Tthis is a message for the survivors and heroes of Parkland Florida and their families.
You have suffered an unimaginable tragedy. Those who have not been through such an ordeal can not possibly fully understand what you’ve experienced, and how that is affecting you now or how it will affect you and your families in the future. You’ve lost friends, brothers, sisters, cousins and children.
Of course we all offer you our condolences, our hopes and prayers for the best possible futures for you all and our regrets for what you have lost and experienced.
Some of know however that these platitudes ring hollow. Some of us know that empty promises are just that, empty. Too little, far too late.
A lot of us know exactly how you feel because we don’t have to imagine it — we’ve lived it as well. We’ve been there as the bullets whizzed past, we’ve been there when the emergency services arrived and our friends and family are whisked away to the trauma unit — some never to return. Some of us have seen the chalk outlines, still lingering like a ghost on the sidewalk outside our work, our schools, our homes.
You are sadly, not nearly as alone as you might think right now. You are not so unique.
Some of us have a different prayer and a different hope for you. Some of us hope that you will take this horrible experience and channel it into positive action. That you will take the pain and the grief and turn it into a force for good, a force for peace, a force for salvation. There are many ways to do that individually, for example by dedicating yourself to becoming one of the heroes who came to your own rescue in law enforcement, in emergency services, in hospitals, trauma centers and in counseling.
I hope and pray this is one of the things that you do. I also hope that you look around you, look past your own recent tragedy, look to the similar and the disparate tragedies that are occurring in America every single day as a result of the sad failure of our social and emotional support services and the ease of access to high powered weapons and recognize that things have to change. We have to stop kicking the can down the road, we not to stop being stymied by the gun lobby and by political paralysis.
We need to move forward — I hope, that you can help with that.
You may fully realize that you are far from the first to live through this particular fresh hell. In fact it was almost before most of you were even born that Michael Moore produced his film Bowling for Columbine.
If there’s a lesson here, it unfortunately is a lesson in abject failure. Bowling for Columbine for it’s many salient, poignant and even witty points failed to move the needle. As much as the left may have celebrated Moore as a gun safety champion, the right vilified him for minor details and his fairly shabby treatment of then aging NRA spokesman Charleston Heston.
In the almost 20 years since Columbine there have been over 70 of similar mass shootings which have had a least 3 fatalities each. All together these attacks encompass 640 fatal victims and 1035 injuries.
Case
|
Location
|
Date
|
Perpetrator
|
Fatalities
|
Injured
|
Mental health issues
|
Weapons obtained legally
|
Stoneman Douglas High School shooting
|
Parkland, Florida
|
2/14/18
|
Nikolas J. Cruz, 19, heavily armed with an AR-15.
|
17
|
14+
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Pennsylvania carwash shooting
|
Melcroft, PA
|
1/28/18
|
Timothy O'Brien Smith, 28, wearing body armor and well-stocked with ammo, opened fire at a carwash
|
4
|
1
|
TBD
|
TBD
|
Rancho Tehama shooting spree
|
Rancho Tehama, CA
|
11/14/17
|
Kevin Janson Neal, 44, went on an approximately 45-minute shooting spree in the rural community of Rancho Tehama Reserve in Northern California,
|
5
|
10
|
TBD
|
No
|
Texas First Baptist Church massacre
|
Sutherland Springs, TX
|
11/5/17
|
Devin Patrick Kelley, a 26-year-old ex-US Air Force airman, opened fire at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs
|
26
|
20
|
Yes
|
Kelley passed federal criminal background checks; the US Air Force failed to provide information on his criminal history to the FBI
|
Walmart shooting in suburban Denver
|
Thornton, CO
|
11/1/17
|
Scott Allen Ostrem, 47, walked into a Walmart in a suburb north of Denver and fatally shot two men and a woman.
|
3
|
0
|
Unclear
|
TBD
|
Edgewood businees park shooting
|
Edgewood, MD
|
10/18/17
|
Radee Labeeb Prince, 37, fatally shot three people and wounded two others around 9am at Advance Granite Solutions.
