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Gun Safety
Let's Start Here: What Do We Know
In 2023, 46,728 Americans died from gun-related injuries in the United States.
27,300 (58%) of these deaths were suicides.
17,927 (38%) of these deaths were murders.
That leaves 1,501 gun-related deaths. These deaths include accidents (463), those involving law enforcement (604), and those with undetermined circumstances (434).
There are conflicting definitions of “mass shooting.” The FBI collects data on “active shooter incidents,” defined as “one or more individuals actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area.” In 2023, 105 people (excluding the shooters) were killed in these incidents. On the other hand, the Gun Violence Archive defines mass shootings as incidents in which four or more people are shot, even if no one was killed (excluding the shooters). In 2023, 722 people died in these incidents.
Using the Gun Violence Archive’s definition, in roughly 46% of mass shootings, the shooter kills a current of former intimate partner or family member.
In over half the states, people as young as 18 can buy firearms. This is concerning because firearms are the leading cause of deaths among teens, especially older teens. Further, there is sizeable racial disparity in firearm deaths, with black youths being killed at significantly higher rates than white youths. (read more here)
These numbers tell us A LOT. They tell us the number of people killed during mass shootings accounted for just 0.28 of all gun-related deaths in 2021 – meaning that, although mass shootings dominate media coverage when they happen, they represent an extremely small part of shooting incidents.
They tell us that we have a massive mental health crisis in America. They tell us that, out of the 20,958 murders in 2021, roughly 9,640 were carried out by someone close to the victim, making the act very personal.
These type of facts matters A LOT when you are putting forth national solutions like, say, banning assault weapons. First, let’s clear something up. We absolutely could do that if we wanted to. The U.S. Constitution makes clear that the Second Amendment is not absolute when it says, “a well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
Many gun enthusiasts seem to forget that the Second Amendment includes the words well-regulated, which is made easier by things like the National Rifle Association (NRA) leaving these words completely out when they wrote the Second Amendment on the lobby wall of their headquarters.
The U.S. Supreme Court has also been clear on the matter. In its ruling on the court case District of Columbia v. Heller, the ruling from the highest Court in the land said, “Like most rights, the Second Amendment right is not unlimited. It is not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose… The United States v. Miller holding that the sorts of weapons protected are those ‘in common use at the time’ finds support in the historical tradition of prohibiting the carrying of dangerous and unusual weapons.”
So, no, the Second Amendment is not the reason 1787 does not currently support banning assault weapons. This is: Simple math. At this point, the only question we need to ask is: Who kills who, and with what. In other words, who pulled the trigger in each of these gun-related deaths, and how can we best take guns from their hands. Not everyone’s hands… their hands.
This is a huge distinction that will make the ultimate difference between success and failure. Let’s get real about this. In 2018, reported there were well over 393,300,000 civilian-held legal and illicit firearms in the United States, and over 60 million firearms have been manufactured since then – in America alone. This means there are well over 120 firearms for every 100 people in this country, the highest gun ownership rate in the entire world by far…which makes getting these guns off the streets virtually impossible. It just ain’t gonna happen.
The numbers are the numbers, period. But add to that, this: In our current, highly heated political environment, if your strategy is to take guns away from law-abiding citizens, it’s highly likely you will lose.
Listen, we’re not afraid of a fight. If we honestly thought banning assault weapons was the best solution, we would fight like hell to make it happen. But it’s just not the most effective way to solve this problem, and the unnecessary battle is going to eclipse everything else we try to do in the name of gun safety. We need to put points on the board right away! Therefore, we cannot get sidetracked on this issue because the stakes are far too high.