Tuesday 6 July 2021

A 4th of July weekend of shootings

It's somewhat difficult to fathom but here it is: no US soldiers were killed battle in Afghanistan since February 2020. But over the 4th of July weekend just gone more than 150 Americans were killed in 400 shooting incidents across the country. A quite staggering figure. So to put it bluntly, since the signing of the "peace" deal between the US and the Taliban at the end of February last year, it has been more dangerous for Americans back home than being in a war zone in Afghanistan. The death of 150 people is the equivalent of a large company in the US Army. I wonder if anyone raised this with President Biden as he was trying to be happy and optimistic over the weekend. According to CNN there were 83 shootings in Chicago alone, with 14 deaths. Fatal shootings are so regular in the United States that may be there is a degree of complacency about such statistics, although I'm sure the deaths were all devastating for the families involved. It has been said a million times but there are just too many guns in too many hands in the US. Fourth of July should have been a time to celebrate and to be proud of America's independence but it seems it was also a time of violence and brutal deaths. When will America learn?

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