A voice in America
THERE HAVE BEEN 157 MASS SHOOTING AS OF TODAY IN 2021, per CNN.
2020 sets a record for U.S. gun sales. More gun background checks (a proxy for sales) have been conducted in the first 10 months of 2020 than ever before. Source: National Shooting Sports Foundation.
According to CBS News: The National Shooting Sports Foundation found that 17.2 million background checks were completed this year, versus 15.7 million in 2016, the previous high-water mark for gun sales. Firearm purchases have climbed every month since March, and more than 1.7 million background checks were conducted in October alone, a roughly 60% jump over the same period in 2019.
Many years ago, I worked for Smith & Wesson. I mainly sold handguns, long guns, CS and CN teargas throughout the world. I have nothing against guns for sport or personal protection in your home. I believe in competitive sport shooting, hunting and target practice. However, I agree with President Biden that the USA is suffering from an epidemic of violence by guns. I respect the Second Amendment to the US Constitution, but let us look at the intent and entirety of that amendment:
Second Amendment: A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.
The Second Amendment is naturally divided into two parts: its prefatory clause (“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State”) and its operative clause (“the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed”).
In other words, people have the right to bear arms, however, this was in deference to the fact that the thirteen colonies that comprised the US could not afford to have a standing army. Therefore, it was necessary to have a standing volunteer militia. We no longer have the need for a standing militia (The National Guard has taken care of that). But we still have the right to bear reasonable arms for self-protection, hunting and sport shooting.
With federally regulated gun permits, hunting licenses, and sport shooting licenses, we can limit the use of bullets sold per weapon. Gun owners would have sufficient ammunition for their purpose. But there would be limited bullet and magazine capacity. Stringent background checks and state-regulated weapon safety training would be mandatory before owning a license to carry or own a weapon.
I believe that we could limit the number of firearms per person to five (5) handguns and/or rifles per licensed individual. I would prefer to limit hunting rifles to bolt action rifles. It is a sporting activity, and a single-shot rifle, would certainly more challenging than spraying the woods with an assault rifle to kill a deer. (It could also ruin the deer meat). There is actually no reason to possess a military-style assault weapon with multiple magazines, 30 rounds in each magazine. That is a killing machine.
If we look at John Donne’s immortal poem. We can see that no man or incident can be isolated. One action affects us all. Each life is precious for its contributions and mankind is the lesser for its loss.
No man is an island,
Entire of itself,
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thy friend's
Or of thine own were:
Any man's death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in mankind,
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee.
John Donne
Gun Violence in the United States: examples.
By Daniel Victor and Jenny Gross
Published March 23, 2021Updated April 16, 2021
Daniel Victor is a London-based reporter, covering a wide variety of stories with a focus on breaking news. He joined The Times in 2012 from ProPublica. @bydanielvictor
Jenny Gross is a general assignment reporter. Before joining The Times, she covered British politics for The Wall Street Journal. @jggross
This file was updated on April 16 after the shooting at a FedEx warehouse in Indianapolis.
The bleak reality of a list like this is that it leaves out so many more.
There have been dozens of mass shootings in the United States in just the past five years, according to the Violence Project, which maintains a database of attacks in which at least four people were killed.
And before that, many more were seared into memories: San Bernardino, Calif., and Charleston, S.C., in 2015; Newtown, Conn., and Aurora, Colo., in 2012; Virginia Tech in 2007, among them.
Each new attack is a reminder of all of the others that came before it, as the nation has been unable to curb an epidemic of gun violence that far outpaces other countries. These are just some of the horrors that have traumatized the nation.
April 15, 2021: A FedEx warehouse in Indianapolis
At least eight people were killed, not including a gunman who was believed to have taken his own life after opening fire in the warehouse. Family members said the workers were unable to use their cell phones on the job, leaving them unable to confirm their safety for hours.
March 22, 2021: A grocery store in Boulder, Colo.
A gunman inside a grocery store killed 10 people, including Eric Talley, the first police officer to arrive at the scene. The gunman was injured and taken into custody.
March 16, 2021: Spas in the Atlanta area
Eight people, including six women of Asian descent, were killed at three spas, at least two of which had been frequented by the gunman. It was the country’s first mass shooting to command nationwide attention in a year and caused particular alarm among many Asian-Americans.
A Rise in Anti-Asian Attacks
A torrent of hate and violence against people of Asian descent around the United States began last spring, in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic.
Background: Community leaders say the bigotry was fueled by President Donald J. Trump, who frequently used racist language like “Chinese virus” to refer to the coronavirus.
Data: The New York Times, using media reports from across the country to capture a sense of the rising tide of anti-Asian bias, found more than 110 episodes since March 2020 in which there was clear evidence of race-based hate.
Underreported Hate Crimes: The tally may be only a sliver of the violence and harassment given the general undercounting of hate crimes, but the broad survey captures the episodes of violence across the country that grew in number amid Mr. Trump's comments.
