Hospital, church, school, cemetery: shootings shadow Americans at every stage of life

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  Alanna De Leon writes the name of her friend, Annabelle Rodriguez, who died in the shooting. AFP

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  Pallbearers carry the coffin of Amerie Jo Garza into Sacred Heart Catholic Church. AP

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  Pallbearers carry the coffin of Amerie Jo Garza, who died in the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School. AFP

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  A memorial in Town Square, Uvalde, Texas, for victims of the Robb Elementary school shooting. Reuters

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  A woman places a rose on Layla Salazar’s memorial cross, who was one of the victims that died in the shooting. Reuters

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  Bags with brisket sandwiches and a snack that will be sold at a fundraiser for families of the victims. Reuters

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  Ashtyn Leigh, 18, hands a man a brisket meal. Reuters

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  A choir sings in front of the memorial. Reuters

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  People pray in front of memorial crosses. Reuters

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  Nineteen children and two adults were killed in the shooting. AFP

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  People visit a memorial for the victims. AFP

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  Flowers are left outside the school. AFP

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  Twenty-one empty chairs are seen outside of a daycare center as a memorial for the victims. AP Photo

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  Football teammates of Tess Mata, who died in the Texas school shooting, cry as they visit a makeshift memorial outside the Uvalde County Courthouse. AFP

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  A football teammate of shooting victim Tess Mata cries, supported by her mother. AFP

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  Texas police faced angry questions over why it took an hour to stop the gunman who murdered 19 children and two teachers in Uvalde, as video emerged of desperate parents begging officers to storm the school. AFP

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  Activists join Senate Democrats outside the Capitol, in Washington, to demand action on gun control legislation after the killings at the Texas elementary school this week. AP

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  The George R Brown Convention Centre, site of the National Rifle Association annual convention. Days after the deadliest mass school shooting in Texas history, the gun lobbyist group is meeting in Houston, from Friday until Sunday. Reuters

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  Pastor Carlos Contreras preaches to his congregation as photos of some of the children killed in the mass shooting at Robb Elementary flash on the screen at Primera Iglesia Bautista, in Uvalde. Reuters

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  People march after a vigil held to stand with the Uvalde families and demand an end to gun violence in Newtown, Connecticut. AP

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  A woman holds up a banner at the end of the vigil in Newtown, Connecticut. AP

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  Newtown was the scene of the 2012 attack at Sandy Hook Elementary School, when 20 pupils and six teachers were killed by a gunman. AP

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  Candles are lit for each victim as people pray at St Philip's Episcopal Church. EPA

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  A makeshift memorial in front of Robb Elementary School. AFP

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  Omahar Padillo with his son Omahar Jr, 12, during a community prayer, in Pharr, Texas, for the shooting victims at Robb Elementary School. AP

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  Omahar Padillo Jr, 12, and his sister Samantha, 9, with their mother, Silvia Padillo, write messages in support of the victims at Robb Elementary School. AP

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  A vigil for the victims of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School. AFP

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  A young mourner at the vigil in Uvalde, Texas. AFP

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  Families at the vigil. AFP

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  A woman holds a photo of Nevaeh Bravo, who was killed in the mass shooting, during a vigil for the victims of the massacre in Uvalde, Texas. AFP

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  Uvalde County Sheriff Ruben Nolasco is comforted by Senator Ted Cruz during a vigil at the Uvalde County Fairplex Arena. AP

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  Diana Karau of Uvalde with a therapy dog named Tritan before a vigil to honour those killed at Robb Elementary. AP

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  Gun-control advocates Dana Cibulski, left, and Judi Giannini attend a vigil outside the National Rifle Association headquarters in Fairfax, Virginia after the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas. AFP

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  Uziyah Garcia, 8, was among those killed in the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. AP

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  Pastor Jaime Cabralez, the uncle of shooting victim 10-year-old Eliahana Cruz Torres, is surrounded in prayer at his church in Uvalde, Texas on Wednesday. Reuters

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  A woman embraces a child outside Willie de Leon Civic Centre, in Uvalde, where pupils were taken after the school shooting. Bloomberg

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  Gun-control advocates hold a vigil outside the National Rifle Association (NRA) headquarters in Fairfax, Virginia. AFP

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  A woman and child leave the Civic Centre. Reuters

Four people shot dead at a US hospital. Nineteen children and two teachers killed at a primary school. Two women murdered at a church. Two mourners injured at a cemetery.