|
3
|
3
|
Unclear
|
No
|
Las Vegas Strip massacre
|
Las Vegas, NV
|
10/1/17
|
Stephen Craig Paddock, 64, rained a barrage of rapid gunfire down on thousands of concertgoers on the Las Vegas Strip
|
58
|
546
|
TBD
|
Yes
|
San Francisco UPS shooting
|
San Francisco, CA
|
6/14/17
|
Jimmy Lam, 38, fatally shot three coworkers and wounded two others inside a UPS facility in San Francisco.
|
3
|
2
|
Yes
|
No
|
Pennsylvania supermarket shooting
|
Tunkhannock, PA
|
6/7/17
|
Randy Stair, a 24-year-old worker at Weis grocery fatally shot three of his fellow employees.
|
3
|
0
|
Unclear
|
TBD
|
Florida awning manufacturer shooting
|
Orlando, Florida
|
6/5/2017
|
John Robert Neumann, Jr., 45, a former employee of manufacturer Fiamma Inc. fatally shot five workers at the company.
|
5
|
0
|
Unclear
|
TBD
|
Rural Ohio nursing home shooting
|
Kirkersville, Ohio
|
5/12/2017
|
Thomas Hartless, 43, shot and killed a former girlfriend and another employee of a nursing home,
|
3
|
0
|
Yes
|
TBD
|
Fresno downtown shooting
|
Fresno, California
|
4/18/2017
|
Kori Ali Muhammad, 39, opened fire along a street in downtown Fresno.
|
3
|
0
|
Unclear
|
Unknown
|
Fort Lauderdale airport shooting
|
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
|
1/6/2017
|
Esteban Santiago, 26, flew from Alaska to Fort Lauderdale, where he opened fire in the baggage claim area.
|
5
|
6
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Cascade Mall shooting
|
Burlington, WA
|
9/23/2016
|
Arcan Cetin, 20, killed a teen girl and three women in the cosmetics section of a Macy™s department store at the Cascade Mall.
|
5
|
0
|
Yes
|
TBD
|
Baton Rouge police shooting
|
Baton Rouge, LA
|
7/17/2016
|
Gavin Long, a former Marine who served in Iraq, killed three police offers responding to a 911 call.
|
3
|
3
|
Yes
|
Unknown
|
Dallas police shooting
|
Dallas, Texas
|
7/7/2016
|
Micah Xavier Johnson, a 25-year-old Army veteran, targeted police at a peaceful Black Lives Matter protest.
|
5
|
11
|
Unclear
|
Yes
|
Orlando nightclub massacre
|
Orlando, Florida
|
6/12/2016
|
Omar Mateen, 29, attacked the Pulse nighclub in Orlando.
|
49
|
53
|
Unclear
|
Yes
|
Excel Industries mass shooting
|
Hesston, Kansas
|
2/25/2016
|
Cedric L. Ford, who worked as a painter at a manufacturing company, shot victims from his car and at his workplace.
|
3
|
14
|
Unclear
|
Yes
|
Kalamazoo shooting spree
|
Kalamazoo County, Michigan
|
2/20/2016
|
Jason B. Dalton, a driver for Uber, apparently selected his victims randomly as he went on a rampage over several hours in three different locations.
|
6
|
2
|
Unclear
|
Yes
|
San Bernardino mass shooting
|
San Bernardino, California
|
12/2/2015
|
Syed Rizwan Farook left a Christmas party held at Inland Regional Center, later returning with Tashfeen Malik and the two opened fire.
|
14
|
21
|
Unclear
|
Yes
|
Planned Parenthood clinic
|
Colorado Springs, Colorado
|
11/27/2015
|
Robert Lewis Dear, 57, shot and killed a police officer and two citizens when he opened fire at a Planned Parenthood health clinic in Colorado Springs.
|
3
|
9
|
Unclear
|
Unknown
|
Colorado Springs shooting rampage
|
Colorado Springs, Colorado
|
10/31/2015
|
Noah Harpham, 33, shot three people before dead in Colorado Springs before police killed him in a shootout.
|
3
|
0
|
Unclear
|
Yes
|
Umpqua Community College shooting
|
Roseburg, Oregon
|
10/1/2015
|
26-year-old Chris Harper Mercer opened fire at Umpqua Community College in southwest Oregon.
|
9
|
9
|
Unclear
|
Yes
|
Chattanooga military recruitment center
|
Chattanooga, Tennessee
|
7/16/2015
|
Kuwaiti-born Mohammod Youssuf Abdulazeez, 24, a naturalized US citizen, opened fire at a Naval reserve center.
