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America's gun culture - in seven charts

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Watch: Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr condemns gun violence in the US

A school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, involving young children has reignited the national US debate about access to firearms. What does the data tell us about gun culture and its impact?

Firearms deaths are a fixture in American life.

There were 1.5 million of them between 1968 and 2017 - that's higher than the number of soldiers killed in every US conflict since the American War for Independence in 1775.

In 2020 alone, more than 45,000 Americans died at the end of a barrel of a gun, whether by homicide or suicide, more than any other year on record. The figure represents a 25% increase from five years prior, and a 43% increase from 2010.

But the issue is a highly political one, pitting gun control advocates against sectors of the population fiercely protective of their constitutionally-enshrined right to bear arms.

How many guns are there in the US?

While calculating the number of guns in private hands around the world is difficult, figures from the Small Arms Survey - a Swiss-based leading research project - estimate that there were 390 million guns in circulation in 2018.

 

Chart showing civilian gun ownership around the world

The US ratio of 120.5 firearms per 100 residents, up from 88 per 100 in 2011, far surpasses that of other countries around the world.

More recent data also suggests that gun ownership grew significantly over the last several years. One study, published by the Annals of Internal Medicine in February, found that 7.5 million US adults - just under 3% of the population - became first new gun owners between January 2019 and April 2021.

This, in turn, exposed 11 million people to firearms in their homes, including 5 million children. About half of new gun owners in that time period were women, while 40% were either black or Hispanic.

A separate study, published by the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2021, linked a rise in gun ownership during the pandemic to higher rates of gun injuries among - and inflicted by - children.

How do US gun deaths break down?

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a total of 45,222 people died from gun-related injuries of all causes during 2020, the last year for which complete data is available.

Chart showing a breakdown of gun-related deaths in the US

And while mass shooting and gun murders generally garner more media attention, of the total, 54% - about 24,300 deaths - were suicides.

A 2016 study published in the American Journal of Public Health found there was a strong relationship between higher levels of gun ownership in a state and higher firearm suicide rates for both men and women.

Advocates for stricter gun laws in the United States often cite this statistic when pushing lawmakers to devote more resources to mental health and fewer to easing gun restrictions.

How do US gun killings compare with other countries?

In 2020, 43% of the deaths - amounting to 19,384 people - were homicides, according to data from the CDC. The figure represents a 34% increase from 2019, and a 75% increase over the course of the previous decade.

Nearly 53 people are killed each day by a firearm in the US, according to the data.

The data also shows that the vast majority of murders, 79%, were carried out with guns.

That's a significantly larger proportion of homicides than is the case in Canada, Australia, England and Wales, and many other countries.

Graphic showing an international comparison of gun-related killings as a percentage of all homicides in each country. The US leads with nearly 79% of all homicides occurring with guns.

Are mass shootings becoming deadlier?

Deaths from the "mass shootings" that attract international attention, however, are harder to track.

While the country does not have a single definition for "mass shootings", the FBI has for over a decade tracked "active shooter incidents" in which "an individual actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area".

According to the FBI, there were 345 "active shooter incidents" in the United States between 2000-2020, resulting in more than 1,024 deaths and 1,828 injuries.

The deadliest such attack, in Las Vegas in 2017, killed more than 50 people and left 500 wounded. The vast majority of mass shootings, however, leave fewer than 30 people dead.

Chart showing worst mass shootings in US since 1991

Who supports gun control?

Despite widespread and vocal public outrage - often in the wake of gun violence - American support for stricter gun laws in 2020 fell to the lowest level since 2014, according to polling by Gallup.

Only 52% of Americans surveyed said they wanted stricter gun laws, while 35% said they should remain the same.

Eleven percent surveyed said laws should be "made less strict".

The issue is also one that is hyper-partisan and extremely divisive, falling largely along party lines.

"Democrats are nearly unanimous in their support for stricter gun laws," the same Gallup study noted, with nearly 91% in favour of stricter gun laws.

Only 24% Republicans, on the other hand, agreed with the same statement, along with 45% of Independent voters.

