America must bite the bullet to reduce gun violence

THE reaction around the world to the latest mass shooting in America - in which at least 10 people were killed and 20 injured when a 26-year-old man opened fire on the campus of Umpqua Community College in Oregon on Oct 1 - was one of horror but not of shock.

In a way, mass shootings by lone gunmen that many Americans shrug off as unfortunate facts of their daily lives have become part of the new normal in the United States, the result of ineffective gun control laws as well as a cherished gun culture that perplexes many non-Americans. It is not a secret that the US has far more gun violence than the rest of the developed world. For a country that strives to exert its "soft power" and serve as a model to the rest of the world, that reality gives a bizarre meaning to "American exceptionalism", a term favoured by politicians in Washington.

But these are also the same politicians who have failed to pass laws that have been adopted by other developed nations that ensure that only members of the police and the military would be armed. Moreover, facing enormous political pressure from pro-gun political lobbies, led by the National Rifle Association (NRA), members of Congress have resisted attempts to reform the current loose gun-control laws by requiring, for example, stricter background checks for gun buyers.