|
5
|
2
|
Unclear
|
Yes ("some of the weapons were purchased legally)
|
Charleston Church Shooting
|
Charleston, South Carolina
|
6/17/2015
|
Dylann Storm Roof, 21, shot and killed 9 people after opening fire at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina.
|
9
|
1
|
Unclear
|
Yes
|
Trestle Trail bridge shooting
|
Menasha, Wisconsin
|
6/11/2015
|
Sergio Valencia del Toro, 27, in what officials say was a random act, shot and killed three people including an 11-year-old girl before turning the gun on himself.
|
3
|
1
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Marysville-Pilchuck High School shooting
|
Marysville, Washington
|
10/24/2014
|
Jaylen Fryberg, 15, using a .40-caliber Berretta, shot five
students at Marysville High School, including two of his cousins and three friends, killing all but one.
|
5
|
1
|
Unclear
|
No
|
Isla Vista mass murder
|
Santa Barbara, California
|
5/23/2014
|
Elliot Rodger, 22, shot three people to death in the college town of Isla Vista near the University of California, Santa Barbara..
|
6
|
13
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Fort Hood shooting 2
|
Fort Hood, Texas
|
4/3/2014
|
Army Specialist Ivan Lopez, 34, opened fire at the Fort Hood Army Post in Texas,
|
3
|
12
|
Unclear
|
Yes
|
Alturas tribal shooting
|
Alturas, California
|
2/20/2014
|
Cherie Lash Rhoades, 44, opened fire at the Cedarville Rancheria Tribal Office and Community Center.
|
4
|
2
|
Unknown
|
Unknown
|
Washington Navy Yard shooting
|
Washington, D.C.
|
9/16/2013
|
Aaron Alexis, 34, a military veteran and contractor from Texas, opened fire in the Navy installation,
|
12
|
8
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Hialeah apartment shooting
|
Hialeah, Florida
|
7/26/2013
|
Pedro Vargas, 42, set fire to his apartment, killed six people in the complex, and held another two hostages at gunpoint.
|
7
|
0
|
Unclear
|
Yes
|
Santa Monica rampage
|
Santa Monica, California
|
6/7/2013
|
John Zawahri, 23, armed with a homemade assault rifle and high-capacity magazines, killed his brother and father.
|
6
|
3
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Pinewood Village Apartment shooting
|
Federal Way, Washington
|
4/21/2013
|
Dennis Clark III, 27, shot and killed his girlfriend in their shared apartment, and then shot two witnesses in the building's parking lot.
|
5
|
0
|
No
|
Yes
|
Mohawk Valley shootings
|
Herkimer County, New York
|
3/13/2013
|
Kurt Myers, 64, shot six people in neighboring towns, killing two in a barbershop and two at a car care business
|
5
|
2
|
No
|
Yes
|
Sandy Hook Elementary massacre
|
Newtown, Connecticut
|
12/14/2012
|
Adam Lanza, 20, shot his mother dead at their home then drove to Sandy Hook Elementary school.
|
27
|
2
|
Yes
|
No
|
Accent Signage Systems shooting
|
Minneapolis, Minnesota
|
9/27/2012
|
Andrew Engeldinger, 36, upon learning he was being fired, went on a shooting rampage.
|
7
|
1
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Sikh temple shooting
|
Oak Creek, Wisconsin
|
8/5/2012
|
U.S. Army veteran Wade Michael Page, 40, opened fire in a Sikh gurdwara.
|
7
|
3
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Aurora theater shooting
|
Aurora, Colorado
|
7/20/2012
|
James Holmes, 24, opened fire in a movie theater during the opening night of "The Dark Night Rises"
|
12
|
70
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Seattle cafe shooting
|
Seattle, Washington
|
5/20/2012
|
Ian Stawicki, 40, gunned down four patrons at a cafe, and another person during a carjacking nearby.
|
6
|
1
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Oikos University killings
|
Oakland, California
|
4/2/2012
|
One L. Goh, 43, a former student, opened fire in a nursing classroom.
|
7
|
3
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Su Jung Health Sauna shooting
|
Norcross, Georgia
|
2/22/2012
|
Jeong Soo Paek, 59, returned to a Korean spa from which he'd been kicked out and gunned down two of his sisters and their husbands before committing suicide.
