Bitter debate about gun control appears to have become an annual event in the United States.

Last week, an obviously exasperated President Joseph Biden, in an impassioned national address, urged the US Congress to take action against gun violence after a slew of mass shootings that, he said, had turned schools, supermarkets and other everyday places into killing fields.

“Enough, enough,” President Biden exclaimed repeatedly as he told Americans that if legislators fail to act, voters should register their outrage in midterm elections this November.

“How much more carnage are we willing to accept?” Mr Biden asked as he repeated long-standing calls to ban the sale of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.

He also said that if the Congress will not embrace all of his proposals, it should at least find compromises like keeping firearms from people with diagnosed mental health issues or raising the age to buy assault-style weapons from 18 to 21.

Mr Biden gave the national address against the background of an 18-year-old gunman killing 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school in Texas two weeks ago; an attack last Wednesday in Oklahoma in which a gunman shot shot dead four people and himself at a medical office; and the May 14 assault on a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, by a white 18-year-old man who killed 10 people and wounded three others.

Mass shootings have plagued the USA for decades and the problem seems to be getting worse. Last week, the Washington Post reported that so far this year there have been more than 230 mass shootings in America.

According to the report, “Mass shootings, where four or more people — not including the shooter — are injured or killed, have averaged more than one per day so far this year. Not a single week in 2022 has passed without at least four mass shootings.”

The newspaper said that in 2021, almost 700 mass shootings occurred, an increase from 611 in 2020 and 417 in 2019.

Jamaicans hold their collective breath after each incident, hoping that none of their numerous compatriots in that country are among the victims.

Such is the power and influence of the gun lobby in America that we don’t expect an easing of this problem in the near future.

A 2017 Pew Research Center survey emphasises the challenge. According to the data, 41 per cent of white evangelicals own a gun compared to 30 per cent of Americans overall. Additionally, 74 per cent of all gun owners in the US believe that their right to gun ownership is essential to their sense of freedom.

Add to that the fact that the US Congress, over many years, has refused to significantly tighten gun legislation, as well as the reality that gun production and sales in America remain high following a purchasing surge during the novel coronavirus pandemic and you get an idea of the point we are making.

There is, however, a sliver of hope as more Americans are growing frustrated. Last October, 52 per cent of respondents in a Gallup poll held the view that it is too easy to buy guns.

We can only hope that this view that gun laws in the US need tightening will mushroom and lead to significant reform.