I. Civil and Political Rights in Name Only
The United States flaunts itself as “the land of freedom” and a “beacon of democracy,” which, however, is just something imaginary that fools the people and the world. The lack of restraint in the right to hold guns has led to rampant gun violence, posing a serious threat to citizens’ life and property safety. Worsening money politics distorts public opinion and makes the so-called democratic election a game for the rich.
Politics has led to a proliferation of guns. The manufacture, sale and use of guns in the United States is a huge industrial chain, forming a huge interest group. Interest groups such as the National Rifle Association made large political donations for presidential and congressional elections. The intertwined drawbacks of party politics, election politics and money politics make it difficult for the legislative and executive authorities to do anything about gun control, only allowing the situation to deteriorate. According to an U.S. online media report dated Dec. 11, 2019, the United States has far more guns than any other country and in 2017 the estimated number of civilian-owned firearms in the United States was 120.5 guns per 100 residents, meaning there were more firearms than people. A Nov. 20, 2019 report on the website of the Center for American Progress said that a person is killed with a gun in the United States every 15 minutes, citing figures on shooting deaths from 2008 through 2017. In total 39,052 people died from gun related violence in the United States in 2019.
Mass shootings occurred one after another. The United States is a country with the worst gun violence in the world. Frequent mass shootings have become a defining feature of the United States. Citing figures from the Gun Violence Archive (GVA) , the online edition of The Mirror reported on Dec. 30, 2019 that the number of mass killings in the United States hit a record high of 415 in 2019, with more than one happening for every day of the year. That compares with 337 in 2018; 346 in 2017; 382 in 2016; 335 in 2015 and 269 in 2014, the first year the GVA kept records. The three worst U.S. shootings of 2019 took place in El Paso, Texas, Virginia Beach, and Dayton, Ohio, which killed 22, 12 and nine people, respectively. “This seems to be the age of mass shootings,” commented USA Today in an online report.
Violent crimes number is alarming. The “Crime in the United States, 2018” report released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 2019 showed that in 2018, an estimated 1,206,836 violent crimes occurred nationwide, including 16,214 murders, 139,380 rapes, 282,061 robberies, and 807,410 aggravated assaults. The “Criminal Victimization, 2018” report released by the Bureau of Justice Statistics in 2019 showed that the number of violent-crime victims aged 12 or older in the United States was 3.3 million in 2018, rising for three consecutive years.
People’s property safety is at risk. The “Crime in the United States, 2018” report released by the FBI showed that in 2018 there were an estimated 7,196,045 property crime offenses in the nation, with a rate of property crime estimated at 2,199.5 per 100,000 inhabitants. Property crimes in 2018 resulted in losses estimated at 16.4 billion U.S. dollars. Among the property crimes were an estimated 748,841 thefts of motor vehicles and 1,230,149 burglaries. The estimated rate of motor vehicle thefts was 229 per 100,000 inhabitants. Vehicles stolen were worth an estimated total of more than 6 billion U.S. dollars. Victims of burglary offenses suffered an estimated 3.4 billion U.S. dollars in property losses. The average dollar loss per burglary offense was 2,799 dollars.
Poor handling of cases by the police resulted in the loss of public confidence. Incidents reported to the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) of the FBI in 2018 involved nearly 6.6 million criminal offenses and nearly 7 million victims. The website of Pew Research Center reported on Oct. 17, 2019 that in the United States in 2018, 45.5 percent of violent crimes and 17.6 percent of property crimes were cleared, citing FBI figures. Many victims did not report a crime out of a feeling that police “would not or could not do anything to help.” In 2018, only 43 percent of violent crimes and 34 percent of property crimes tracked by the Bureau of Justice Statistics were reported to police.
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