|
5
|
0
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Seal Beach shooting
|
Seal Beach, California
|
10/14/2011
|
Scott Evans Dekraai, 42, opened fire inside a hair salon and was later arrested.
|
8
|
1
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
IHOP shooting
|
Carson City, Nevada
|
9/6/2011
|
Eduardo Sencion, 32, opened fire at an International House of Pancakes.
|
5
|
7
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Tucson shooting
|
Tucson, Arizona
|
1/8/2011
|
Jared Loughner, 22, opened fire during a constituent meeting with Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.)
|
6
|
13
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Hartford Beer Distributor shooting
|
Manchester, Connecticut
|
8/3/2010
|
Omar S. Thornton, 34, shot up his Hartford Beer Distributor workplace.
|
9
|
2
|
No
|
Yes
|
Coffee shop police killings
|
Parkland, Washington
|
11/29/2009
|
Maurice Clemmons, 37, a felon who was out on bail for child-rape charges, entered a coffee shop on a Sunday morning and shot four police officers.
|
4
|
1
|
Yes
|
No
|
Fort Hood massacre
|
Fort Hood, Texas
|
11/5/2009
|
Army psychiatrist Nidal Malik Hasan, 39, opened fire on an Army base.
|
13
|
30
|
Unclear
|
Yes
|
Binghamton shootings
|
Binghamton, New York
|
4/3/2009
|
Jiverly Wong, 41, opened fire at an American Civic Association center for immigrants before committing suicide.
|
14
|
4
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Carthage nursing home shooting
|
Carthage, North Carolina
|
3/29/2009
|
Robert Stewart, 45, opened fire at a nursing home where his estranged wife worked before he was shot and arrested by a police officer.
|
8
|
3
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Atlantis Plastics shooting
|
Henderson, Kentucky
|
6/25/2008
|
Disgruntled employee Wesley Neal Higdon, 25, shot up an Atlantis Plastics factory after he was escorted out of his workplace for an argument with a supervisor.
|
6
|
1
|
No
|
Yes
|
Northern Illinois University shooting
|
DeKalb, Illinois
|
2/14/2008
|
Steven Kazmierczak, 27, opened fire in a lecture hall,
|
5
|
21
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Kirkwood City Council shooting
|
Kirkwood, Missouri
|
2/7/2008
|
Charles "Cookie" Lee Thornton, 52, went on a rampage at the city hall before being shot and killed by police.
|
6
|
2
|
No
|
No
|
Westroads Mall shooting
|
Omaha, Nebraska
|
12/5/2007
|
Robert A. Hawkins, 19, opened fire inside Westroads Mall before committing suicide.
|
9
|
4
|
Yes
|
No
|
Crandon shooting
|
Crandon, Wisconsin
|
10/7/2007
|
Off-duty sheriff's deputy Tyler Peterson, 20, opened fire inside an apartment after an argument at a homecoming party.
|
6
|
1
|
Unclear
|
Yes
|
Virginia Tech massacre
|
Blacksburg, Virginia
|
4/16/2007
|
Virginia Tech student Seung-Hui Cho, 23, opened fire on his school's campus before committing suicide.
|
32
|
23
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Trolley Square shooting
|
Salt Lake City, Utah
|
2/12/2007
|
Sulejman Talović‡, 18, rampaged through the shopping center until he was shot dead by police.
|
6
|
4
|
Unclear
|
Unknown
|
Amish school shooting
|
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
|
10/2/2006
|
Charles Carl Roberts, 32, shot 10 young girls in a one-room schoolhouse in Bart Township, killing 5.
|
6
|
5
|
No
|
Yes
|
Capitol Hill massacre
|
Seattle, Washington
|
3/25/2006
|
Kyle Aaron Huff, 28, opened fire at a rave afterparty.
|
7
|
2
|
No
|
Yes
|
Goleta postal shootings
|
Goleta, California
|
1/30/2006
|
Former postal worker Jennifer Sanmarco, 44, shot dead a former neighbor then drove to the mail processing plant where she used to work. and opened fire,
|
8
|
0
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Red Lake massacre
|
Red Lake, Minnesota
|
3/21/2005
|
Jeffrey Weise, 16, murdered his grandfather, who was a police officer, and grandfather's girlfriend.
