Amnesty International cautions travelers to US over ‘gun violence’

Amnesty International has cautioned persons intending to travel to the United States of America to exercise caution and have an emergency contingency plan when travelling throughout the USA.

The caution is being issued in light of the ongoing high levels of gun violence in the country.

Amnesty International said persons planning to travel to the US must be:

• Extra vigilant at all times and be wary of the ubiquity of firearms among the population
• Avoid places where large numbers of people gather especially cultural events, places of worship, schools and shopping malls
• Exercise increased caution when visiting local bars, nightclubs and casinos.

“Depending on the traveller’s gender identity, race, country of origin, ethnic background or sexual orientation, they may be at higher risk of being targeted with gun violence and should plan accordingly.”

“Under the international human rights law, the United States has an obligation to enact a range of measures at the federal, state and local levels to regulate access to firearms and to protect the rights of people to live and move about freely without the threat of gun violence. The government has not taken sufficient steps to meet this obligation.”

A report by the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation rated the United States as the country with the 28th-highest rate of deaths from gun violence in the world.

A Washington Post Analysis also found that four or more people have killed in a mass shooting in the U.S every 47 days since June 2015.

The recent shooting in El Paso and Dayton marked the 30th and 31st shootings since those incidents.

There were two mass shootings in the US over the weekend.

Thirty-one people were killed in a period of less than 13 hours over the weekend.

The first shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas killed 22.

Another shooter launched an attack in Dayton, Ohio, killing nine in the process.