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06-07-2023
WASHINGTON/ PHILADELPHIA: At least 10 people were killed and 38 injured in three mass shooting incidents in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Fort Worth during the July 4 holiday, authorities said, causing US President Joe Biden to reiterate lawmakers to act on firearms legislation to save innocent lives.
There have been over 340 mass shootings in the country so far in 2023, according to data collected by the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as an incident in which at least four people are shot, excluding the shooter.
In Fort Worth shooting, three lives were claimed with eight injured after a local festival to mark the US Independence Day holiday, according to the police Tuesday.
Another shooting in Philadelphia Monday evening left five dead and two wounded, including a 2-year-old boy and 13-year-old boy, both of whom were shot in the legs when a gunman in body armor carrying an AR-15 went on a killing spree on strangers, said local police.
The Philadelphia shooting was just a day after the Baltimore shooting which killed at least two people leaving 28 injured, with half of them children at a neighborhood block party.
Police were not able to ascertain the motivations behind the gun violence as the US is witnessing a fresh wave of mass shootings.
Biden condemned the mass shootings Tuesday and reiterated to tighten America’s gun laws.
“Our nation has once again endured a wave of tragic and senseless shootings,” Biden said in a statement, calling on Republican lawmakers “to come to the table on meaningful, commonsense reforms.”
Citing constitutional protections for gun ownership, Republicans in Congress have generally blocked attempts to significantly reform gun safety laws and oppose Biden’s push to reinstate a ban on assault weapons.
Philadelphia officials pleaded with state and federal lawmakers to act.
“We are begging Congress to protect lives and do something about America’s gun problem,” Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney, a Democrat, said in a news conference Tuesday. (Int’l News Desk)
