'Gun control off US agenda' despite fresh shooting, expert says

First one this year

The attack marked the year's first fatal school shooting in the country, according to data from Every Town for Gun Safety, a US organization that works to reduce gun violence, which also said that since 2013, there have been nearly 300 school shootings in the country - an average of about one a week. The rate is 25 times higher than that of other developed countries.

Meanwhile, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's statistic revealed that seven children or teenagers (age 19 or under) are killed with guns in the US every day and rates of firearm injury death increase rapidly after age 12.

Teng Jianqun, director of the department of US studies at the China Institute of International Studies, said the US government may take further measures to strengthen the control of firearms, such as tightening the qualification check of gun purchasers and strengthening gun control over those with mental problems, however, he believed that it is obvious that gun control will not be the focus of the government's agenda in the future.

"Most of the US civilians want to strengthen gun control as with fewer firearms, the number of attacks will naturally drop," Teng said, adding that the enthusiasm of owning guns among them has been "steadily increased especially after shootings as many think that having guns is a safe choice".

At the political level, as the major rifle associations in the US have a strong influence in the political arena of the country, even though politicians are aware of the importance of gun control, they cannot touch the sensitive "nerve", Teng said.

AP contributed to the story.