The last 10 days of carnage in the US illustrates how the spectre of gun violence follows Americans at every stage of their life — and sometimes to their graves.

Even as the US has grown accustomed to mass shootings, the recent horror has struck a national nerve and prompted Congress to attempt to tighten the nation's notoriously lax gun laws, though meaningful reform has been thwarted time and again in the past.

More than 230 mass shootings have been reported in the US this year, an average of more than one per day, data from Gun Violence Archive show.

A bipartisan group of senators is “making rapid progress” on a modest gun package, Republican Susan Collins said, focusing on school security, mental health resources and possible “red flag” laws that would keep firearms away from individuals who may do harm.

Meanwhile, a US House panel passed a bill along partisan lines that would raise the age limit to purchase semi-automatic rifles and prohibit the sale of high-capacity magazines. The bill is all but assured to fail with nearly all Republicans in opposition to it.

Jim Jordan of Ohio, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, said the proposed bill would do little to prevent mass shootings.

“Until we figure out the why, we will always mourn losses without fixing the problem,” Mr Jordan said.

“The bill the Democrats are putting forward today does not help us understand what’s really driving some young men to commit these heinous acts.”

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Jerrold Nadler, a Democrat, questioned why Republicans were waiting to pass meaningful gun legislation.

“It has been 23 years since Columbine. Fifteen years since Virginia Tech. Ten years since Sandy Hook. Seven years since Charleston. Four years since Parkland and Santa Fe and Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh,” he said.

Thursday's hearing came before a gunman killed two women in the car park of an Iowa church and two people were injured during a burial at a cemetery in Racine, Wisconsin.

As politicians deliberated, police were debriefing reporters in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where a gunman killed four people at a medical centre.

And mourners in Uvalde, Texas, continued burying the 19 children and two teachers killed by an 18-year-old gunman at Robb Elementary School.

It was the deadliest primary school mass shooting in the US since 26 were killed — including 20 pupils — at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

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The May 24 shooting came as loved ones in Buffalo, New York, were still burying the 10 people shot dead by a white supremacist in a racially inspired attack at a local supermarket.

The 18-year-old gunman was charged on 25 counts, including a domestic terror charge. He pleaded not guilty on Thursday.

“Buffalo. Uvalde. Tulsa. The list goes on and on,” Mark Barden, co-founder of Sandy Hook Promise, said in a press release.

“Each time there is a mass shooting, our country expresses sympathy, grief and outrage. Then we move on until the next mass shooting — knowing full well that there will be another tragedy — whether at a supermarket, elementary school or hospital.”

Mr Barden, whose son Daniel died in the Sandy Hook shooting nearly a decade ago, said Americans must demand Congress take action.

“From my own experience, I know that the best way to honour the victims of gun violence is to take action to spare other families this horrific pain,” he said.

Speaking on the eve of Gun Violence Awareness Day in the US, President Joe Biden called on Congress to pass a nationwide assault weapons ban.

“This is not about taking away anyone's guns,” he said in a primetime address to the nation.

As vice president in the Barack Obama administration, Mr Biden led unsuccessful efforts to address gun legislation after Sandy Hook.

A bipartisan bill that would have expanded background checks failed to get past a Senate filibuster despite support from four Republicans.

Joe Manchin, a Democratic senator who co-sponsored the failed bill, reiterated his support for expanded background checks and “mental illness reform” after the Buffalo shooting last month.

Mr Biden said that Congress must meet the moment this time after years of failure.

“This time, we must actually do something,” Mr Biden said.

“We can't fail the American people again. And if Congress fails, I believe this time, a majority of the American people won't give up either.”