US President Joe Biden delivers remarks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 24, 2022, after a gunman shot dead 18 young children at an elementary school in Texas. Photo: AFP

A gunman killed at least 19 children and two adults on Tuesday in a Texas elementary school, according to US media. This outrageous school shooting was reportedly the deadliest in the US since a decade ago. 

The response from the Biden administration was once again emotional and hypocritical. In a speech from the White House hours after the shooting, Biden portrayed it as "another massacre" and said, "As a nation, we have to ask when in God's name we're going to stand up to the gun lobby." When delivering an address on the same day, US Vice President Kamala Harris said, "Our hearts break, but our hearts keep getting broken… Enough is enough… We have to have the courage to take action." 

Most Republicans oppose gun restrictions and gun rights groups tend to overwhelmingly support Republican candidates. Biden and Harris are obviously playing the card of gun control months ahead of the mid-term election, in a bid to gain more votes.

But such kind of operation will have little effect. "The right of the [American] people to keep and bear arms" is endowed by the US Constitution. And the US' gun lobby is capable of persuading politicians. Against this backdrop, it is very difficult for the Democratic administration to do something on gun restrictions.

The Democrats tend to be high profile on gun-control measures. During the Obama administration, its rhetoric sounded even more eloquent than the incumbent government. But it turns out that it had no effect on gun control or easing gun violence.

From a moral perspective, guns are supposed to be controlled, as endowing ordinary Americans to bear arms has triggered so many tragedies. But unfortunately, gun violence will not go away as long as the US retains its current political system. The separation of powers and social pluralism in US society, which the country considers to be the pros and vitality of its system, precisely mirrors its fatal flaw when it comes to gun control.

Democrats are also aware of the insurmountable hurdles in dealing with gun control. Every time an election nears, to gain more support, they tend to play the card to take the moral high ground. But their rhetoric or promise is only lip service, and the nightmare continues. After the election, this problem will be put aside again. Such drama has appeared several times, and this time it will repeat without exception. This fully displays the hypocrisy of US politics.

The US prides itself on being a country of democracy, and ruled by the people, but gun violence exposes the exact opposite. Living in the US, ordinary people become victims of gun violence, and cannot participate in governing the country, and worse still, the safety of their lives and property cannot be guaranteed. US politicians are accustomed to talking about human rights, but they play political tricks on issues related to the Americans' right to life and health, such as gun control, and racial discrimination. They have turned these issues into instruments and chips for partisan struggles and put their personal interests above the people's.

More ironically, the US is good at spreading lies from the mouths of some scholars. One of the representatives is the so-called German scholar Adrian Zenz, who has fabricated many fallacies about human rights-related issues on China. But have any of them voiced their concern over the US' gun shooting? The human rights situation in the US has been poor and deteriorating, and it is not qualified to point an accusing finger at other countries, such as China.

The double standards and hypocrisy of the US in terms of human rights fully prove that the so-called human rights are only tools of American politicians. Internally, it can be used to serve elections and political gain, while externally, it is nothing more than an instrument to contain competitors, manipulate and intimidate countries that do not obey Washington's interests, and maintain its global hegemony.