The Massacre of Innocents
The massacre of innocents continues unabated and is increasing throughout the nation.
Licensing rules and restrictions on the magazines for semi-automatic weapons have shown success in reducing gun death. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/05/26/1101423558/how-can-mas-shootings-be-prevented-definitive-answers-are-hard-to-come-by
California and many other states with tighter gun restrictions have far lower gun death rates. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/31/us/california-gun-laws.html
Red states like Texas have increasingly destroyed their gun regulations and restrictions; their citizens are paying the price with much higher and far faster growing rates of gun deaths. https://apps.texastribune.org/features/2019/texas-10-years-of-mass-shootings-timeline/
States with the most guns and with the fewest restrictions have the highest rates of gun deaths. https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/26/politics/gun-violence-data-what-matters/index.html
Gun violence is primarily a function of handguns, and deaths are about equally distributed between suicides and homicides. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/02/03/what-the-data-says-about-gun-deaths-in-the-u-s/
Young men are the most common perpetrators of gun violence, and also are the most common homicide victims. https://www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/arms-control/gun-violence/ Older white rural males are the most common suicide victims. https://efsgv.org/state/united-states/
Mass shootings are highly visible but account for only 1% of gun deaths. Assault weapons and high-capacity magazines are heavily associated with the largest mass shootings. Prospective perpetrators can be identified by common warning signs.
https://everytownresearch.org/maps/mass-shootings-in-america/
The US is an extreme outlier on gun violence as compared to other developed nations. https://www.healthdata.org/acting-data/gun-violence-united-states-outlier We have more guns than we do people, and we use them to kill other people (or ourselves) at phenomenal rates; e.g. US 79% of homicides; UK 4% of homicides. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41488081
We rank #2 in the world on gun suicides, and our gun death rates are only exceeded by Latin America and South Africa. https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/gun-deaths-by-country
The answers to gun violence could be quite simple. “Japan boasts a population of more than 127 million people, yet finished 2019 with a gun death rate of only .02 per 100,000 people. One major factor in this success is that Japan has some of the strictest gun control laws in the world. For Japanese citizens to purchase a gun, they must attend an all-day class, pass a written exam, and complete a shooting range test, scoring at least 95% accuracy. Candidates will also receive a mental health evaluation, performed at a hospital, and will have a comprehensive background check done by the government. Only shotguns and rifles can be purchased. The class and exam must be retaken every three years.” https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/gun-deaths-by-country