|
10
|
5
|
Yes
|
No
|
Living Church of God shooting
|
Brookfield, Wisconsin
|
3/12/2005
|
Living Church of God member Terry Michael Ratzmann, 44, opened fire at a church meeting at a Sheraton hotel.
|
7
|
4
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Damageplan show shooting
|
Columbus, Ohio
|
12/8/2004
|
Nathan Gale, 25, possibly upset about the breakup of Pantera, gunned down former Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell and three others.
|
5
|
7
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Lockheed Martin shooting
|
Meridian, Mississippi
|
7/8/2003
|
Assembly line worker Douglas Williams, 48, opened fire at his Lockheed Martin workplace in a racially motivated attack.
|
7
|
8
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Navistar shooting
|
Melrose Park, Illinois
|
2/5/2001
|
Fired employee William D. Baker, 66, opened fire at his former Navistar workplace.
|
5
|
4
|
No
|
Yes
|
Wakefield massacre
|
Wakefield, Massachusetts
|
12/26/2000
|
Michael McDermott, 42, opened fire on co-workers at Edgewater Technology and was later arrested.
|
7
|
0
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Hotel shooting
|
Tampa, Florida
|
12/30/1999
|
Hotel employee Silvio Leyva, 36, gunned down four coworkers at the Radisson Bay Harbor Inn.
|
5
|
3
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Xerox killings
|
Honolulu, Hawaii
|
11/2/1999
|
Byran Koji Uyesugi, 40, a Xerox service technician, opened fire inside the building.
|
7
|
0
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Wedgwood Baptist Church shooting
|
Fort Worth, Texas
|
9/15/1999
|
Larry Gene Ashbrook, 47, opened fire inside the Wedgwood Baptist Church during a prayer rally.
|
8
|
7
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Atlanta day trading spree killings
|
Atlanta, Georgia
|
7/29/1999
|
Day trader Mark O. Barton, 44, who had recently lost a substantial sum of money, went on a shooting spree through two day-trading firms.
|
9
|
13
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Columbine High School massacre
|
Littleton, Colorado
|
4/20/1999
|
Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, opened fire throughout Columbine High School before committing suicide.
|
13
|
24
|
Yes
|
No
|
The killers here don’t fit exactly the same pattern. Most are men but several are women. They come from a variety of backgrounds, different ages, races, ethnicity, religion and political affiliation.
Many of these are workplace shootings by disgruntled employees (15), shootings at schools (8), some are based on family or relationship disputes (8) , a few are religiously or ideologically based or took place at churches (10), some where with total strangers, a subset are those with documented mental issues (34) and most of them (50) purchased their weapons legally, and in almost half the cases (29) they had both been documented with mental problems and also legally bought their weapons.
Not all of these situations were the same or involved the same weapons. Some of the most deadliest — Virginia Tech, Columbine — involved handguns only, and in some cases knives and bombs were used as well as guns. Many of these shooters ultimately committed suicide (20) or we’re killed by police (7).
It could be argued that rifles are generally more deadly since a single round can go through one victim and hit others behind them, and that it doesn’t make much sense to ban someone under 21 years old from getting a handgun, a drink or a cigarette but still allow them access to a rifle or assault gun — but that’s not that substantive an issue IMO. Generally speaking guns are more deadly than knives, rocks or spitballs regardless of what kind of gun it is.
The larger problem is that there really isn’t a single strategy that can address all these different scenarios perfectly and because of that many people will argue that if you can’t solve all the issues, you shouldn’t attempt to solve any of them. Still, since a large number (29) of these case were documented with mental health issues and also bought their guns legally there is a fair argument that closing the gun background check loopholes for those who have these type of problems would be a large step forward. It’s not perfect, but it’s not nothing at all and technically all sides of the spectrum should be able to get onboard with not letting “crazy” people run around armed.
Unfortunately on top of his current budget which cuts investment in the gun background check system by 16% one of the first bills signed by Trump last year was a repeal of an Obama era rule which added people who had been determined to be unable mentally to handle their own finances, and had been determined to be mentally disabled enough to quality for Social Security Disability into the gun background check system.
The rule, which was finalized in December, added people receiving Social Security checks for mental illnesses and people deemed unfit to handle their own financial affairs to the national background check database.
