release said.
One of them was pronounced dead on the scene while the three others were taken to the hospital in serious but non-life-threatening condition, according to the release.
Police recovered two guns at the scene and collected other evidence that indicated “multiple shots were fired.”
Texas
The shooting in Austin, Texas, happened in the city’s entertainment district, police said.
One of 14 people injured in a shooting in downtown Austin, Texas, early Saturday died Sunday, Austin Police said.
At a news briefing Saturday, interim Chief of Police Joseph Chacon listed two people in critical condition.
Austin Police tweeted that one suspect was in custody and a second suspect was still at large.
Four women and a girl were injured in Dallas.
Less than 12 hours earlier, just 200 miles south, five other people were shot in Dallas, including a 4-year-old girl.
Police responded to a shooting around 4:45 p.m. Friday that was reported to be between two groups of people “involved in a disturbance regarding an unknown matter,” Dallas Police said in a post on their website.
The child was taken to Children’s Medical Center and is in stable condition, and the four adult victims – all women – were taken to local hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries, according to police.
Illinois
Police investigate a shooting in Chicago early Saturday.
Police were looking for two gunmen in a shooting in Chicago early Saturday that sent 10 people to the hospital, where one woman died.
People were standing on a sidewalk in the city’s South Side when two men approached and opened fire, police said.
Ohio
On the east side of Cleveland, three people were shot to death outside a gas station on Saturday morning. Detective Alexander Sinclair with Cleveland Police told CNN they don’t yet have a motive in the case, but added, “It looked like a shootout-type situation.”
Two 40-year-old men and a 36-year-old man were killed in the shooting next to Prestige Petro on Buckeye Road, Sinclair said. Three women also were shot and hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries. Police have not identified a suspect.
In Cincinnati, at least four people, including a six-year-old and an eight-year-old, were wounded in a shooting Saturday, according to local police.
The two children are in critical condition, “with one sustaining possible life-threatening injuries,” Emily Szink, a spokesperson for the Cincinnati Police, said in a statement.
Two adults, described as men in their late teens, suffered non-life-threatening injuries.