 

Chart showing attitudes to gun laws in the US

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How the American Dream Has Changed Over


Gale Student Resources in Context, 2016

https://wjccschools.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/05/How-the-American-Dream-Has-Changed-Over-Time.pdf 

 

 

Chart showing spending by gun rights and gun control groups. Updated 8 April 2021

A number of states have also gone as far as to largely eliminate restrictions on who can carry a gun. In June 2021, for example, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed into law a "permitless carry bill" that allows the state's residents to carry handguns without a license or training.

Similarly, on 12 April Georgia became the 25th in the nation to eliminate the need for a permit to conceal or openly carry a firearm. The law means any citizen of that state has the right to carry a firearm without a licence or a permit.

The law was backed by the NRA, and leaders within the organisation called the move "a monumental moment for the Second Amendment".

 

 

 

Stragi e follia

 

Giovanni De Sio Cesari

www.giovannidesio.it

  

 Di continuo si sentono  notizia di stragi in USA (ma non solo) perpetrate da singoli  che colpiscono del tutto indiscriminatamente soprattutto nellescuole. Anche nella tranquilla e pacifica Norvegia vi è stata una  strage forse la piu sanguinosa  della storia: un tale Anders Breivik  uccise 77 persone per “mandare un messaggio forte al popolo contro la decostruzione della cultura norvegese”

  Talvolta non viene  fornita nessuna spiegazione dagli autori ma in genere viene dichiarata  una  motivazione:  la più comune  in questi ultimi  tempi è il razzismo,  il suprematismo bianco, come si dice.

 Ma ci domandiamo se effettivamente  la causa prima o almeno una concausa è il suprematismo bianco o altre indicate  

Osserviamo che Il suprematista bianco appoggia leggi anti immigrazione, non vuole la integrazione nelle scuole e cose del genere ma  certo “credere "che una strage in una scuola possa promuovere la causa della supremazia bianca è chiara espressione di follia.
Bisogna intenderci sul significato di follia ( malattia mentale). In senso stretto (medico) indica una persona non più in grado di ragionare e riconoscere la realtà (quello che si crede  Napoleone) In senso ampio diciamo folle quelle ideologie che noi giudichiamo prive di logica e di riscontro reale. Quindi io giudico follia il suprematismo bianco   nel secondo significato ma non dico che esso sia follia nel primo significato
Cosi quelli che fanno stragi al super mercato sono  folli nel primo significato e non nel secondo


Anche se non ci fossero più negri in America i pazzi ci sarebbero lo stesso e farebbero stragi con altri pretesti. Chi fa una strage al super mercato non è suprematista bianco ma un pazzo che lo prende a pretesto: potrebbe ugualmente rifarsi alla religione, all’aborto, al riscaldamento globale, alle donne disinibite e cosi via, magari perchè non passa il bus

Il fatto che i folli che si dichiarano suprematisti bianchi  sono numerosi dipende dal fatto che è un tema che  in gran risalto nei social e quindi è preso più facilmente a pretesto dai folli ( del primo significato)

In questo modo  si da una motivazione fittizia con questa o quella causa più o meno strampalata
I nazisti invece non erano dei folli perchè perseguirono il loro sogno dello spazio vitale con una serie di azioni ben coordinate e organizzate ( invasione dell’est, genocidio degli ebrei). Diciamo che la loro era una follia nel senso che era irrealizzabile e soprattutto contraria ai principi generali della nostra civiltà ma non nel senso medico Lo stesso discorso si può fare osservando la parabola del terrorismo jihadista: Ai tempo di bin Laden , dell’attacco alle Torri Gemelle si trattava  di persone effettivamente convinte della giustezza della loro causa, del premio eterno che avrebbero ricevuto  tanto da persuadere anche  mussulmani dell’Occidente e il fenomeno  poi in parte si è rinnovato ai tempi del Califfato. Man mano però sempre di più l ideale jihadista è andato tramontando per la sua sempre più evidente inconsistenza e   irrealizzabilità.  Tuttavia ci saranno sempre degli islamici che mossi dalla follia troveranno a pretesto la lotta contro gli infedeli a pretesto delle loro gesta folli e sanguinarie