MIAMI. – July 9 is the International Day for the Destruction of Armas Firearms. Amnesty International (AI) indicates that gun violence is committed with pistols, shotguns or semi-automatic rifles.
At this point, it is estimated that more than 600 people die every day from the violence with firearms, including suicides. Two-thirds of these deaths are recorded in six countries: Brazil, USA, Venezuela, Mexico, India and Colombia.
Amnesty International also notes that while gun violence can affect anyone, it often “disproportionately impacts people of colour/racialised people, men and boys from disadvantaged communities, and other marginalised groups”. Domestic gender-based violence involving firearms puts women at greater risk of death or injury.
According to records, up to 71% of all homicides committed worldwide involve violence with these types of weapons. Amnesty urges States to recognize that gun violence represents a threat to people’s human rights.
“Gun violence is a daily scourge that threatens our most fundamental right: the right to life,” AI said. It also puts at risk the right to physical integrity and personal security, as well as health.
In 2005, the Protocol of the United Nations on firearms, which seeks to combat the illicit manufacturing and trafficking of small arms, such as revolvers, pistols, submachine guns and light missiles. The UN noted in 2023 that small arms and light weapons are preferred “for initiating, sustaining and exacerbating conflicts, armed violence, terrorism and other forms of organized crime.”
Guns in the United States
Amnesty International recorded that, in 2022, in USA There were 45,222 deaths by firearm.
“Successive U.S. administrations have allowed gun violence to become a human rights crisis. The United States has no measures such as a national firearms registry to monitor gun ownership. In every state in the country, citizens can legally carry concealed firearms in public,” they said.
Only three states – California, Florida, Illinois, and the District of Columbia – have laws that generally prohibit openly carrying firearms in public.
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Source: United Nations / Amnesty International / International Day Portal