In New York: A wave of xenophobia and violence has been compounded by the economic fallout of the pandemic, which has dealt a severe blow to New York’s Asian-American communities. Many community leaders say racist assaults are being overlooked by the authorities.
What Happened in Atlanta: Eight people, including six women of Asian descent, were killed in shootings at massage parlors in Atlanta on March 16. The motives of the suspect, who has been charged with murder, are under investigation, but Asian communities across the United States are on alert because of a surge in attacks against Asian-Americans over the past year.
March 16, 2020: A gas station in Springfield, Mo.
A shooting spree across five miles left five people dead, including a police officer and the gunman. It ended with a car crash at a gas station and the gunman’s death from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Aug. 4, 2019: An entertainment district in Dayton, Ohio
Armed with an AR-15-style rifle and body armor, a gunman killed nine people and wounded 27 others in 32 seconds in a bustling entertainment district before he was fatally shot by a police officer. The gunman’s sister was among the first people he shot.
Aug. 3, 2019: A Walmart in El Paso, Texas
A crowded Walmart store in El Paso, Texas, was the scene of a shooting in which 23 people were killed in August 2019.Credit...Celia Talbot Tobin for The New York Times
Just 13 hours before the Dayton attack, a gunman prowled the aisles of a Walmart in El Paso, a majority-Hispanic border city, killing 23 people and wounding about two dozen others. The back-to-back combination of the two attacks left the nation shaken.
July 28, 2019: A festival in Gilroy, Calif.
An annual garlic festival in an agricultural community south of San Jose turned deadly when a 19-year-old man opened fire with a semiautomatic rifle. The gunman killed three people in the attack, including a 13-year-old girl and a 6-year-old boy, and wounded more than a dozen others.
May 31, 2019: An office in Virginia Beach, Va.
A memorial at the Virginia Beach Municipal Complex, where a gunman killed 12 people in May 2019.Credit...Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
An engineer who had worked for the city of Virginia Beach for about 15 years notified his superiors one morning that he intended to quit. Several hours later, he attacked the Virginia Beach Municipal Center, killing 12 people.
Nov. 7, 2018: A bar in Thousand Oaks, Calif.
A gunman entered the Borderline Bar & Grill, a country music bar, and shot a security guard at the entrance with a .45-caliber handgun before opening fire into the crowd, killing 12 people. The gunman was found dead at the scene after being confronted by officers who had stormed the bar.
Oct. 27, 2018: A synagogue in Pittsburgh
Mourners outside the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, where a man armed with an AR-15-style assault rifle and at least three handguns killed 11 and wounded six in October 2018.Credit...Michael Henninger for The New York Times
In one of the deadliest attacks against the Jewish community in the United States, a man shouting anti-Semitic slurs opened fire inside a Pittsburgh synagogue, killing 11 congregants and wounding six others. The gunman shot indiscriminately at worshipers for several minutes.
June 28, 2018: A newsroom in Annapolis, Md.
A man armed with a shotgun and smoke grenades assaulted the newsroom of a community newspaper chain in Annapolis, Md., killing five staff members, injuring two others. The gunman had previously sued journalists at the chain, the Capital Gazette, for defamation and had waged a social media campaign against them.
May 18, 2018: A high school in Santa Fe, Texas
Armed with a shotgun and a .38 revolver hidden under his coat, a 17-year-old student opened fire on his high school campus, Santa Fe High School, killing 10 people, many of them his fellow students, and wounding 10 more, the authorities said. Witnesses said that the gunman first entered an art classroom, said “Surprise!” and started shooting.
Feb. 14, 2018: A high school in Parkland, Fla.
People being brought out of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., after 17 people were fatally shot there in February 2018.Credit...Joe Raedle/Getty Images North America
A 19-year-old man barged into his former high school about an hour northwest of Miami and opened fire on students and teachers, killing 17 people. The shooting prompted a wave of nationwide, student-led protests calling on lawmakers to tighten gun laws.
Nov. 5, 2017: A church in Sutherland Springs, Texas
A gunman with a ballistic vest strapped to his chest and a military-style rifle in his hands stormed into a Sunday church service at a small Baptist church in rural Texas and sprayed bullets into its pews. He killed 26 people, including nine members of a single-family, and left 20 people wounded, many of them severely. The gunman later shot himself.
Oct. 1, 2017: A concert in Las Vegas
A man opened fire from a Las Vegas high-rise hotel room in October 2017, killing 58 people who were attending an outdoor country music festival. Credit...John Locher/Associated Press
In one of the deadliest mass shootings in American history, a gunman perched on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, smashed the windows of his suite with a hammer and shot at a crowd of 22,000 people at an outdoor country music festival. Fifty-eight people were killed and 887 sustained documented injuries, either from gunfire or while running to safety.
Jan. 6, 2017: An airport in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
As an airline passenger retrieved his checked luggage, he pulled a 9-millimeter handgun out of his suitcase and used it to kill five people and wound six others at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Florida. When he ran out of ammunition, he lay on the floor, waiting to be arrested.