SAN DIEGO — June 3 marks Gun Violence Awareness Day. This year, thousands of people across the country took to the streets calling for stricter gun control laws on the federal level.
Many are questioning why other countries have been successful in adopting new legislation in the wake of mass shootings, while this has not been the case in the U.S.
One of those countries which took swift action in the wake of a mass shooting is Australia, where 35 people were killed in Tasmania in 1996.
Within 12 days of that horrific event, bipartisan gun reform was passed on a national level in Australia, including a ban on semi-automatic long guns.
'A uniquely American tragedy'
From the east coast to the west, supporters of stricter gun control laws nationwide wore orange to mark Gun Violence Awareness Day, which has even more poignancy in the wake of the recent mass shootings in:
"Let's be really clear: this is a uniquely American tragedy," said California Assembly Member Cottie Petrie-Norris, who represents Orange County.
Orange County was rocked last month by the mass shooting at Geneva Presbyterian Church, where Dr. John Cheng was killed.
"We do not see this anywhere around the world. and that's why we know," Petrie-Norris added. "We know that there are answers."
Those answers come from new laws adopted by other nations, in response to this uptick in violence.
Canada, New Zealand take action
In Canada, where a mass shooting in 2020 left 22 people dead, Prime minister Justin Trudeau is taking action. He announced a new proposal to place a freeze on importing, buying or selling handguns, as well as a gun buyback program on military-style weapons.
"Canadians certainly do not need assault-style weapons, designed to kill the largest number of people in the shortest amount of time," Trudeau said.
New Zealand has also taken the lead on gun control after 51 people were killed at two Christchurch mosques by a white supremacist gunman.
"It was clear that the New Zealand public expected its politicians to find solutions and quickly," said Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who visited the White House earlier this week.
Less than a month after that horrific event, New Zealand's lawmakers passed a nationwide ban on semi-automatic weapons and assault rifles.
"They were practical steps that we believed were necessary and that would make a difference, and so we made them," Ardern added.
Here in the U.S., federal bipartisan negotiations on gun control are continuing in Congress, including a House vote on 'red flag' laws expected next week.
WATCH RELATED: San Diego leader in red flag gun laws, now under discussion in Congress (June 2022).