US gun violence: 5 killed, 50 shot in Chicago bloody weekend

At least 5 Americans have been killed and 50 others injured in a spate of shootings across Chicago in the US state of Illinois.

A man was killed and another was wounded after being shot multiple times in the city's Near West Side on Sunday. The 30-year-old was pronounced dead and the other man was listed in serious condition.

Hours earlier, a 32-year-old man was killed when someone shot him multiple times in the chest and abdomen in the South Shore. He was pronounced dead at a local medical center.

On Saturday night, one person was killed and two others were wounded in a shooting in West Pullman on Chicago's Far South Side.

A man, 28, was also killed as he was shot multiple times in the chest and once in the face, police said. He was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.

Another fatal shooting was reported on Saturday, when a man, 27, was struck by gunfire in East Garfield Park on the West Side.

An unidentified man was also shot in the right leg and was listed in serious condition, police said. Two women, ages 52 and 20, suffered gunshot wounds and were listed in fair condition. A 19-year-old man was shot in the right arm.

Dozens of others were injured in other shooting incidents in the city over the weekend.

The violent weekend, which started Friday evening with 11 people injured in shootings across Chicago, came a week after at least 70 people were shot in the city and 12 were killed.

The incidents of mass shootings have seen an alarming surge in the US in recent years, reigniting the debate over gun control laws and misuse of lethal weapons.

US Gun Culture

This edition of the program is about the fascination with guns in the American society. The discussion is that violence is so deep-rooted in the US that banning weapons is considered a violation of Americans’ constitutional rights.

At least 233 people were killed and 618 were injured by gun violence in more than 500 shootings across the US during the July 4 weekend.

In the first five months of 2021, gunfire killed more than 8,100 people in the US, accounting for about 54 lives lost per day, according to the Washington Post.

This year, the number of casualties, along with the overall number of shootings that have killed or injured at least one person, exceeds those of the first five months of 2020, which finished as the deadliest year of gun violence in at least two decades, according to Washington Post data.

During his presidential campaign, US President Joe Biden pledged to reinstate an assault weapons ban, create a voluntary gun buyback program and send a bill to Congress to repeal liability protections for gun manufacturers and close background check loopholes.

Gun violence also includes suicide and according to the Gun Violence Archive, there have been more than 13,500 gun-related suicides this year.

With about 121 firearms in circulation for every 100 residents, the US is by far the most heavily armed society in the world, according to the Geneva-based Small Arms Survey, a research group.

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