Let’s be serious, if someone isn't mentally fit to handle their own checkbook — how exactly are they mentally fit to handle a firearm?
Unfortunately that rule is now gone, but could it have impacted any of the people on the above list? Possibly not, but it wasn’t an unreasonable step. Similar laws such as California’s Gun Violence Restraining Orders might also have been a help if it was available in Florida.
On September 30, Governor Jerry Brown signed California AB 1014, a new law that allows family members and law enforcement officers to seek a Gun Violence Restraining Order (GVRO), also known as a Firearms Restraining Order, against people who pose a threat to themselves or others.
As learned from the tragic Isla Vista shooting, shooters may exhibit certain warning signs of impending violence, but those behaviors may not be severe enough to allow authorities to take preventive action. Those in the best position to see and recognize these warning signs—immediate family members—are left without legal means to intervene. The GVRO law addresses this glaring problem by allowing concerned family members, as well as law enforcement officers, to obtain a Gun Violence Restraining Order, which is modeled on California’s effective domestic violence prevention laws.
We know that just as 29 of these massacres involved a suspect with mental difficulties who were able to legally purchase a fire arm, we also know that several of them had been specifically considered potentially dangers by their schools — Parkland, Virginia Tech, Jared Loughner in Tuscon, and James Holmes in Aurora — and yet either law enforcement wasn’t informed of this by their mental health professionals and school, or simply they didn’t act to prevent their continued access to weapons on their own.
Although we do have some existing laws that might address this we also have to balance that against doctor-patient confidentiality and personal civil rights. Generally speaking people who actually are suffering from mental illness are not dangerous and shouldn’t be unfairly stigmatized since most of the time they are more likely to be the victims of violence.
One in four people with mental illness experiences violence of some type in a given year, a much higher rate than the rest of the population, according to a new analysis of research on the subject.
The "meta-analysis" of 21 studies between 1990 and 2010 found the odds of physical, sexual or partner violence for people with a mental illness to be almost four times higher than for adults without any disability – and far higher than for individuals with other disabilities (“Mentally ill often targets of violence,” MedPage Today, Feb. 27).
Some reasonable judgement needs to be applied here. Something like the GVRO which has to be reviewed and approved by a judge can help balance those concerns and place a temporary restriction on someone’s access to guns and weapons until they seek and complete treatment and a mental health professional can certify that they are no longer a danger to themselves or others.
A change like this which could have prevented 29 of these incidents could have potentially saved 234 lives and 233 injuries from that subset of events. No, it’s not everything or everyone, but it’s quite a few.
Several of the cases noted above may be mass killings but they started as domestic violence events which ended in suicides. We all should agree that these are all tragedies and they should all be prevented as best they can, but it has to be pointed out that while there have been 640 fatal victims of mass shootings over the last 19 years — there are an average of almost twice that many murder-suicides which occur in America each and every year.
There are on average nearly 11 murder-suicides a week in America, according to a new study by my organization, the Violence Policy Center. We estimate that more than 1,200 Americans die in murder-suicides each year. Nine out of 10 of these incidents involve a gun, and 72 percent involve an intimate partner.
These tragic events, 81 percent of which occur in the home, are far more common than the public mass shootings that make national headlines. And yet, this is an aspect of our nation’s gun violence epidemic that is all too often ignored.
Cases like Parkland make headlines, but cases where only 2 people die, just the shooter and their spouse or significant other — don't get attention. Since these cases involve at least 2 people each time we’re talking about 2,400 killings each year. Blocking 29 of these incidents and potentially saving 234 people is one thing, but even cutting a fraction of these shootings with a GVRO or including those with violent mental issues within the background check database could do far better than that improvement in a single year.
Similarly a focus on suicide prevention itself could do even more good since the rate of overall suicides in the nation far outstrip even the number of homicides, including all recorded school and mass shootings combined.
Of approximately 35,000 gun deaths that occur every year 21,000 of those — over 60% — are suicides and very few are mass shootings similar to what you all lived through, I do believe there can be overlaps between the two options.
How exactly does a “good guy with a gun” stop someone from committing suicide? Shoot them faster?
