...since I first published this dairy yesterday.
121
As noted in the diary yesterday that is more than the typical number of gun violence deaths in an entire year in the UK.
That included two mass shootings in Chicago, and mass shootings in Taft Oklahoma, Phoenix, Merced California, and the Las Vegas area (Henderson).
Stop and think about that for a moment. Six mass shootings in the past day. They didn’t hit national news.
In the US is takes a little over three weeks for gun violence to kill as many Americans as the attacks on 9/11. That’s what NRA and Republican policies mean — more than 13 times the deaths each year than an attack that launched a 20-year war costing thousands of soldier’s lives, trillions of dollars, and long term repercussions for those involved. And all we have to do to prevent those deaths are simple and unobtrusive laws to limit access to guns.
Mathy Kathy asked about how many bullets are fired each year in the US. That’s going to take some time to research, but I think it’s a good question because trauma from gun violence is more than just those killed and injured. Living around gun violence is traumatizing even if there is no direct injury.
I also plan to compare US rates of gun violence to additional countries from different regions. Yesterday I compared gun violence rates in Australia, the UK, and Canada to US gun rates, and I think there are things we can learn looking at other countries as well.
Until then, remember that 121 Americans died from gun violence in the 21 hours since my last diary. In the time it has taken me to write this another 4 Americans have died from gun violence, bringing the total to 125.