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Guns: America’s Big Crisis!
The United States is the world leader in mass shooting and one doesn’t have to look far to figure out why: too many guns!
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The United States has more guns than any other country in the world. There are an estimated 270 million to 310 million guns in circulation in the United States. With America’s population at 318.9 million, that breaks down to about one firearm for every American. In contrast, India is the country with the next-highest number of guns, with 46 million guns spread across a much larger population of more than 1.25 billion. Interestingly, India doesn’t even crack the top 5 among countries with the most mass shootings.
According to a new study by University of Alabama criminologist Adam Lankford, the U.S. has had 5 times the number of mass shootings in the last 50 years than any other country. In fact, no other country in the world other than America has to worry about guns going off while at a movie, while at work, while shopping, or while merely strolling down the street.
Lankford, who is the author of “The Myth of Martyrdom: What Really Drives Suicide Bombers, Rampage Shooters, and Other Self-Destructive Killers,” wrote: “For decades, people have wondered if the dark side of American exceptionalism is a cultural propensity for violence, and in recent years, perhaps no form of violence is seen as more uniquely American than public mass shootings.”
Out of 291 documented mass shootings in the world between 1966 and 2012, sadly, 90 (or 31%) occurred in the U.S. In fact, to prove the severity of the issue, the Philippines was a distant second with 18 mass shootings between 1966 and 2012, followed by Russia with 15, Yemen with 11 and France with 10.
Sadly, Americans are locked into a “Wild, Wild West” mentality, with society (and conservative politicians) promoting the need for everyone to own more guns and to take more matters into their own hands. For example, after the mass shooting inside a Colorado movie theater, one lawmaker suggested patrons be allowed to take guns into theaters for their own protection. Never mind the ramifications of hundreds of guns being permitted inside a darkened room filled to capacity, where a gun fight could break out at any moment and bullets could fly around “willy-nilly.” To this lawmaker, more guns actually seemed to be an intelligently good idea.
So, exactly why do so many mass shootings happen in America? According to Lankford, there are several factors:
• America’s high rate of gun ownership
• The idolization of fame among U.S. mass shooters
• The dark side of American exceptionalism
In his research, Lankford discovered that the failure of the U.S. health care system to treat mental illness is partly to blame for America’s disproportionate share of mass shootings. However, America’s cultural obsession with fame is also to blame.
“Increasingly in America — perhaps more than in any other country on the globe — fame is revered as an end unto itself,” he wrote. “Some mass shooters succumb to terrible delusions of grandeur and seek fame and glory through killing. They accurately recognize that the only way they can guarantee that their names and faces adorn magazines, newspapers, and television is by slaughtering unarmed men, women, or children.”
“It’s a common theme,” Lankford continued, after studying the manifestos, journals, and online diaries of murderers. “They do have high aspirations, and when they struggle, they look to blame someone. That’s why mass shootings often occur at U.S. schools and workplaces.”
This was almost certainly the case in last week’s shooting in Virginia, where Vester Lee Flanagan, AKA “Bryce Williams” shot and killed a news crew on live television, before ending his own life in a vengeful blaze of glory.
“There’s a sense of bullying, of mistreatment,” Lankford said. “They’re often blaming their boss, their teacher, fellow students, or coworkers for the system being rigged [against them].”
“Unfortunately, the most obvious step the United States could take to reduce mass shootings may also be the most politically challenging,” he added. “Reduce firearms availability.”
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It’s a known fact that Americans own far too many guns.. Yet lawmakers are far too fearful of the powerful NRA to ever dare do anything about it. A simple check of statistics shows that more restrictive gun laws make a huge difference.
Lankford pointed to Australia as an example, where only 4 mass shootings occurred between 1987 and 1996. After those incidents, public sentiment against gun ownership prompted Parliament to pass stricter gun laws. Australia hasn’t had a mass shooting since.
So, it’s not rocket science. Changing gun laws and the public’s obsession with them is a tried and true formula for saving lives. Simple, right? Wrong! If lawmakers were unwilling to change existing gun laws after a crazed gunman shot and killed classrooms full of 6 and 7-year-olds at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, then they probably never will!
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“I’ve had to make statements like this too many times. Communities like this have had to endure tragedies like this too many times. We don’t have all the facts, but we do know that, once again, innocent people were killed in part because someone who wanted to inflict harm had no trouble getting their hands on a gun.
It is in our power to do something about it. I say that recognizing the politics in this town foreclose a lot of those avenues right now. But it’d be wrong for us not to acknowledge it, and at some point, it’s going to be important for the American people to come to grips with it and for us to be able to shift how we think about the issue of gun violence collectively.
– President Barack Obama,
Eulogizing those killed in the mass shooting at a historic black church in Charleston, S.C.
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A SHORT LIST OF MASS KILLINGS IN AMERICA
Long Island Rail Road massacre: Garden City, New York
Columbine High School massacre: Littleton, Colorado
Virginia Tech massacre: Blacksburg, Virginia
Fort Hood massacre: Fort Hood, Texas
Tucson shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and staff: Tucson, Arizona
Seattle cafe shooting: Seattle, Washington
Aurora movie theater shooting: Aurora, Colorado
Westroads Mall shooting: Omaha, Nebraska
Sikh temple shooting: Oak Creek, Wisconsin
Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting
Emanuel AME church shooting: Charleston, SC
WDBJ shooting: Roanoke, Virginia
If lawmakers were unwilling to change existing gun laws after a crazed gunman shot and killed classrooms full of 6 and 7-year-olds at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, then they probably never will! […]
Sadly DJ, you've summed up my thinking right there.
And the truth is, I still can't quite believe the fact that even a school full of DEAD LITTLE WHITE CHILDREN was enough to finally set most White Americans off, prompting them to stream into D.C. DEMANDING a change and threating to do bodily harm to ANY politician still spewing NRA bullsh*t in order to protect the interest of GUN manufacturers.
Tells anyone outside this country all they need to know about America and the notion that "All Lives Matter."