US gun violence perpetuated by racism, firearms industry: Analyst

The gun violence epidemic in the United States has been perpetuated by the firearms industry as well as racism and prejudice against minorities, an African American journalist in Detroit says.

Mass shootings in the US will not be curbed until more Americans pressure Congress to pass strict gun control laws, said Abayomi Azikiwe, editor at the Pan-African News Wire.

Gun violence is also rooted in the country’s widespread racism and discrimination against minorities since the colonial era, Azikiwe said in a phone interview with Press TV on Friday.

“The United States is a violent country, it was born in violence against the indigenous people, against the African people who were enslaved, as well as others,” he said.

“We have a combination of the historical violence in the United States, we have the preeminent role of the arms manufacturing industry, and also racism and other forms of national discrimination,” he added.

More than 100,000 people are shot each year in the US at a total cost of $45 billion, according to a study published in the journal Health Affairs. The country loses around 33,000 people to gun violence every year.

PressTV-US gun violence 'human rights crisis': Amnesty

Gun violence has grown into a major "human rights crisis" in the United States, Amnesty warns.

Last week, Amnesty International warned that America’s gun violence situation has grown into a full blown "human rights crisis" amid inaction from the US government.

In a scathing report on Wednesday, the UK-based human rights group blasted the lack of preventive measures such as a national registration system for gun owners and loose laws that allow people to own handguns without a license or permit in 30 US states.

The report said “all aspects of American life have been compromised in some way by the unfettered access to guns, with no attempts at meaningful national regulation.”

Amnesty said.an average of 106 individuals died a day from firearm-related incidents in 2016, totaling 38,658. Of that figure, nearly 23,000 were suicides and more than 14,400 were homicides.

The issue of gun violence has become all the more polarizing under President Donald Trump, a Republican whose presidential campaign was funded partially by the National Rifle Association (NRA).

Trump has been reluctant to address the growing issue in his speeches and following several high-profile mass shootings in the country.

Gun control activists want members of Congress, many of whom are up for re-election this year, to ban the sale of assault weapons, making the issue a key factor in the upcoming midterm elections in early November.

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