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2015 in US: Gun violence & mass shootings

Sunday, 27 December 2015 5:28 PM [ Last Update: Sunday, 27 December 2015 5:28 PM ]

Miyoshia Bailey holds a photo of her son Cortez Bailey, who was fatally shot in 2013, during a press conference with Newtown Action Alliance and the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, as well as family members of victims and survivors of gun violence, to lobby Congress to address gun violence, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, December 10, 2015. (AFP Photo)

As 2015 ends, the number of people killed by US police has risen to well over 1000, triggering the recent publication of a New York Times editorial entitled "End the Gun Epidemic in America."

The editorial was written after 14 people were fatally shot at a social services center in San Bernardino, California, and two weeks after a shooting at an abortion clinic in Colorado Springs, Colorado, which left three people dead. Mass shootings have hit Charleston, South Carolina and Lafayette, Louisiana and Roanoke, Virginia.

These have led to calls to end the influence of the powerful gun lobby in Washington - and proposals to ban some types of weapons and ammunition. According to the US Centers for Disease Control, firearms are the cause of tens of thousands of deaths in the United States every year, a number that includes accidental discharge, murder and suicides, which are also on the rise.

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