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High rate of US gun violence result of moral decline: Analyst

Wednesday, 14 June 2017 6:17 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 14 June 2017 6:25 PM ]

Mark Dankof

The high rate of gun violence in the United States is a result of declining moral values in the country, a former US Senate candidate says.

“The Unites States is a declining society in terms of morals and ethics, in terms of family structure,” said Mark Dankof, who is also a broadcaster and pastor in San Antonio, Texas.

Dankof told Press TV on Wednesday that the presence of guns in the United States is not the main reason behind the daily shootings across the country.

“The fact is it’s not the presence of guns in the United States that presents this problem; there were more people per capita who owned weapons in this country in the 1950s than now,” he said.

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Gunman opens fire on congressmen in Virginia

A gunman opened fire Wednesday on members of Congress practicing for a charity baseball game in Alexandria, Virginia, injuring House of Representatives majority whip Steve Scalise and several members of the congressional police force.

Scalise, a Republican from Louisiana, was shot Wednesday morning at around 7:30 am by a gunman during a baseball game with several other Republican lawmakers.

Scalise, the third ranking member of House Republican leadership as the majority whip, appeared to have been shot in the hip and it appeared two Capitol Hill police agents were shot, according to Representative Mo Brooks.

Brooks told CNN that “at least five” people were injured, including two law enforcement officers and a congressional aide.

Some experts say the National Rifle Association (NRA), one of the most influential lobbying groups in Washington, is largely responsible for the gun violence epidemic across the United States.

The US Constitution's Second Amendment protects the right to bear arms. Gun-rights groups, including the NRA, argue that restrictions on gun purchases would not improve public safety.

Each year, more than 32,000 people die as a consequence of gun-related violence in the United States, which is by far the highest among industrialized countries, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

According to the Virginia Center for Public Safety, since former President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, more Americans have been killed as a result of gun violence than all US wars.

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