WASHINGTON: The world voiced revulsion on Wednesday (May 25) at the massacre of Texas schoolchildren, which for some raised new questions on whether the United States can effectively promote itself as a global model.
President Joe Biden, who has made championing democracy a key priority, appeared conscious of the damage to the US reputation in an impassioned plea for action late Tuesday moments after returning from Asia.
“What struck me on that 17-hour flight, what struck me, was these kinds of mass shootings rarely happen anywhere else in the world,” said Biden, who had mourned victims of another mass shooting in Buffalo on the eve of his trip.
US allies as well as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who rarely weigh in on US domestic affairs, all voiced horror over a teenage gunman’s killing of 19 children and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy – who has been relying on US weapons to repel a Russian invasion – called such peacetime deaths “terrible,” while French President Emmanuel Macron said he shared “the rage of those who are fighting to end the violence.”
Some allies questioned, politely, why the United States – with its constitutional right to bear arms and powerful gun lobby – cannot tackle gun violence, which claims on average 111 lives a day.
New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Adern, who was visiting the United States, pointed to how her government tightened gun laws after a white supremacist killed 51 people at two mosques in Christchurch in 2019.
“We are a very pragmatic people. When we saw something like that happen, everyone said, ‘Never again,'” she told the CBS “Late Show.”
WASHINGTON: The world voiced revulsion on Wednesday (May 25) at the massacre of Texas schoolchildren, which for some raised new questions on whether the United States can effectively promote itself as a global model.
President Joe Biden, who has made championing democracy a key priority, appeared conscious of the damage to the US reputation in an impassioned plea for action late Tuesday moments after returning from Asia.
“What struck me on that 17-hour flight, what struck me, was these kinds of mass shootings rarely happen anywhere else in the world,” said Biden, who had mourned victims of another mass shooting in Buffalo on the eve of his trip.
US allies as well as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who rarely weigh in on US domestic affairs, all voiced horror over a teenage gunman’s killing of 19 children and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy – who has been relying on US weapons to repel a Russian invasion – called such peacetime deaths “terrible,” while French President Emmanuel Macron said he shared “the rage of those who are fighting to end the violence.”
Some allies questioned, politely, why the United States – with its constitutional right to bear arms and powerful gun lobby – cannot tackle gun violence, which claims on average 111 lives a day.
New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Adern, who was visiting the United States, pointed to how her government tightened gun laws after a white supremacist killed 51 people at two mosques in Christchurch in 2019.
“We are a very pragmatic people. When we saw something like that happen, everyone said, ‘Never again,'” she told the CBS “Late Show.”