(Reuters: Joshua Roberts)Ī man and woman embrace at the scene of a shooting at the Washington Navy Yard, in Washington, DC, on September 16, 2013. (AFP: Saul Loeb)Ī police helicopter flies over officers walking on the roof of a building near the shooting at the Washington Navy Yard, in Washington, DC, on September 16, 2013. Police walk towards the scene of a shooting at the Washington Navy Yard, in Washington, DC, on September 16, 2013. This image was taken from security cameras and released by the FBI on September 25, 2013. Washington Navy Yard shooter Aaron Alexis moves through the hallways of Building #197 carrying the Remington 870 shotgun. The US is one of the world's most heavily-armed nations, with between a third and half of all Americans owning guns. The comparable rate is 0.4 in Japan, 0.8 in Germany, 1.0 in Australia, 1.1 in France and 1.2 in Britain, according the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. This was well down from the 24,526 killed in 1993, when the country's population was smaller, but the rate - 4.7 murders per 100,000 people - was significantly higher than those in other wealthy nations. This month, figures from the FBI said 14,827 people were murdered last year in the US. Last December, after 20 children and six adults were killed in the Sandy Hook school rampage in Newtown, Connecticut, Mr Obama called for tougher enhanced background checks on gun buyers and a ban on assault-style rifles.īut the measures foundered in Congress, partly due to a fierce lobbying campaign by pro-gun groups and opposition from some of his fellow Democrats from conservative states. Mr Obama has admitted it looks unlikely that change will come from Washington, but has called on American voters to insist on reform. Lawmakers have so far thwarted attempts by Mr Obama to tighten gun laws, citing the right to bear arms enshrined in the US constitution. "There's one lesson that's abundantly clear - our country is drowning in a sea of guns," he said. Washington mayor Vincent Gray also voiced his despair at America's gun culture.
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"What is different in America is that it is easy to get your hands on a gun." 'Our country is drowning in a sea of guns': Washington mayor "We don't take the basic common-sense actions to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and dangerous people. "The main difference that sets our nation apart, what makes us so susceptible to so many mass shootings, is we don't do enough. "The murder rate with guns is 10 times what it is in other developed nations.
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"Here in America, the murder rate is three times what it is in other developed nations. "No other advanced nation endures this kind of violence. Mr Obama told a memorial ceremony inside the Navy Yard that the latest bloodshed should be a wake-up call for all Americans.