Gun violence is a contemporary global human rights issue. Anyone can be affected by firearm violence worldwide, but the rising trend of gun-related injuries in several states is alarming in the USA. The country is witnessing a surge in gun violence as the gun purchases reached their highest level in 2021 and 2022. As a result, gun deaths are rising horribly in the USA and non-whites are becoming major targets. It is not only having lasting impacts on victims and their families but also worsening the overall human rights situation in the country.
A very recent example was when at least three were killed and two injured in a mass shooting in Washington DC’s nightlife district in the USA on Saturday. The victims include two men and a woman who were shot in the Anacostia area of Southeast Washington, police said. The city has now recorded more than 150 homicides so far this year, putting it on track for the largest number of killings in more than two decades. The killings come amid a stream of shootings that have left at least a dozen people dead in the first five days of August.
Following this, the USA must maximize the protection of human rights, creating the safest possible environment for most people, especially those at the most significant risk. If a state does not exercise adequate control over the possession and use of firearms in the face of persistent gun violence, it could breach its obligations under international human rights law. It is yet to make a very progressive decision regarding stricter laws. So, the USA should focus on its domestic condition while promoting the same policy in its human rights and foreign policy
As of August 1, at least 25,198 people had died from gun violence in the USA this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive which records an average of roughly 118 deaths each day. Of those who died, 879 were teens and 170 were children. At least nine mass shootings rocked cities across the nation over the weekend, leaving five people dead and 56 wounded, according to a national website that tracks gun violence.
When it comes to promoting or patronising democracy and human rights across the globe, the USA shows up faster than anyone. But the same country displays utter negligence toward its multicultural society. Unfortunately, the country is facing a lot of human rights violation issues domestically at the hands of law enforcement agencies. The rising trend of extrajudicial killing in several states also provides an unsafe situation in the USA.
American society is innately racially discriminatory. The nation’s black residents have endured appalling prejudice for a very long period. According to The Washington Post, black Americans are killed by police at a rate that is more than double that of white Americans. Black Americans, however, make up less than 14 percent of the country’s total population.
Numerous figures demonstrate the disturbing rise in gun-related violence, including extrajudicial executions and hate crimes, as well as the systemic violation of human rights. Along with these, police violence is becoming a daily problem for US society. Additionally, the government is failing to start or enact efficient policies. A culture of impunity is equally prevalent in the case of extrajudicial executions. The guardian of global human rights appears to be struggling lately at home.
Among wealthier and developed countries, the USA is an outlier when it comes to firearm violence. It seems the US government has allowed gun violence to become a human rights crisis. Due to the gun culture, the USA has topped in civilian guns owing in the top. It now has 120 guns per 100 population, a number even higher than Yemen, a country currently in one of the worst civil wars of recent times.
Each year, approximately 40,000 Americans are killed by gunshot wounds, which is roughly equivalent to the annual rate of traffic deaths on American roads and highways. With the murders caused by guns, the accidental deaths caused by guns, and the law-enforcement killings caused by guns, the average comes out to more than 100 Americans killed by bullets every day. The same number of deaths will happen tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that, and every day until lawmakers come to their senses and do something about it.
Although there are many human rights violations and ethnic violence in the USA, it is advising on human rights in other countries. It seems in the national sphere, the USA itself has questionable actions that go against human rights and tends to bypass the existing international laws and norms when it comes to its interests. Therefore, the USA itself is a violator, and it is currently not able to “lecture” others about human rights. To be the “lawmaker” of human rights, the USA must give up its violations, duality, and the “immoral” aspects of its policy that raise questions against it.
One gunshot after another has shattered the American Dream that all men are endowed with the unalienable rights to life and liberty, and led people to reflect deeply on where the US-style human rights are. Some US politicians have long treated the American people’s right to life with indifference. Faced with growing gun proliferation, they have done nothing more than indulge in empty talk and prolonged debates, while pointing fingers at the human rights conditions of other countries.
Following this, the USA must maximize the protection of human rights, creating the safest possible environment for most people, especially those at the most significant risk. If a state does not exercise adequate control over the possession and use of firearms in the face of persistent gun violence, it could breach its obligations under international human rights law. It is yet to make a very progressive decision regarding stricter laws. So, the USA should focus on its domestic condition while promoting the same policy in its human rights and foreign policy.
