Grim toll of gun violence in the US
The latest shootings in the small town of Sutherland Springs, Texas, in which 26 people died, have pointed the spotlight once again on gun crime in America.
Figures show that there have been more than 52,000 gun-related incidents and more than 13,000 deaths due to gun violence in the US in 2017.
The Breaking Views news team took to the streets of Portsmouth to ask people in the UK what they think about gun ownership. You can see their responses to the issue here.
Half of those killed in Sutherland Springs were children. Statistics from the Gun Violence Archive and Pew Research Centre confirm that more than 3,000 youngsters up to the age of 17 have been killed or injured through gun crime so far this year.
Figures also show that around 40% of Americans own a gun or live in a household with a gun, and that the main reason for owning one is for protection.
The Texas church shooter was identified as 26-year- old Devin Patrick Kelley. It has been confirmed that 26 people were killed in the shooting and 20 others were injured.
Kelley started firing his gun before he entered the church and a local resident used his own rifle to engage with him. Kelley ran out of the church and got in his vehicle, where was found dead by police. It is understood that he died from self-inflicted gun-shot wounds or injuries from the resident’s rifle.
President Donald Trump condemned the attack as “an act of evil”.
