USA: Latest school shooting must lead to ban on assault weapons

In reaction to Monday’s shooting at Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, USA, Ernest Coverson, Amnesty International USA’s Director of Gun Violence Prevention, said:

“The question we ask on a maddeningly frequent basis, and one that we will continue to ask until it’s answered, is when will Congress take a stand?

“More than 13.7 million AR-15s have been manufactured since Congress failed to ban assault weapons after Sandy Hook, and the sale of these weapons has generated $11 billion in revenue for the industry. When will leaders put people over profit?

“Congress has the opportunity now to pass the Assault Weapons Ban legislation. Will they act or will they wait while more die across the US?”

Ongoing gun violence epidemic

Three 9-year-old children and three adults at the Nashville elementary school were killed in the ongoing epidemic of gun violence. The alleged shooter died after being shot by police. The attack came 44 days after the Michigan State University mass shooting.

In 2012, 26 people were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, USA. Twenty of the victims were children aged between six and seven years old, and the other six were adult staff members. Earlier that day, the shooter shot and killed his mother.