Texas lawmakers propose bill to teach pupils dealing with "war zone" wounds: The Guardian

LONDON, May 15 (Xinhua) -- Lawmakers in the U.S. state of Texas proposed that schools across the state should provide "bleeding control stations" to teach kids how to deal with casualties from a mass shooting, The Guardian has reported.

Under the terms of HB 1147, a bill pending in the House of Representatives of Texas, the bleeding stations equipped with tourniquets approved for use in battlefield trauma care by the U.S. armed forces would train school staff to use the equipment, so that they can pass on such battlefield skills to pupils in third grade upwards, the British newspaper said on Saturday.

Should the bill pass, eight-year-olds and above in Texas would be taught how to apply compression bandages and chest seals to the gaping, bloody wounds of their friends and teachers in the event of a mass shooting.

"It really worries me that we are training our kids that it's acceptable for their school to become a war zone," said Representative Ann Johnson during a recent debate in the Texas house on the bill.

Last Tuesday, The Guardian quoted the data of Gun Violence Archive that the United States this year has seen 202 mass shootings as of May 7. A mass shooting is defined by the archive as involving at least four people killed or injured by firearms, excluding the shooter.

Mass shootings have plagued the United States and attracted the world attention. No other industrialized country outside war and conflict zones experiences such habitual gun violence in civic life, The Guardian noted.

According to data from the archive, the United States is on pace for 60 mass killings this year, which is going to be the worst in recent history for mass killings. There were 31 in 2019, 21 in 2020, 28 in 2021 and 36 in 2022.

The United States is recording an average of more than one mass killing weekly, amid little political prospect of meaningful gun control, the newspaper added.