On Oct. 1, 2015, a gunman owning 14 firearms walked onto a community college campus and killed nine people there. An additional 7 persons were wounded in the shooting. The gunman then killed himself with one of his guns. This was the sixth time this year that a gunman has shot ten or more Americans in a mass shooting event taking place on American soil.
Shootings in America are a deadly, pervasive, and persistent societal problem.
The Scope of the Problem
* Every year in America, over 100,000 people suffer a gunshot injury.
* Every year in America, over 30,000 people die from a gunshot injury.
* The vast majority of fatal gunshot injuries are self-inflicted suicidal shooting, not the result of an attacking criminal.
* Among industrialized nations, America suffers more shooting injuries than any other country.
* America is one of the best armed countries in the world, with an estimated 300 million guns among a population of 300 million people.
* While self-defense and personal protection are commonly given as reasons for a gun purchase, the risk of suffering a gunshot injury is twice as great for people who live in a residence where there is a gun, compared to people who live in a residence where there is no gun. For women who live in a residence where there is a gun, the risk of suffering a gunshot injury is over three times as great compared to women who live in a residence where there is no gun.
* While self-defense and personal protection are commonly given as reasons for a gun purchase, the best estimates demonstrate that between 30 and 40 accidental, intimate partner, and suicidal shooting will occur for every single shooting of a criminal engaged in an actual criminal attack.
* While self-defense and personal protection are commonly given as reasons for a gun purchase, the police have documented between 500 and 800 "justified homicides" (shooting by a law enforcement officer or private citizen of a felon during the commission of a crime that resulted in death of the felon) every year, compared to over 30,000 deadly shootings of non-criminals. This suggests that for every felon shot for felonious activity, there are 37 non-criminals shot.
With over 100,000 shootings every year, of which over 30,000 are fatal, gunfire is a major public health problem in America today.
We Know How to Fix This Problem
Here in America, gunshot injuries reached a peak around 1993 when over 39,000 Americas suffered a fatal gunshot injury. The number of gunshot injuries declined throughout the remainder of the 1990s., but have held steady since about 2000, or have slightly risen since 2000. In my opinion, while we have fewer gunshot injuries than during the first half of the 1990s, we cannot say we have made substantial steps to reduce the number of shooting injuries in America.
Yet, we know how what needs to be done to reduce gunshot injuries among the public.
* Surveys of shootings show that there are more shooting injuries in locales where there are more guns. The rarely-spoken converse is equally true: where there are fewer guns, fewer people get shot.
* Surveys show in states where there are more strict regulations of gun sales and use, there are fewer gunshot injuries. The conserve is equally true: where gun laws are more permissive, more people get shot.
* While shootings occur in homes, in workplaces, in schools and college campuses, at malls and shopping centers, in theaters, at homeland military bases, at gas stations and bodegas, and even in churches, there are some places in America where shootings never occur. Shooting never occur in state houses and in courtrooms. Not surprisingly, guns are prohibited by law from these places.
* In 1996, Australia – a large populous, industrialized, multi-cultural nation a lot like the USA - instituted new and more restrictive laws regarding gun sales and use, and a buy-back program to reduce the number of guns in the country. In subsequent years, the number of shooting deaths and injuries dropped significantly (beyond what we might expect by chance). Notably, there has not been a single episode of mass shooting (four or more shot) in Australia since the new laws were put into place.
* Similarly, Canada – a large populous, industrialized, multi-cultural nation a lot like the USA – instituted a series of more restrictive gun regulations in the 1990s. As in Australia, the number of shooting injuries and deaths decreased significantly (beyond what we might expect by chance) in the years since.
Reducing the number of available guns has been shown through empirical research to reduce shooting injuries. Placing legal limits on gun sales and use has been shown by the experience of other countries to reduce shooting injuries. Judges and law-makers know exactly what steps to take to make their workplaces safe from gun violence. The large number of shooting injuries in America is a problem for which we have effective, ready, and practical solutions.
About mental health care: The gun industry and their supporters tell us we need to “fix a broken mental health system” to effectively reduce the number of shootings in America. And in my opinion, we should improve the care and delivery of mental health services so all Americans who need mental health care can receive it. However, I have noticed that no one suggests we should “fix a broken mental health system” in order to reduce the incidence of terrorist attacks, or to reduce gang violence, or to reduce domestic partner violence, or to reduce the incidence of crime, or to reduce the level of poverty in America, or to improve drop-out rates, or to fix chronic unemployment. Fixing a broken mental health system is not even seen as a solution for an obvious mental health problem like drug addiction. As strange as it may seem, fixing a broken mental health system is for some reason widely viewed as a cure for only one American social problem: the large number of shootings. We should improve our care for mental health problems, but we should not expect that improvement alone will reduce gun violence, any more than we can expect that improvement will reduce terrorist attacks.
So If We Know How To Fix The Problem, Why Have We Not Done So?
We know how to reduce the large number of shootings in America: 1) reduce the number of guns available to the public; 2) enact and enforce regulations on gun ownership and use; and 3) educate the public about the dangers of owning and using a gun. Even though we know what needs to be done to reduce the large number of shootings, we have not done any of these things.
*The gun industry makes a lot of money selling guns and ammo, and other gun-related goods and services (holsters, target practice, instructions, etc), to the American public. In order to continue to profit, the gun industry must continue to sell lots of guns and ammo, and other gun-related things.
*We have a system of government that allows wealthy individuals and corporations to buy the law-makers, and indeed write the very legislation that is favored by those wealthy individuals and corporations.
*The gun industry uses this system of government to encourage legislation that makes it quicker and easier to buy guns and ammo, and to decriminalize the use of deadly force against others.
*Around the country, encouraged by the financial gifts of the gun industry, state and federal law-makers have passed laws that increase the number of guns and decriminalize gun use, even though we know that such actions will increase the number of shooting injuries.
In my opinion, the large number of shooting deaths and injuries in the USA will continue as long as an industry is allowed to profit from the manufacture and sale of a deadly consumer product, and as long as such industries are allowed to write legislation and get their favorite laws passed.
Gun violence in America is not a problem of misunderstanding the issue or not having sufficient information or research. Gun violence in America is not a problem of not knowing what steps to take or having no working solutions. This is not a problem of a divided public opinion, or a lack of legislative willpower.
Gun violence in America is a problem of an industry being allowed to profit from the death and injury of Americans, and of our national leaders receiving financial gifts from that industry to write and pass laws that promote greater death and injury.