The US population consists of 323 million people, this is 4.4% of the world population. There are 650 million civilian owned guns in the world, the US owns 300 million of them. One third of the US population owns 300 million guns, 20% of that third own 85% of those 300 million guns. This means 1.4% of all humans (who are all American civilians), owns 48% of the civilian owned guns in the entire world. America also accounts for 62% of the worlds total gun deaths each year, and is the leading supplier of illegal guns confiscated throughout the world.

There are 100,000 people shot in the US each year, 34,000 die and 66,000 are injured on average. Of those gun deaths, 22,000 are suicides, accounting for half of all suicides each year; with guns there is a 96.5% chance of successful suicide, where all other methods are under 10%. States with tighter gun regulations only have a quarter of the gun suicides, while maintaining the same rate of non-gun suicides, indicating that stricter regulations lowers suicide rates and attempts. Suggesting 16,500 people a year commit suicide because they can easily access a gun, who otherwise would not have, given time to think about it. 11,000 of the gun deaths are murders, accounting for 60% of all murders in America each year. There are about 540 unintentional, 460 legal intervention, and 260 undetermined shooting deaths each year in America, as well.

In 2013 we declared a mass shooting as consisting of 4+ victims, and the numbers started pouring in. In the 50 years prior to the University of Texas shooting in 1966, there were only 25 public mass shootings, the numbers have been growing ever since (exploding as we entered the 21st centry). In 2013 there were just over 250 mass shootings, in 2015 that number crossed 300, and in 2017 it crossed 400. In a study done by Mother Jones, consisting of 62 mass shooting cases from 1982 – 2012, 70% were perpetrated by white males in their 30’s. Most had mental health issues. Since Columbine, we’ve reached a point where there is an average of one school shooting per week now, with a total of 65 in 2017. Of the guns used in mass shootings, 75% were obtained legally. Of the worlds worst mass shootings, America holds 5 of the top 15 slots, Vegas coming in at number 2 with 58 victims (first place having 69 victims). States with high numbers of gun ownership have three times the rate of police officers being shot and killed on duty. All the while, polling shows mass shootings (even at schools), have little to no effect on the public opinion regarding gun control. Domestic violence offenders are involved in 10% of all shootings, but account for over 50% of all ‘mass’ shooting perpetrators. Many states have laws that take gun ownership rights away from DV offenders, however, there are those who only prevent future purchases, keep what you already own.

In 1996, the NRA claimed that the CDC conducting gun research and data collections was advocating for gun control. Congress threatened to cut all the CDC’s funding if they continued, so they ceased, and funding for gun studies dried up all together. The DOJ has done a few small studies since, and started in again after a 10-year hiatus, when Sandyhook happened. Of the studies done through the government, privet funding, and worldwide, they all come to the same conclusion; more guns means more deaths from state to state and country to country. The NRA is on record budgeting 3+ million dollars a year, for lobbying congress, to keep gun regulations lax.

Of the 85 terrorist attacks in America, between September 12, 2001 and December 31, 2016, 62 (74%) were far-right extremists. This is almost three times as many attacks, as the 23 radical Islamic extremists, in the same time frame. Only 7% of the 85 terrorist attacks involved guns, and those 85 attacks only account for 225 total deaths in more than 15 years time. As terrorist attacks are currently classified, they don’t hold much ground in the gun violence arena; should hate crimes, currently seen as mental health issues, be recategorized into terrorism that could change.

The facts are what they are, but they don’t spell out a clear black and white answer to gun violence. Research shows restrictions on what types of guns can be bought, and what type of criminal offenders should be banned from owning firearms, goes a long way to curb the number of attacks. That said, where there’s a will, there’s a way. Much like comparing the gun suicide rates against the state gun regulations, while there was a significant decrease in incidents, the problem wasn’t entirely eliminated. Continuing to do nothing though, as the problem grows experientially, is not working. Hand grenades and land mines are regulated and banned from citizen ownership, and we don’t see then on the nightly news either. Regulations do not mean removal, and ‘something’ needs to be done, at the very least openly discussed rather than lines and heads in the sand all around.

References

“Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 26 Apr. 2017, http://www.cdc.gov/.

EverytownResearch.org, 2 Feb. 2018, everytownresearch.org.

gerald.kandulu. “United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.” Statistics, http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/data-and-analysis/statistics.html.

Mass Shootings, http://www.shootingtracker.com/Main_Page.

Muhlhausen, David. “Terror Trends: 40 Years’ Data on International and Domestic Terrorism.” The Heritage Foundation, www.heritage.org/terrorism/report/terror-trends-40-years-data- international-and-domestic-terrorism.

Pan, Deanna. “A Guide to Mass Shootings in America.” Mother Jones, 29 Nov. 2018, http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/07/mass-shootings-map/.

-Jocelyn Johnson