DHAKA: The brazen killing of two US journalists during a live television broadcast by a former reporter who was fired by the station reignited calls on Thursday for tougher gun control in America - though hope for change is limited.
Mass shootings in the United States - from the 2012 school massacre in Newtown to June's slaying of black churchgoers in Charleston - regularly prompt hand-wringing about easy US access to guns, and a need for action, reports channelnewsasia.com
The killings on Wednesday of reporter Alison Parker, 24, and cameraman Adam Ward, 27, as they conducted an early morning on-air interview for WDBJ - a CBS affiliate in Roanoke, Virginia - were no different.
"How many massacres do we have to have ... before the public cries out and says what it is that they want us to do?" Roanoke Mayor David Bowers said. "We just haven't reached a consensus on this in America."
Parker and Ward were shot dead at close range by 41-year-old Vester Lee Flanagan, who was dismissed from WDBJ in 2013 over angry, erratic behaviour. Images from Ward's camera as the attack took place were aired live. The woman they were interviewing was also shot, but was in good condition in hospital on Thursday.
Flanagan, 41, - also known as Bryce Williams - fatally shot himself after fleeing the scene, but not before posting video of the attack on social media. He sent a rambling manifesto to ABC News, saying he was a "human powder keg... just waiting to go BOOM!!!!" and had endured racial discrimination and bullying "for being a gay, black man."
Flanagan, who was African American, said he was sent over the edge by the Charleston church shooting. The suspect in that case, Dylann Roof, expressed support for white supremacist causes.
Parker's father Andy made an impassioned plea for change, saying his daughter's death had left his heart broken.
"I'm for the Second Amendment, but there has to be a way to force politicians that are cowards and in the pockets of the NRA to come to grips and make sense - have sensible laws so that crazy people can't get guns," he said.
"It can't be that hard, and yet politicians from the local level to the state level to the national level, they side step the issue. They kick the can down the road. This can't happen anymore."
BDST: 1131 HRS, AUG 28, 2015
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