Permissive gun laws make U.S. prime target for terrorist attacks: NYT

WASHINGTON, May 30 (Xinhua) -- The United States has become a prime target for firearms-based terrorist attacks due to its permissive gun laws and easy access to firearms, a recent opinion piece published by The New York Times has argued.

Last week, an 18-year-old man opened fire in Texas, killing at least 19 students and two adults at Robb elementary school in Uvalde.

Such a tragedy "certainly has terrified people nationwide, raising fears yet again that children are at risk, even in their schools, from a violence abetted by the ready availability of semiautomatic weapons," said the article.

According to the paper, foreign terrorist organizations have long urged their followers to take advantage of lax U.S. gun laws to plan attacks in the United States.

There is no question that the ready availability of guns in the United States challenges not only public safety but also national security, it said.