Gun Violence

December 22, 2021

Sadly, 2021 was another staggering year in the U.S. for mass shootings. While the nearly 50 percent jump in mass shootings in 2020 was appalling, this year will notch a further increase. And the rise in gun violence in America has gone well beyond mass shootings (defined as four people shot or killed, not including the shooter). Homicides, which rose by about 30 percent in 2020, recorded another rise in 2021. And at least 12 major American cities set homicide records. This comes from an op-ed by Steve Ratner in the New York Times.

The left will focus on mass shootings. The right will focus on crime. This doesn’t even include the Kyle Rittenhouse’s of the world, who was shamefully lauded and applauded recently at a conservative convention. Politicians glorify guns, and gun culture. Right wing pundits use gun imagery to attack health experts. Regardless, the one thing that these twin crises have in common is guns. The United States is apparently incapable of controlling situations that don’t exist anywhere else in the world. We are, in fact, number one. We can propose all the gun safety measures we want. We can defund the police, or we can refund the police. It will make no difference. Until we disarm, our only defense is to either buy more guns or more flak jackets.