This isn’t to say that the loss of your friends and family aren’t any less because they are numerically less frequent than suicides, but only that there are a variety of potential areas where even small incremental improvement could create an enormous change and considering limiting firearms access not just to the “mentally disturbed” or those who’ve issued threats but perhaps to those who have shown signs of extreme depression and/or suicide could be incredible. It could save thousands every year. No, we may not be able to prevent them from taking their own life, or the life or someone near to them in the long run since suicide can be done many ways besides using a gun, but it just might significantly decrease their chances of success.
The bar graph below shows “case fatality” (the percent of people who die in a suicide attempt) for several methods of suicide. It is based on a study that used emergency department data and death certificate data from 8 U.S. states. Firearms have the highest case fatality, and drug/overdose ingestion and cutting have the lowest.
When we’re talking about 21,000 suicides — mostly using guns — each and every year, every little bit helps.
Then are other areas that should be looked at such as the fact that Police visited the Parkland shooter’s home with domestic violence and elder abuse calls 39 times in seven years.
Before Nikolas Cruz carried out his mass killing at a Florida high school this week, police responded to his home 39 times over a seven-year period, according to disturbing new documents.
Details about the calls to the Broward County Sheriff’s Office — obtained from police records by CNN — were not immediately available and it was impossible to determine if all involved Cruz.
But the nature of the emergencies at his Parkland home included “mentally ill person,” “child/elderly abuse,” “domestic disturbance” and “missing person,” KTLA reported.
It seems fair to argue that although he was rapidly arrested after the Parkland incident, that with all of these efforts before the shooting where something could have been done to prevent further violence, the authorities failed. They may have done their best but I don't think it’ s unfair to say that their lack of action let you and your community down.
The FBI has admitted that they failed to follow up on a tip stating that Nikolas Cruz “intended to kill people” and was heavily armed just six weeks before the shooting but this information wasn’t passed on to the Miami Field Office. Isn’t it likely a similar tip was given to Broward County Sheriffs? I suspect it might.
Imagine for second how you’d feel if they hadn’t caught him? Imagine if his identity was still unknown, if he could still be among you somewhere in the community — at large. Still a potential threat, ready to strike again. Imagine how you’d react, how you might feel the need to arm yourself and your family, how you might become so spooked that some of you might take matters personally. Innocent people who had nothing to do with the original incident could be harmed, falsely accused and injured, even killed.
Then imagine how their family might feel.
Police generally do a good job, but the truth is that they generally only solve 62% of all murders.
In 2015, 62% of murders and non-negligent homicides in the U.S. were cleared. That rate hasn’t changed much since 1995, but it’s far lower than in 1965, when more than 90% of murders in the U.S. were solved.
Imagine if you were among that 38%?
Then imagine if you lived in a community were 38% was the rate of murders that were being solved while other 60% remained open cases? Over even worse as we can currently see in Chicago.
The Chicago Police Department last year solved fewer than one in five murders committed during the year, the lowest rate for that crime in at least a half century, according to new police figures.
Of the 763 murders tallied by police in 2016, the department “cleared” just 151 — or 19.8 percent — down from a 2015 rate of 25.4 percent, according to the figures, obtained by WBEZ using the Illinois Freedom of Information Act.
Again, Chicago saw 763 murders in 2016 and police only solved 151 of those. If you’re upset at police for failing to do something about Nicolas Cruz before he viciously attacked your school, just imagine how the people of Chicago feel about their police?
This has been the case in these communities for decades and yes, as I’ve suggested many people have taken up arms and attempted to take matters into their own hands -— exactly as groups such as the NRA would suggest — and it’s simply had tragic results, particularly among the disaffected, and yes emotionally troubled among the youth who’ve become almost hopelessly trapped in a cycle of drugs, gangs, guns and violence. According to the
National Gang Center there were 2,363 gang related murders in 2012 most of which were accomplished by use of a firearm.
Gun rights advocacy groups argue that this is intractable problem, that already tough gun laws exist in Chicago and really it’s just the nature of the people living there, not necessarily the state they’re living in. Well, as it turns out
60% of the guns used in Chicago, come from out of state.
“If you look at the city with the strongest gun laws in our nation, it’s Chicago,” [Trump] said. “And Chicago is a disaster. It’s a total disaster.”
This refrain is a common one. Chicago has tried to crack down on guns, but has seen a surge in gun violence. The implication from Trump’s comments, then, is that new gun regulations wouldn’t prevent gun violence — and might even make it worse.
