US gun violence: Five killed, 18 injured in Colorado nightclub shooting

At least five people were killed and one dozen and a half injured in a mass shooting at an immoral nightclub in the US city of Colorado Springs.

Police said Sunday the partygoers subdued the gunman, according to a social media post by the venue, Club Q, and police took the suspect in custody, AFP reported.

People have often carried out attacks on depraved LGBTQ parties in the United States.  The deadliest of the attacks took place at a nightclub in Orlando, Florida, in 2016.

"It's with a heavy heart I have to tell you that we had a shooting at a local club this evening," said Colorado Springs Police Department spokesperson Pamela Castro.

"We have 18 injured and five deceased. That number is subject to change as the investigation continues," she said. "The FBI is already on the scene and assisting."

Castro said Colorado police received an emergency call on Sunday night saying that there was an active shooting at Club Q.

She said medical teams and police officers responded and "they did locate one individual who we believe to be the suspect inside.”

She added that the suspect was in custody and being treated at a local hospital.

US President Joe Biden on Sunday said the US “cannot and must not tolerate hate” and called for action on “the public health epidemic of gun violence." 

“Places that are supposed to be safe spaces of acceptance and celebration should never be turned into places of terror and violence. Yet it happens far too often. We must drive out the inequities that contribute to violence against LGBTQI+ people. We cannot and must not tolerate hate,” Biden said in a statement. 

“We continue to see it in the epidemic of violence and murder against transgender women – especially transgender women of color. And tragically, we saw it last night in this devastating attack by a gunman wielding a long rifle at an LGBTQI+ nightclub in Colorado Springs,” Biden added.

Liberal Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren condemned the shooting on Sunday. 

"I am devastated by the shooting in Colorado Springs. My heart goes out to all the families and loved ones of those lost and hurt. Hateful acts against LGBTQ+ people cannot and will not be tolerated, the senior senator from Massachusetts tweeted. 

Gun violence is rampant in the United States. According to the Gun Violence Archive, there have been at least 600 mass shootings in 2022, leaving 39, 328 people dead.

That’s an average of more than 1.8 mass shootings every day so far, according to CNN.

The 2018 Small Arms Survey found that there were approximately 393 million firearms in civilian hands in the country, or 120.5 firearms per 100 people.

That number is much higher now, given the soaring increase in gun sales in the past few years.

Biden says 'enough' after another mass shooting in US

President Joe Biden condemned Friday the latest mass shooting in America, saying there is so much gun violence that many killings do not even make the news anymore.

US President Joe Biden in July said that a flood of guns was turning American communities into “killing fields” and vowed to reinstate a ban on assault rifles.

The remarks came in a White House ceremony to mark new gun control legislation that he signed on June 25.

“This has taken too long, with too much of a trail of bloodshed and carnage,” Biden said.

“The past many years, across our schools, places of worship, workplaces, stores, music festivals, nightclubs, and so many other everyday places, they have turned into killing fields.”

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