Rock legend Ozzy Osbourne has declared that the “f**king ridiculous” number of mass shootings pushed him to return to his native home of England and leave the lush life of Los Angeles behind. However, it is suspected that his ill health conditions and rising taxes in the US could also have influenced the upcoming move.

In an interview with The Observer on Sunday, Osbourne, known as the ‘Prince of Darkness’, announced his plans to return to England with his wife Sharon early next year after having listed their Los Angeles mansion is currently on the market, and are renovating their home in Buckinghamshire to prepare for the move.

“Everything’s f**king ridiculous there,” Osbourne said, referring to the US. “I’m fed up with people getting killed every day. God knows how many people have been shot in school shootings. And there was that mass shooting in Vegas at that concert… It’s f**king crazy.”

2021 was the worst year on record for mass shootings in the US, and according to data from the Gun Violence Archive (GVA), 2022 is seemingly on track to raise the bar again.

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There were 687 mass shootings in 2021 alone, which left at least 684 dead, and hit a high record for gun sales with 17 million guns sold just between January and November 2021. Just in the last 10 years, gun manufacturers made over $1 billion from selling semiautomatic weapons such as the AR-15, which is commonly used in most mass shootings. The number of school shootings in the United States has been exponentially rising as of late, surging to reach 193 documented incidents during the last academic year. However, while different organizations use different techniques to classify and define a “mass shooting”, the firearm homicide rate in the United States reached its highest level since 1994 during the first year of the Covid pandemic, with significant racial and class disparities, according to a CDC report released Tuesday. 

The latest school shooting to shake the United States took place in late May when an 18-year-old boy carried out a mass shooting that claimed the lives of at least 21 people at an elementary school in Texas. He used two weapons, which include an AR15-style automatic rifle. The recent spree of tragic shootings in the US has pushed guns to the forefront of a national debate as US leaders grapple with how to reduce the alarming rate of violence, with the latest today in Detroit that left four people injured and three dead. 

“I don’t want to die in America, I don’t want to be buried in f**king Forest Lawn,” Osbourne expressed as he referred to the Los Angeles cemetery where Hollywood stars Clark Gable, Elizabeth Taylor and Humphrey Bogart are buried.

“America has changed so drastically,” his wife Sharon stated. “It isn’t the United States of America at all. Nothing’s united about it. It’s a very weird place to live right now.” According to the Public Policy Institute of California, so far in 2022, the state has averaged one mass shooting every week. 

Regarding financial factors, while the Osbournes are worth an estimated $220 million, Ozzy told The Mirror earlier this year that “the tax is getting too much” for the family to stay in California. “We are leaving LA. We are a bit sad, if they do the taxes better then I may come back,” he added.