Michael Adkins
Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker said that we do not have a gun problem in the United States. “No,” he said, we have a “societal problem.” If he is correct then we could no longer claim the notion of American Exceptionalism, except in a very negative connotation. I intend to show that while we may have a societal problem, much of it revolves around firearms. We do indeed have a gun problem here in America even though it should be obvious to all except the Senator from Mississippi.
It is not possible to write a comprehensive piece on American gun violence in a single column. There are simply too many factors to cover in order to do the subject justice. Therefore, I intend to write at least two columns on American gun violence. In this column, I will simply illustrate the crisis at hand, demonstrate that it is a uniquely American problem, and ask you, the reader, to consider vitally important questions without preconceived notions.
Let’s being with some facts that may startle you.
Since, I believe, 2018, more American youth have been killed by guns than any other cause, making gun violence the number one cause of children’s deaths in the United States. Fewer American police officers and American military die in the line of duty annually than the number of children slain by guns. The U.S. leads the globe in gun deaths with one-and-a-half million Americans dead by such means between 1967 and 2017; more that the total of all American soldiers killed in every U.S. conflict since the Revolutionary War. In 2020, over 45,000 Americans died at the end of a gun barrel, whether by suicide or homicide, more than any previous year on record. That is a 43% rise in only 12 years. Almost 80% of U.S. homicides this year are from firearms. Canada, the nation with the second-highest rate of homicides by guns is only 37% while in the U.K. it is a mere 4%. America sadly holds the chilling distinction of leading the world in mass shootings.
The United States is the sole industrialized nation in which possession of handguns and rifles are lawfully prevalent among large numbers of its population.
The United States with approximately four percent of the population on earth has over half, an estimated 55%, of all the world’s privately held guns. There are more privately held firearms in the United States than the number of American families, with 120.5 per 100 people, up from 88 per capita in 2011. The unstable nation of Yemen ranks second in private guns per capita at 39.1 per 100.
The statements in the previous two paragraphs are not opinions nor do they any anyway represent a spin on truth. Rather, they are all verifiable facts; facts which clearly picture a growing crisis in the United States today. The first step in resolving the crisis is to give serious consideration to a number of questions and do so with no preconceived notions.
Why is there such a proliferation of firearms in the United States? Why do we have this unique gun culture? Why does one political party adamantly oppose gun law reforms. In other words, why has gun ownership become such a political issue? Why are we the only nation with policies that, in effect, abet serious crimes committed with guns? What is the cause for the frightening rise in mass shootings, especially at schools? Why are military-style weapons allowed to be owned by private citizens? And finally, why did the Supreme Court overturn 200 years of legal precedent in 2008?
Michael Adkins formerly was chair of the Hancock County Democratic Party. Send comments to [email protected].