But as a report released earlier this year by the office of Mayor Rahm Emanuel (D) reveals, most of the guns recovered in Chicago came from outside the state. Only 40 percent of the guns recovered in the city were purchased in Illinois, the report read, including hundreds purchased at gun shops outside city boundaries.
Many of the guns recovered in Chicago — a fifth of them — were purchased in Indiana, which abuts the city’s eastern border. An additional 9 percent of the guns recovered in the city came from Mississippi and Wisconsin.
Chicago also suffers the stigma of passivity because it happens to have a large minority population. However studies of the rates of violence among all populations show that they are largely the same among all races, but vary wildly among income groups. The Bureau of Justice Statistics states.
For the period 2008–12— Persons in poor households at or below the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) (39.8 per 1,000) had more than double the rate of violent victimization as persons in high-income households (16.9 per 1,000). Persons in poor households had a higher rate of violence involving a firearm (3.5 per 1,000) compared to persons above the FPL (0.8–2.5 per 1,000).
The overall pattern of poor persons having the highest rates of violent victimization was consistent for both whites and blacks. However, the rate of violent victimization for Hispanics did not vary across poverty levels. Poor Hispanics (25.3 per 1,000) had lower rates of violence compared to poor whites (46.4 per 1,000) and poor blacks (43.4 per 1,000). Poor persons living in urban areas (43.9 per 1,000) had violent victimization rates similar to poor persons living in rural areas (38.8 per 1,000). Poor urban blacks (51.3 per 1,000) had rates of violence similar to poor urban whites (56.4 per 1,000).
So this isn’t a race issue at all, but it may be that poor persons living without proper police support, or trust in their police are living in a perpetual state to trauma due to near constant set of violence they experience. You may not have experienced that, but I have.
Perhaps this is also why the BJS most recent estimates are that approximately 1,900 people are killed in “arrest related incidents” each year.
Between June 1, 2015, and March 31, 2016, media reviews identified 1,348 potential arrest-related deaths. During this period, the number of deaths consistently ranged from 87 to 156 arrest-related deaths per month, with an average of 135 deaths per month. To confirm and collect more information about the 379 deaths identified through open sources from June to August 2015, BJS conducted a survey of law enforcement agencies and ME/C offices.
The survey findings identified 425 arrest-related deaths during this 3-month period—12% more than the number of deaths identified through the open source review. Extrapolated to a full calendar year, an estimated 1,900 arrest-related deaths occurred in 2015. Nearly two-third (64%) of the deaths that occurred from June to August 2015 were homicides, about a fifth (18%) were suicides, and another tenth (11%) were accidents.
In summary there are a lot of areas that can be improved upon both involving gun safety measures and also an improved mental health concentration, closing background check loopholes, shutting down straw purchasers who transport guns across state lines for resale, rebuilding the broken links between poor communities and their law enforcement, improving reporting and communications between schools, businesses and law enforcement when it comes to potentially dangerous employees or students and better addressing domestic violence and possibly depressed or suicidal persons before their cases get completely out of hand.
Simply banning all guns is not an option in the U.S. for various reasons including the 2nd Amendment.
But we could be doing far, far better than we currently are especially almost 20 years after Columbine.
Perhaps since you currently have the nation’s attention you brave kids and your parents can join with the other survivors and families from these 70 other mass shootings, with the Sandy Hook parents, with the Virginia Tech students, with the Aurora and Columbine survivors, join with the Brady Gun Violence Prevention organization, join together with suicide prevention efforts, join together with anti-Gang efforts and the survivors of urban shootings, join together even with Black Lives Matter to call for improved police support and better police reform so they are more effective and responsive to all communities, join with anyone of good will who seriously wants change and improvement.
Perhaps fueled and focus by what you’ve now survived, you can help finally start moving the needle on this issue.
Maybe this is asking to much, but then again — what other options do any of us have?
I hope and I pray that you take care of your selves, that you take some time to heal and process all that has happened and think seriously about your futures. I hope you don’t turn inward and away from the outside world and that you instead embrace it. I also hope that take advantage of the moment, that you move forward and possibly do something none of the rest of us could possibly even imagine.
Good luck, my thoughts are with you.