One of the 3.141592 regular readers of my blog, upon reading Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #7,420 that dealt with the Spanish word for mass shootings, tiroteo, commented that the number of gun deaths in the USA roughly corresponds to an Oklahoma City bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building every two days. In that terrorist attack, 168 folks were lost, including 19 children. Of course, this started me thinking once again about gun death statistics in the USA.
Some Quick Hitting Facts
According to the page on gun deaths on the web site for the National Safety Council:
In 2021 there were 48,830 gun deaths in this country. This is up 8% from 45,222 deaths in 2020. Suicides account for 54% of deaths related to firearms, while 43% were homicides.
Since 2012, gun-related assault deaths have increased 45%. Suicide deaths involving guns have increased 28%, while assault deaths have increased 80% since 2012. In 2021, both suicide and assault deaths increased 8%.
According to Pew Research Center:
“More Americans died of gun-related injuries in 2021 than in any other year on record, according to the latest available statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). “
“About eight-in-ten U.S. murders in 2021 – 20,958 out of 26,031, or 81% – involved a firearm.”
According to Time:
“People living with handgun owners died by homicide at twice the rate of their neighbors in gun-free homes. That difference was driven largely by homicides at home, which were three times more common among people living with handgun owners.”
“…An especially troubling finding was that the vast majority of victims in these intimate partner shootings—84% in all—were female.”
Good Summary Graphs
If you want to see some interesting graphs on gun violence in America go to this page from Reader’s Digest… yes them: Guns in America: 16 Charts You Need to See:
Couple of interesting tidbits from this article were,
“And here’s another staggering fact: In the 10 years from 1966 to 1975, there were 12 mass shootings; from 2011 to 2020, there were 160. About 30% of mass shootings happen in workplaces, and about 25% occur in schools.”
“In fact, although the United States accounts for 4.4% of the world’s population, we have 42% of the civilian-owned guns in the world.”
Granddaddy always said…
“If what you are doing, ain’t working, do something different.” It strikes me in the case of guns it more like “what we ain’t doing, ain’t working.”
Basically we are doing little to nothing about gun violence due to one political party, yes Virginia, the Republicans. How have guns, gun “rights”, the right to carry guns everywhere morphed into some sort of untouchable religious fetish? It is as if some sort of malevolent virus has infected all these people.
Folks always fall back on that it is a mental health issue. Well, mental health issues have been part of the human race since Cain slew Abel. Guns are simply gasoline upon the fire of poor mental health. Just as an aside these same Republicans do not want to fund mental health programs… no matter how much they rant about it after a mass shooting.
Why does your so called right to bear arms surpass my right to not live in fear of a Neanderthal carrying a concealed gun? How?
No real answers here, just much frustration at our lack of action. Much frustration at having to continually go through metal detectors. Much frustration at children having to have active shooter drills in school. Much frustration at one political party blocking gun control initiatives for philosophical reasons in the face of overwhelming scientific evidence that it is a harmful position… much frustration.
And so it should not go.
Note about the picture a the top of this article:
I used for two reasons. First, I found it particularly chilling. Secondly, it always struck me that these gun nuts, gun fetishist are in many ways overgrown children playing cowboys and Indians or other childhood combat games. Or, perhaps, video gamers thinking those worlds are a reflection of reality. I find those thoughts chilling also.
In a country with more handguns than people it’s obvious we are a threat to humanity. This is insane.
And those guns concentrated in the hands of less than 50% of the population…
This stat was particularly grabbing:
…the number of gun deaths in the USA roughly corresponds to an Oklahoma City bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building every two days.
If we had a terrorist attacking that many people every two days, you damned well better believe the powers that be would react and do something.
Well said Sir!
We lost a grandson to gun violence.