Gun deaths in the US

Sir, – In your editorial “The Irish Times view on the Texas shooting: the unacceptably high cost of US gun laws” (May 8th), you mention that 201 mass shootings have occurred in the United States so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, but that the “political will” doesn’t exist to deliver “stricter gun laws”, clearly a reference to the Republican Party.

It is generally agreed that the strictest gun laws in the US are found in California, Connecticut, Hawaii, New Jersey, New York, Illinois, Maryland and Massachusetts, all “Blue” states which are fully controlled at all levels of government by the Democrats. However, these eight states, which comprise one-third of the population of the United States, have seen 57 mass shootings this year, almost a third of the total.

Doesn’t this suggest that the willingness or otherwise to implement strict gun controls may not be the panacea which it is so often presented as? If states with strict gun laws have no fewer shootings than states which don’t, then doesn’t this point to much wider cultural problems in relation to guns?

The usual caricature of caring Democrats versus trigger-happy Republicans may suit the media on this side of the Atlantic, but it is a poor analysis of such a serious problem. – Yours, etc,