One in five Americans say they have had a family member killed by a gun, including suicide, according to a study released Tuesday.
The same number claim to have been directly threatened by a weapon.
The United States pays a very heavy price for the spread of firearms in its territory and the ease with which Americans have access to them.
Take action against this scourge
According to this survey, conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, this violence disproportionately affects black and Hispanic people.
It was conducted with a representative sample of 1,271 Americans aged 18 and over.
Read the fileUnited States: in the face of mass shootings, the question of gun control
As the deadly litany of gun killings in the United States continues, more and more Americans bear witness to the prevalence of these violent events in their lives.
During a press briefing on Monday, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, for example, said that one of the victims killed a few moments earlier by a gunman in Louisville was one of his "closest
friends
".
US President Joe Biden has repeatedly promised to act against this scourge that successive governments have been unable to stem, but his room for maneuver is limited by a very strong paralysis in Congress.
