Mark Bryant

By Roberto Morejón

Mark Bryant is one of the busiest Americans because he keeps count of shootings in his country, which holds the macabre record in that sphere worldwide.
 
Bryant is executive director of the Gun Violence Archive, one of the most reliable sources to get an idea of this type of fights in the most powerful nation.  
 
He confesses that some of his staffers at the small nonprofit organization he heads have asked to leave because they can't stand the magnitude of the violence they're supposed to be putting numbers to.
 
It is not for less, since about 170 mass shootings were registered in the United States in the current year at least until May, defined as such because four or more people were hit by bullets, not including the aggressor.
 
In those clashes, at least 233 people were killed, sometimes including the attackers themselves, but any accuracy runs the risk of quickly becoming outdated.
 
Two people were killed and five wounded during another shooting, this time near a college in the state of Virginia, as groups of students were celebrating their graduation.
 
More lives cut short and panic are characteristic of such events.
 
Even U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris echoed eloquent polls. She wrote on Twitter that one in five Americans knows someone who has died from gun violence.
 
But neither in Congress nor in the administrations of the day are drastic projects advancing on the control of these devices.
 
Nor is it distressing that black adults are more than twice as likely as whites to have lost a family member to gun violence and to have witnessed someone being shot.
 
Authorities continue to turn their backs on what some analysts describe as the high level of gun irresponsibility among Americans.
 
Some of those who dare to confront the phenomenon console themselves by saying that many of the attackers were mentally unbalanced, although statistically it is clear that this number has not increased noticeably.   
 
There is no other explanation, almost every American has a gun in his possession. Limiting them goes against the business of the manufacturers.