DUBAI - Appeals for stricter gun laws have been ignored by the US government as politics and big money step in, despite the increase in mass shootings in the country over recent years, Dubai-based daily Gulf News reported.

In a commentary titled "The politics behind gun violence in the US," which was published on the Gulf News website on Sunday, Tariq A. Al Maeena, a Saudi sociopolitical commentator, said the US politicians, who have long turned deaf ears to the voices from more than half of the population for strict gun control, are more in tune with their backers, the special interest groups, than their voters.

The commentator said the United States is no longer a "truly democratic country," as interest groups is steering the country to "an undetermined destiny."

According to the Gun Violence Archive, the US has recorded more than 400 mass shootings since the start of this year, which have claimed at least 453 lives.