US senator calls on Congress to curb gun violence
A US senator has called on Congress to adopt measures to curb the widespread gun violence plaguing the nation as the country marks the first annual National Gun Violence Awareness Day.
Senator Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, spoke on the Senate floor Tuesday about the growing gun-related crimes in the US, wearing an orange tie to show solidarity with an anti-gun violence group called Project Orange Tree that started the National Gun Violence Awareness Day.
Meanwhile, gun control activists, politicians and celebrities gathered in Chicago, Illinois on Tuesday to commemorate the anniversary of 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton who was shot dead in a Chicago park in 2013.
Pendleton was killed on January 29, 2013, only one week after performing at a parade for US President Barack Obama’s second inauguration. First Lady Michelle Obama attended the funeral for Pendleton in Chicago.
The US government’s measures to reduce the number of gun violence-related deaths have largely failed.
Chicago, which tends to see a dramatic annual increase in gun-related homicides beginning with warm weather, experienced dozens of shootings during the Memorial Day weekend last week.
Twelve people were killed over the three-day weekend, twice as many as during the same period last year, according to the Chicago Tribune.
A total of 43 people were killed in Baltimore, Maryland, during the month of May, making it the deadliest month in over 40 years in the largest independent city in the United States.
Three more fatal shootings on Sunday in Baltimore brought May's homicide rate to 43, surpassing the 42 murders recorded in August 1990.
It was the worst homicide rate for the troubled city since 1972, when 45 people were killed, according to The Baltimore Sun.
The Gun Violence Archive reported more than 5,000 people have been killed and over 10,000 people have been injured by gun violence across the US since 1 January 2015.
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