According to a recent poll, more than half of American citizens had been involved in a gun-related incident.
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, a non-profit organisation based in California, the latest survey released on Tuesday found that 54% of American adults have either personally or through a family member been impacted by a gun-related incident, such as witnessing a shooting, being threatened by a gun, or being injured or killed by a gun.
When questioned about their own personal experiences, one in five (21%) claim they have been threatened with a gun, and nearly as many (17%) say they have seen someone shot.
When questioned about family members, over three in ten respondents (31%) indicate they have a family member who has been threatened with a gun, while a comparable number (28%) has watched someone being shot.
According to the poll, one in every five (20%) individuals has had a family member hurt by a gun, and 19% had had a family member died by a gun, including suicide.
According to the report, three out of every four individuals in gun-owning households have at least one gun in their home that is either unlocked, loaded, or loaded with ammo.
According to the poll, gun-related injuries and deaths, as well as concerns about gun violence, disproportionately impact persons of colour in the United States.
Three in ten Black individuals (31%), as well as one-fifth of Hispanic adults, have personally observed someone being shot (22 per cent). One-third of Black adults (34%), twice as many as white adults, had a family member who was killed by a gun (17 per cent).
Moreover, one-third of Black people (32%), and one-third of Hispanic adults (33%), say they worry “every day” or “nearly every day” about themselves or someone they care about becoming a victim of gun violence.
However, barely one in ten white adults agrees.
According to the study, one in every five Black adults (20%) and Hispanic adults (18%) believe that gun-related crimes, fatalities, and injuries constitute a “continuous threat” to their community, which is more than double the proportion among white adults (8 per cent).
The poll was conducted online and by phone from March 14 to 23 among a nationally representative sample of almost 1,300 American people in English and Spanish.
The poll was released the day after a bank shooting in Louisville, Kentucky, which killed six people, including the attacker.
Gun violence is widespread in the United States, with shootings occurring on a regular basis.
According to the Gun Violence Archive, a website that analyses shootings around the country, more than 11,600 individuals have died as a result of gun-related events this year.
