The United States suffered 19,350 firearm homicides in 2020.
US President Joe Biden on Tuesday called for Americans to stand up against the country's powerful pro-gun lobby after a gunman shot dead 18 young children at an elementary school in Texas.
"When, in God's name, are we going to stand up to the gun lobby," he said in an address from the White House.
"It's time to turn this pain into action for every parent, for every citizen of this country. We have to make it clear to every elected official in this country: it's time to act."
Biden drew on his own experience with grief, having lost his first wife and young daughter in a car accident in 1972 and an adult son to cancer in 2015, news agency ANI reported.
"To lose a child is like having a piece of your soul ripped away," he said. "There's a hollowness in your chest you feel like you're being sucked into it ... you're never quite the same".
(With inputs from AFP and ANI)