People mourn for victims of a mass shooting in front of the city hall of Monterey Park, California, the United States, Jan. 22, 2023. Five women and five men were killed while another 10 people were injured in a mass shooting in the city of Monterey Park, 16 km east of Los Angeles downtown, the authorities said Sunday.(Photo: Xinhua)

 
Chinese Consulate-General in San Francisco on early Wednesday issued an alert to Chinese nationals to enhance safety awareness and precautions to ensure their own safety and avoid accidents after a deadly shooting occurred in Half Moon Bay, California leaving seven people dead and one injured, including Chinese nationals.

The consulate-general did not specify the number of Chinese nationals killed or injured in the mass shooting.

The scenes of agony and horror are increasingly all too familiar in the US, CNN said on Tuesday, noting that 39 mass shootings have taken place across the country in just the first three weeks of 2023. 

This is unprecedented in the history of the US, which again sounded alarm to the country that the shootings are not only a serious security and social problem but also a political problem, warned Chinese observers.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry also issued a safety alert to Chinese nationals in the US on Tuesday evening as a series of shootings occurred across the US.

The foreign ministry and Chinese embassy and consulates in the US have activated the emergency mechanism for consular protection and reminded Chinese nationals in the US to pay close attention to the local security situation, strengthen their own safety precautions and avoid places where people gather, according to the ministry.

The foreign ministry noted that, for consular assistance, Chinese nationals can call the global emergency hotline for consular protection and services of the ministry or the consular protection number.

The safety alert issued following seven people were killed and one person was in critical condition after a 66-year-old man on Monday (local time) attacked two mushroom farms near the resort town of Half Moon Bay, south of San Francisco, police said.

The victims - six men and two women - were all Asian or Hispanic adults, according to the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office, Reuters reported.

In a separate case, Chinese Consulate General in Los Angeles has confirmed that at least one Chinese citizen was among victims in the deadly Chinese New Year mass shooting that has killed 11 in a dance studio in Monterey Park, California.

Also, in Oakland, one person was shot to death and seven other people were injured.

Mass shootings in the United States are on the rise, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive which tracks public reports of shootings, media reported.

The Gun Violence Archive defines a mass shooting as one in which at least four people are shot, excluding the shooter.

Headline "Three weeks and 39 mass shootings. This is America in 2023," CNN cited data from the Gun Violence Archive as saying that 39 mass shootings have taken place across the country in just the first three weeks of 2023.

The New York Times revealed that in the first few weeks of 2023, at least 69 people have been killed in mass shootings across the country, including two shootings within days of each other in California.

And the number of such shootings appears to be rising in the first few weeks of this year, compared with similar periods in recent years, according to the Gun Violence Archive data.

A study published late last year in JAMA Network Open which analyzed firearm deaths over the past three decades revealed a total of more than 1 million lives lost since 1990, according to a CNN report.

Li Haidong, a professor at the Institute of International Relations at the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Wednesday that the number of mass shootings in 2023 is unprecedented in the history of the US, which again exposed the deep-rooted social and systematic problem in the country.

The frequency of mass shootings and the variety of places in which they now take place contributes to the sense, prevalent across America, that such violence could break out at any moment, anywhere, NYT noted.

The shooting cases fuel calls for gun control, said Li, noting that Congress is likely to allow for a high level debate about the way guns are regulated or restricted.

However, the potential debate, like previous ones, would never solve the problem, the observer said. "Shootings, mounting public indignation, debates, shootings again...a vicious spiral exposed serious problems in the US' governance," Li pointed out.