On February 14, the 18th school shooting in the first 45 days of 2018 killed 17 beautiful young people, who had their whole lives in front of them, in a Florida school . A subsequent ABC poll of 808 Americans said that “Congress is not doing enough to stop mass shootings.” It also said by a 2 to 1 margin, that “Mass shootings reflect problems identifying and treating mental health problems rather than inadequate gun control laws.”
That logic would indicate that the rate of mental illness in the USA is much higher than in other countries, and the effectiveness of US treatment is inferior. But data shows that the rate of mental illness is estimated to be around 22 per cent of the population in all countries.
The best available data indicates that the rate of gun-related deaths in the USA is 5 times the average in 16 other developed countries and that (probably by more than coincidence) the rate of gun ownership in the USA is also 5 times the average in 16 other developed countries.
It should not be a big leap to see that the rate of gun-related deaths is linked to the rate of gun ownership and lack of effective gun control laws and not to the rate of mental illness. All of this indicates that a controlling block of American politicians funded by the 5,000,000 members of the powerful NRA and by American gun manufacturers are misleading the American public.
The 2nd amendment to the US Constitution was passed 227 years ago in 1791 to allow US citizens the right to bear arms. It was in large part due to concerns of people who had recently fled European autocracies that the new central US government could also become too powerful. Today’s partisanship indicates that fear still exists for some people, even in the country that professes to be the model of modern democracy.
Today’s 75-shot AK47s and 18-shot pistols simply cannot be compared with the single shot muskets and pistols of 1791. But election funding from the radical NRA is preventing both State and Federal legislators from adopting the sensible gun control measures used in virtually all other developed countries to manage today’s much more powerful weapons in a safe and responsible manner.
It seemed like a strong response from courageous young students after the Florida school shooting might finally jolt state and federal lawmakers into some meaningful action. But the very next day, the NRA had Republicans twisting themselves into pretzels to consider everything except the one proven solution; taking military weapons off the streets. As Churchill said, “You can count on the Americans to do the right thing – – after they have tried everything else.” But it will only happen at the ballot box.
On September 11, 2001, Middle-East terrorists attacked the US homeland killing 2,977 Americans. That resulted in the US invading Iraq (4,439 Americans and 500,000 Iraqis died) and Afghanistan (2,254 Americans and 21,000 Afghans died). Since 911, there have been about 510,000 (about 33,000 per year) domestic gun-related deaths in America; a number equivalent to 171 times the number of Americans killed on 911, and 52 times the number of Americans that died as a result of 911 and its entire aftermath. And yet US lawmakers have failed to take any meaningful action on domestic gun-related deaths.
Hugh Holland is a retired engineering and manufacturing executive now living in Huntsville, Ontario.
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Hugh Holland has nailed it again!!
Amazing, shocking numbers — thanks for finding and sharing them in a well-written opinion, Hugh.
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I think the horrendous death toll also has to do with the type of gun owned. The AR-15 and other guns of its type — assault rifles, designed for war — shoot bullets at an extremely high velocity; the wake the bullet leaves as it passes through the body pulverizes internal organs rather than just penetrating them, which is why so many of the students died before they could be even taken to hospital. The AR-15 in particular lends itself to accessories such as high-capacity magazines and the “bump stock,” an attachment which in effect turns it from a semi-automatic to a fully-automatic machine gun. Both these accessories were used by the Las Vegas killer, which is how he hit so many people. It’s absolute insanity for these weapons designed for the battlefield to be legal for civilians and in fact easy to buy — the Parkland killer, who had been reported multiple times to authorities for signs that he might be planning a mass shooting, just went out and bought the gun that killed those 17 teens.
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The silver lining I see in all this is that the surviving Parkland students are speaking out so powerfully and with such moral authority, unfazed by death threats from complete sickos and being accused in right-wing media of being “actors”. (I guess these things seem trivial when you’ve been hiding in a closet or under a desk and seeing your friends slaughtered around you.) They’re getting their generation behind them, and those who aren’t old enough to vote will be soon. They’re also mobilizing older people who know the problem is a problem, but have despaired of change ever happening. Already kids like Emma Gonzalez, Cameron Kasky, David Hogg and Sarah Chadwick have made a difference, persuading about twenty American companies into dropping sponsorship ties with the NRA, and forcing even Republican politicians to say they’ll tighten up gun laws (though whether they’ll actually do it or not is another matter, and reinstating the 1994-2004 assault weapons ban, which was effective in lowering the incidence of mass shootings, is not among their promises). It feels like a tipping point. I hope it is.