There Isn’t Just One Thing: There’s A Dozen Things You Should Know
Following the shooting at Umpqua Community College, the reactions have been, as they always are, predictable. It comes from all sources: guns bans, mental health screenings, article after article telling us what we can do to fix the horrors of gun violence, school shootings and troubled young people shooting up their communities.
But there are a few things everyone could stand to learn about gun violence.
1. The Homicide Rate in the US Is At Its Lowest Since 1966
Violent crime nearly quadrupled between 1960 and its peak in 1991.
Since the 1990s, however, violent crime in the United States has declined steeply.
Over the last 20 years, the firearm homicide rate has lowered by nearly 50%. Violent crimes committed with a firearm (assault, robbery, sex crimes) lowered 75% over the last 20 years, and violent crime in general is down 72% over the same time.
2. Most Gun Crime Is Gang Related
Putting aside the fact that most gun deaths are suicides (60%), a large percentage of firearm homicides are gang related (numbers vary depending on state). Viable solutions for reducing gang violence (and by extension, gun violence) could include legalization (or decriminalization) of various drugs as well as prostitution.
3. Four of the Five Deadliest Mass Shootings Weren’t In The US
- In July of 2011, Anders Breivik, a right-wing extremist, shot and killed 69 people (and killed another 8 in a van bomb) in Norway.
- In June of 2015, an armed gunman shot and killed 38 people on a tourist beach in Tunisia.
- In April of 1996, 35 people were shot and killed by a single gunman in Port Arthur, Australia.
- In April of 2007, 32 people were shot and killed by a senior at Virginia Polytechnic Institute in Virginia.
- In February of 1994, 29 people were shot and killed at the Cave of Patriarchs in Israel.
4. The Deadliest Mass Killing at a School in the US Wasn’t With A Gun
The Bath School Disaster of 1927, happened in Michigan, where the perpetrator detonated an explosive in a school, killing 44 people.
5. The Majority of “Mass Shootings” are Inside A Home
Defining a mass shooting as a situation where more than four people are killed with a firearm, the majority of mass shootings occur in homes, often from an intimate partner or family member of the victims.
6. School Shooting Numbers Are Skewed
Though “School Shooting” brings to mind an event like Columbine or recent news, there are many organizations “tracking” these shootings and listing them online. They produce interesting and questionable memes about “74 shootings since Newtown” while sticking to the broadest possible definitions to boost their numbers.
“Everytown for Gun Safety” is one such organization:
“Everytown identifies a school shooting as any instance in which a firearm was discharged within a school building or on school grounds, sourced to multiple news reports per incident. Therefore, the data isn’t limited to mass shootings like Newtown—it includes assaults, homicides, suicides and even accidental shootings.” (Quote from the Washington Post)
School shootings do not equal mass shootings.
7. Mental Health Screenings For Guns Won’t Really Change Things
More than half of all Americans will suffer from mental health issues at some point in life, yet somehow activists think this will be an effective way to screen and prevent anyone from accessing guns?
The kicker, of course, is that research continues to show that the mentally ill are more likely to suffer violence rather than commit it.
8. It’s Really Hard To Take Away People’s Guns
Reason.tv can show you why:
9. We Really Just Need To Have More Empathy
In a recent article, Rob Myers explained that something we can do to prevent mass killings is just have some decency to talk to people and find out if they’re okay.
Notice those around you who seem isolated, and engage them.
“If every one of us did this we’d have a culture that was deeply committed to insuring no one was left lonely. And make no mistake, as I’ve written before loneliness is what causes these shooters to lash out. People with solid connections to other people don’t indiscriminately fire guns at strangers.
I know what you’re thinking. That’s never going to work because no one is going to make the effort to connect with the strange kid sitting by himself at lunch each day. No one is going to reach out to the gawky, awkward guy at work and ask him about his weekend.
You’re probably right and that’s an absolute shame.”
10. But Empathy Isn’t Always Enough
In the case of Elliot Rodger, a family friend had spent a lot of time and energy trying to help Rodger with his problems and help him adjust normally in the world, but that didn’t stop him.
11. Regardless, Empathy Is Really Still Our Best Bet
Mark Manson wrote a great essay that everyone should read, on “How We All Miss The Point On School Shootings”.
In it, he details the problems and warning signs, the indications of killers, and how we deal with them. The whole thing is worth a read, but here’s the most important excerpt:
“Here’s what doesn’t get the headlines: Empathy. Listening to those around you. Even if you don’t like them very much. We have come to live in a culture where it’s taboo or unacceptable to simply check in with people emotionally and offer some empathy and understanding. I’m not saying this would magically fix all gun violence. I’m just saying that all of these things — the lack of gun laws, the lack of health care, the inability to have basic conversations with friends and neighbors about what’s going on with them, these are all extensions of a callous and self-absorbed culture that lacks any real empathy.
Despite being relevant and important discussions, the glamorous headlines are ultimately distractions — they just feed into the carnage and the attention and the fame the killer desired. They are distractions from what is right in front of you and me and the victims of tomorrow’s shooting: people who need help. And while we’re all fighting over whose pet cause is more right and more true and more noble, there’s likely another young man out there, maybe suicidally depressed, maybe paranoid and delusional, maybe a psychopath, and he’s researching guns and bombs and mapping out schools and recording videos and thinking every day about the anger and hate he feels for this world.
And no one is paying attention to him.”
12. At The End Of The Day, There Isn’t Just One Thing We Can Do
- Keeping guns out of the hands of the dangerous seems like a good idea. But it’s difficult to implement, it can violate people’s liberty, and well, good luck trying. (Can we start with disarming the cops then?)
- Having empathy for others can help us prevent *some* of these horrible crimes.
- We need to take a look at the other components to gun violence – such as the drug war and domestic abuse, as the school shootings we fear aren’t as common as we think.
- We need to be very careful when we talk about disarming *certain* groups of people. I won’t get Godwin’s law on you (though I could), but the NRA supported gun control against the Black Panthers, and also, frankly, I don’t think civilians should be rendered defenseless against an increasingly hostile police force.
- At the end of the day, we can’t save or fix every single person who is hell-bent on murdering people.
- But we should always try when we can.
