WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Over the US Independence day holiday weekend, more than 80 people were shot in Chicago, and 15 of them sustained fatal injuries, according to Chicago Police Department.
“We actually had more people gunned down on the streets of Chicago just over this past weekend that were killed in that terrible incident in Charleston,” Earnest said in a press briefing.
Earnest said the US public should speak up and urge Congress to implement “common sense” gun safety regulations.
“There are some common sense things that we can do that do not undermine the basic Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Americans,” Earnest said.
The Second Amendment to the US Constitution protects the right of American citizens to keep and bear firearms.
US President Barack Obama and US Vice President Joe Biden have both repeatedly called for stricter gun legislation following numerous mass shooting incidents around the United States. Their efforts, however, have continuously failed in Congress.
In 2013, more than 11,000 Americans were killed by guns, according to the White House.
