Amid calls for gun control in the U.S. after last week’s massacre at a Uvalde, Texas, elementary school, shots rang out across the country over Memorial Day weekend, with more than a dozen mass shootings unfolding in the span of 72 hours.
According to the Gun Violence Archive, which tracks shootings in the U.S., there were at least 14 “mass shootings” in the U.S. over Memorial Day weekend, from early Saturday to late Monday.
The archive defines a mass shooting as an incident in which “four or more people are shot or killed, not including the shooter.”
At least nine people were killed in the shootings, with more than 60 injured, according to the organization’s data.
A preliminary count found that gun violence — not just mass shootings — left at least 156 people dead and 412 injured from 5 p.m. ET Friday to 5 a.m. Tuesday, the archive said.
Among the shootings over the long weekend was one in Philadelphia early Monday morning that left two women dead, with two others injured.
Philadelphia police said they found the two women shot in the head in Port Richmond just before 1:30 a.m., NBC Philadelphia reported. Both women died in hospital.
A teenager was also rushed to the hospital with a gunshot wound to the shoulder in connection with the incident, while a man who was found shot a block away was taken to a hospital and was in critical condition, police said.
On Saturday night, six teenagers were hurt after gunfire broke out in Chattanooga, Tennessee, the city’s mayor said.
In a post on Twitter, Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly expressed anger and frustration over the incident.
“I am heartbroken for the families and the victims whose lives were upended last night by gunfire. No parent should ever have to get that call,” he said.
“But I am also angry. Six teenagers were shot last night in what we believe was an altercation between other teenagers. And once again, I’m standing here in front of you talking about our community’s youth getting shot. That’s outrageous and it has to stop.”
“It’s ridiculous that I even need to publicly state that guns have no place in the hands of our kids,” he said.
The spate of shootings over Memorial Day weekend came amid growing calls for gun reforms in the wake of the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde on May 24 that left 19 children and two teachers dead.
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On Monday, President Joe Biden pushed for a ban on assault weapons, saying: “It makes no sense to be able to purchase something that can fire up to 300 rounds.”
“The idea of these high-caliber weapons — there’s simply no rational basis for it in terms of, about self-protection, hunting and I guess — and, remember, the Constitution, the Second Amendment was never absolute,” Biden told reporters outside the White House after traveling from Delaware. “You couldn’t buy a cannon when the Second Amendment was passed. You couldn’t go out and purchase a lot of weaponry.”
The president and first lady Jill Biden visited Uvalde on Sunday, meeting with first responders and the families of those who lost children in the deadly shooting.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
