AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM #1: GUNS, GORE, AND KIDS..... THE TIME HAS COME TO ACT!

HORROR AND HESITANCY IN OUR SCHOOLS...

PARKLAND.... MARJORY STONEMAN DOUGLAS.... SANDY HOOK.... VIRGINIA TECH.....

                    AND, NOW.... UVALDE ELEMENTARY.... KIDS AND TEACHERS LOST...

GUNS AND BLOOD.....

AKs OUTLAWED IN THE US - 10 YEARS

In 1994, Congress adopted a new law on guns.  The AK 47 and others of its ilk, were banned in the United States! When the law took effect, such war weapons were reduced... and the rate of mass murder dropped. The legislative goal under President Clinton WORKED! That American Law continued for a period with a 10-year "sunset" provision - reflecting the expiration date contained in the bill signed into US Law. The new Assault weapons ban was adopted in the House on a vote of 235-195; in the Senate 95-4; and signed by President Clinton in 1994. The debate and the adoption of the law followed a mass murder in Stockton, CA with the loss of 34 kids and a teacher and another in Killen TX at Luby's Cafeteria in 1991with 24 dead and 27 injured. The 1994 law banned "semi-automatic assault weapons" - the weapon of choice in each case noted. What impact might this new law have had on mass murder in public places - schools, markets, parks, office buildings, clubs? You can imagine that any number of studies have been conducted over the 10-year period - and after. Here is the study often cited and is the basis of the Gifford campaign to eliminate assault weaponry. 

Review this chart.  Of course, year by year, the numbers vary and the "curve" isn't smooth in any means - nor should this data be "trendy." Still, note the "dip" that took place during the 10-year ban... and the increase that followed. Even worse, note the rapid and steep INCREASE in mass murder that followed the expiration date and the NRA effort to BLOCK THE RENEWAL OF THE BAN. This chart does not include events after 2017 - the last 5 years. In that period - 2017-2022 - some 360 mass shooting deaths took place with another 800+ injuries in some 53 events. The numbers continue to rise.... During the decade period, mass murder was 70% less likely.  After the law sunset came, the death rate rose from 4.8 to 23.8....

In 2022 - we continue to match the worst year of mass murder shootings in the US - 2021. There were a total of 692 in 2021. As of June 5th this year (2022), we are on track to match 2021 and stand at 246 to date - more mass shootings than days! That trend has recurred each year since 2020... and is a part of a 3-year increase that began in 2020. Between 2019 and 2020 the number of mass shootings jumped from 417 to 610 - a 46.3% increase year over year. The number again increased in 2021 to 692. So far, this year - 2022 - 240+ mass shootings has resulted in 1357 people shot with 278 deaths. Compare to 2021 with 1293 people shot and 280 deaths in the very same period. According to the Albany Times Union (June 5, 2022) quoting the US Gun Violence Archive, "gun violence claimed the lives of 152 children under 12, and 543 teen lives. 1725 children under 18 were wounded." Also, so far this year, 21 Law Enforcement Officers - 21 good guys with guns - have been killed. These facts underscore the growing prevalence of gun violence in American life...  In the first week of June, 2022 shootings took place at graduation parties, a nightclub, a church, and a strip mall - 13 mass shootings with more than a dozen lives lost and more than 70 injured. 

Why is that "American Exceptionalism?" Negotiations continue in the US Senate... as they have for weeks if not years. The House passed a gun control bill more than a month ago... and the 50-50 Senate continues to seek the Filibuster Rule 60 vote threshold to take a new path on gun possession and use. Why is this difficult or impossible a life-and-death issue in the United States? Is gun violence common around the globe? How do we compare with other developed nations?  Let's take a look... Where is this issue and who has  a serious problem with gun bloodshed?                                                                                       

NOTE:  MORE US GUNS THAN CITIZENS! 

NOTE: GUN COUNT PER 100 RESIDENTS.

The NY Times quoted from a research report constructed by William Patterson University, NJ on May 26, 2022. The study did a count of mass shootings that had taken place between 1998 and 2019. The United States leads that list with 101 incidents followed by France in 2nd position at 8 cases; Germany 5, Canada 4; Finland 3; Belgium, Italy, Netherlands, Switzerland, nd the Check Republic at 2; and the rest at 1 - including the UK, New Zealand, Australia, Austria, and others. What explains the difference between nations and their citizens? The 2020 election? Radiation?  Chemicals in the water? Economic stresses? Much more "mental illness" in the US compared to the rest of the world? Or, is the simple difference - given all of the differences in language, education, culture, and history - just access to guns and weapons of war? Do we - as the United States of America - continue to be the "shoot 'em up" Wild West?  The US Senate closed-door debate goes on.....

The Gifford Project and many other efforts to adopt the GUN CONTROL PROGRAM - especially restricting weapons of war - contain any number of debate demands.  These include the following:

1. Thorough universal background checks for all gun purchases, including juvenile records. Eliminate any and all loopholes, including gun show sales without a background check.
2. Increase minimum age from 18 to 21. Maturity counts. 
3. Adopt a three day waiting period. This would allow a complete follow-up on the background check and a "cooling-off" period for anyone who buys a gun because they are angry or upset.
4. An assault weapon ban making weapons of war - commonly used in deadly mass shootings - completely prohibited.  If adopted, at a minimum this restriction would make mass shootings less deadly, pushing determined gunmen to less effective weapons. Needless to say, this restriction would not stop a mass attack altogether, but would make it far less lethal. 
5. Another gun limit would be either adopted in Federal Law or be passed on to the states along with a series of effective incentives.  This would encourage the adoption of "Red Flag Laws." These would be a denial of a required gun license - including training and test passage before licensing. Evidence or warning signs of violence, mental illness issues, extreme anger or stress, threatening their family, friends, co-workers, or peers in person or on social media, would prevent the sale of a gun or cause any owner gun or guns to be removed or confiscated to prevent bloodshed. 

All of these initiatives are under debate behind closed doors with a Senate Committee of 10 members - 5 Ds and 5 Rs. The beat goes on.... attacks continue... mass shootings have happened since the Committee first met.... BLOOD FLOWS.... It has got to stop!  

American Exceptionalism? For sure.... Guns, bullets, and gunpowder everywhere.... Far more than anywhere else and in every other nation. Lives lost... innocent children killed... blood shed... debate goes on....time to end this carnage....

Bobby J