Lizzo and Julianne Moore call for tougher gun control after shootings

Lizzo has said it was a “close call” for her family after a shooting in Dayton, Ohio, left nine dead and at least 16 injured.

The singer is among the stars speaking out about gun control in the US after two mass shootings in the space of 24 hours.

Earlier, twenty people were killed and more than two dozen were injured in an attack on a busy shopping centre in the border town of El Paso, Texas, and police are investigating whether it was a hate crime.

Lizzo tweeted: “Just got off the phone w/ fam in Dayton… it was a close call for them but that’s not the case for 9 other families between this & the terrorist attack in El Paso & recent other shootings.

“I feel completely helpless.. make noise & bring awareness.. vote.. don’t normalize this.”

The suspect in El Paso has been identified as 21-year-old Patrick Crusius of the Dallas area.

Meanwhile, actress Julianne Moore shared a photograph of women hugging each other outside the Texas shopping centre and wrote: “TAKE ACTION: The House of Representatives passed a bill to require background checks on all gun sales. Now, the Senate must act.

“In honor of El Paso, text CHECKS to 644-33 to be connected with your Senators and tell them to act on background checks.”

Rapper Cardi B shared a picture of the alleged shooter on Instagram with text that pointed out he is not an immigrant, not a Muslim and not a member of ISIS, adding the US has a problem that a wall on the Mexican border will not fix.

The West Wing actor Bradley Whitford wrote on Twitter: “3000 died on 9/11. Over 10 times that many Americans die EVERY YEAR from gun violence.

“The NRA/GOP think the blood of 40,000 innocent souls is the price of freedom.

“Universal background checks are too high a price to pay. It is a perverse culture of death perpetrated for profit.”

Meanwhile The Wire star Wendell Pierce, who has recently been living in London while he appears in an acclaimed stage production of Death Of A Salesman, wrote: “I have lived in Bogata, Colombia; Montreal, Canada; Marrakesh, Morocco; and London England for most of the last 3 years.

“What has become clear to me is mass murders are culturally an American thing. We are a violent society. More murder in 2 weeks home than in all 3 years abroad.”