There was a mass shooting in Highland Park, Illinois today on the Fourth of July, the town next door to where I grew up. An absolute tragedy.
Guns are a sickness in this country.
The median country has 6 guns per 100 people.
The US has 120 guns per 100 people.
This is 20 times the number of guns as the median country. This means a normal country has 95% fewer guns than the US.
The US is the only country in the world where there are more guns than people.
Many people in the US are confused on what constitutes a normal or moderate view on guns versus an extreme view. Many in the US think that supporting guns and gun rights is a moderate view; looked at globally it is an extreme view. In most countries it’s extremely rare to have a gun. Also the idea of being anti-gun or wanting to significantly reduce guns in the US is viewed as an extreme view; globally it is a moderate view.
Guns are now the leading cause of death for kids in the US. Read that again.
We have a population and leaders that won’t do anything meaningful on gun violence. We’ve looked at shootings in elementary schools and said, yes, we’re going to have more of this because we care more about our gun rights than anything else.
Guns are a sickness in this country.
42% of households have a gun. 30% of people in the US own a gun. Until these numbers go down, it will just be more of the same. The most common reason gun owners give for owning a gun is protection. In reality, guns just make bad situations more dangerous and deadly. These “responsible” gun owners believe a lie: “In virtually every way that can be measured, owning a firearm makes the owner, the owner’s family, and the people around them less safe.”
Over 300 mass shootings halfway through the year, 11 per week. In 2021 there were 692 mass shootings. Sickening.
The US is truly not a civilized society any more. It’s a society with a lot of guns, and that prioritizes absurd gun rights over the safety of every day people. And a significant percentage of people want this.
On this fourth of July I can’t say I’m proud to be an American. I’m saddened that this is the state of the country.
I’d pick 6 guns per 100 people in the US and I would be ok with that. That’s what a normal country would do.
I think gun owners who own a gun for self defense fashion themselves as some movie superheroes. The reality of what happens is much more tragic. Read this excerpt from the Atlantic:
The record shows case after case of guns escalating ordinary disputes into homicides or attempted homicides. In March 2020, a man was fatally shot in the head after an altercation over a parking space at an Atlanta shopping mall. In August 2020, a 75-year-old Nashville homeowner reportedly shot and wounded a landscaper for not properly hauling brush from his property. In November 2020, a gun owner shot and killed a teenager for playing music too loudly in the parking lot of the motel they were both staying at, police said. (source)
It seems to me the US is not unique in its ordinary disputes. It’s unique in that that the presence of guns turn these disputes into tragedies.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estimated_number_of_civilian_guns_per_capita_by_country
https://www.axios.com/2022/05/26/gun-deaths-children-america
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/09/13/key-facts-about-americans-and-guns/
https://news.gallup.com/poll/1645/guns.aspx
https://www.npr.org/2022/05/15/1099008586/mass-shootings-us-2022-tally-number
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/10/responsible-gun-ownership-is-a-lie/619811/