Washington: Before the Fourth of July holiday, mass shootings left ten people dead and 38 injured in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Fort Worth, according to authorities. This prompted President Joe Biden to issue a new call for the passage of gun control legislation.
Following a community festival to celebrate the US Independence Day holiday, a shooting left three people dead and eight others injured in Fort Worth, according to police on Tuesday.
Two children, ages 2 and 13, who were both shot in the legs, were among the five people killed and two others injured in a separate mass shooting that took place in Philadelphia on Monday night. Local police reported that the suspect, who was wearing body armour and was armed with an AR-15, opened fire on unarmed civilians. Two people were shot dead and 28 others, including about half of them children, were injured in a hail of gunfire at a neighbourhood block party in Baltimore the day before the shootings on Monday night.
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All three of the most recent shootings had unknown motivations. The number of mass shootings and other instances of gun violence is a problem in the United States.
According to data gathered by the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as an incident in which at least four people are shot, excluding the shooter, there have been over 340 mass shootings in the nation so far in 2023.
On Tuesday, Biden criticised the violence and reiterated his calls for tighter gun control in the United States. Biden said in a statement that "our country has once again experienced a wave of tragic and senseless shootings," urging Republican lawmakers "to come to the table on meaningful, commonsense reforms."
Republicans in Congress generally oppose Biden's push to reinstate an assault weapons ban and have blocked attempts to significantly reform gun safety laws by citing constitutional protections for gun ownership.
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Officials from Philadelphia begged state and federal lawmakers to take action. Jim Kenney, the Democrat mayor of Philadelphia, said at a news conference on Tuesday, "We are begging Congress to protect lives and do something about America's gun problem. Larry Krasner, the city's district attorney, requested "reasonable legislation" similar to that in New Jersey and Delaware's neighbouring states from Philadelphia's state legislators. Krasner said, "Some of that legislation might have made a difference here. According to Philadelphia police, the suspect was a 40-year-old man with a 9mm pistol, body armour, and an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle.
Ages of the deceased ranged from 15 to 59. At the shooter's initial court appearance on Wednesday, Krasner promised to bring numerous charges of murder and other offences.
In a shooting that occurred at Como Fest, a recent tradition honouring the African American history of the Como neighbourhood, police in Fort Worth reported that no arrests had been made.
Mayor Mattie Parker reportedly said, "I choose to believe this is a few bad perpetrators who came into this neighbourhood to really wreak havoc." Just before midnight, witnesses heard a barrage of gunfire that some initially mistook for fireworks but soon caused a stampede for safety, according to the Dallas Morning News.
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Police in Baltimore have stated that they are looking for several suspects.
The most recent shootings happened close to the anniversary of the Highland Park mass shooting, which took place near Chicago last year and resulted in seven fatalities and 48 injuries during an Independence Day parade. After being charged with 117 felonies, a 22-year-old man is still in custody in connection with the massacre.