I grew up in a gun-toting part of the US. I went out shooting with my dad when I was a kid. My classmates would go out deer hunting before school during deer season. I get it. It’s part of the fabric of big swaths of US Society. It’s like those bucolic scenes of fly fishing on a lazy river, with trees in the background and butterflies fluttering, but with loud bangs. I am of this tribe.
But i’m also a big believer in looking at data, or as Daniel Patrick Moynihan said “You’re entitled to your own opinion, but your not entitled to your own facts.”
So, some facts:
1) Gun homicide in the US kills more Americans in one year than terrorism has killed in the last 60 years. And it’s not even close.
2) In the US, firearms have killed more people just since 1968 than were killed in all US wars since the Revolutionary War. World War II had fewer US casualties than US gun violence since 1999. (More data at the link and description of methodology)
- All US War Casualties = 1,396,733.
- Firearm deaths in US since 1968 = 1,516,833
- WWII US casualties 405,399.
- Firearm deaths in US 1999-2015 = 519,338
I’m not sure why there isn’t more indignation. Perhaps it’s because there are safe neighborhoods in the US. Maybe it doesn’t affect the middle class voter enough, either in terms of a feeling of security or in the pocketbook. Or the news cycle doesn’t address these issues. Maybe we’re just numb.
On a per capita basis, we should be putting up memorials at a feverish pace:
- For every WWII memorial, there would be a gun violence memorial every 15 years.
- For every Vietnam memorial, there should be a gun violence memorial for deaths in the last 2 1/2 years. There would be 20 gun violence memorials per Vietnam memorial just since the end of the Vietnam war.
Soldiers die valiantly defending their homeland and way of life. Gun violence victims die in their living rooms, at work, walking their newborns in strollers, basically living the way of life so protected by soldiers.
Sean Foote's Blog 