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Why Gun violence is knocking on your door

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Why Gun violence is knocking on your door

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https://news.northeastern.edu/2022/11/21/mass-shootings-record-year/

By: Ian Thomsen

Shots were fired at a mass shooting in a Colorado Springs Nightclub. It ended up killing five people and injuring 25, this was done by Anderson Aldrich a 22 year old. Reporters state this is a hate crime due to victims sexual orientations. This shows that minorities are targets for mass shootings. James Alan Fox a professor at Northeastern who studied mass shootings for 40 years claims, “There have been 35 mass shootings in 2022. [. . .] That’s an average of about two mass shootings per week, compared with the usual average of two per month” (Thomsen 4). This shows that mass shootings have increased by 8 times in 2022. Why is this is scary? Because, it brings up the question how long until there is a mass shooting everyday? This thought springs in to many American heads. However, the article later states the disarming of Aldrich was postponed due to his state rights, the “red flag” law. This shows how little the federal government can do to fix gun violence. Plus, if Colorado had pushed back gun permit age by just 5 years they would save 5 lives, being Anderson was only 22.

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In wake of Colorado Springs massacre, 2022 is deadliest year for mass shootings, Northeastern expert says

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The US is experiencing a record-setting year for mass shootings according to the most extensive data source on mass killings.

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https://abc7chicago.com/shooting-in-chicago-weekend-shootings-bar-this/12589253/

By: Chicago Times

Shockingly, multiple different occurrences of shootings wounded Chicago teenagers. Enough to show the enormous amount of mass shootings Americans have to go through. Sunday, December 18, 2022 marked the shooting of a 16 year old boy while riding a train. After being shot in the eye and in the ear he is currently in critical condition. Saturday the 17th, a 15 year old boy was victim to a shot to the arm, doctors say he is okay at Comer Children’s Hospital. 11 other adults were shot just this weekend in different places and times all around Chicago. This shows gun violence is such a big part of American culture, 13 shootings can occur in just a weekend. Where is America headed?

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Sun-Times Media WireMonday, December 19, 2022 5:10PM

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Chicago shootings: 13 shot in weekend gun violence across Chicago

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Two teens are among at least thirteen people shot in weekend shootings across Chicago, police said.

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Gun Deaths by State Infographics as of 2019

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Gun Deaths by State Infographics as of 2019

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By: Nicolas Rapp

This infographic shows the colossal amount of gun deaths in America, so much so the least gun violent state is Hawaii. For obvious reason the amount of deaths correlate to it’s size, and even then it has 5 total firearm deaths, whilst on the mainland California has about 1,088 firearm deaths. Since this piece of evidence is slightly a more dated one, readers can infer from other evidence that the death toll has only gotten larger since 2019. The key all the way to the left makes the states seem like there isn’t much death, however the colors correspond to population of the area. So states like Nevada have a lot more shootings than the color key suggests.

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Sandy Hook commemorated its 10 year anniversary on Wednesday the 14th, lets look at shootings since the Connecticut massacre.

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Sandy Hook commemorated its 10 year anniversary on Wednesday the 14th, lets look at shootings since the Connecticut massacre.

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https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-63911172?scrlybrkr=49a0e161

By: Robin Levinson-King

Notice how the largest shootings are in the span of the last 5 years. Sandy hook is an outlier; Sandy Hook was one of the most gruesome cases ever. Marysville is also an outlier because it wasn’t very relevant; It is also one of the only cases pre-2015. This shows a pattern in a ever-growing school shooting epidemic. Powerful infographic because it both leads the reader to want to learn about these shootings they haven’t heard about; makes readers realize it’s just a matter of time until the shootings come to a school near them.

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https://www.npr.org/2022/05/28/1101307932/texas-shooting-uvalde-gun-violence-children-teenagers?scrlybrkr=49a0e161

By: Laurel Wamsley

Wamsley, journalists for Americas National Public Radio, thinks its no wonder that in a country “where civilians own nearly 400 million firearms, children are more likely to die from gun violence than in any other high-income country” (Wamsley 1). Just a few months ago a mass school shooting in Uvalde Texas killed 19 fourth graders and two teachers at a elementary school. This event gets little recognition, being that it is one of the largest school shooting this decade topping major bloodbaths such as Sandy Hook, Columbine High, Virginia Tech and other well known attacks. This shows nobody is safe even the youngest of children, high schoolers are much different than fourth graders. The shooting just raises the question, why? The shooter was 18 years old, what gave him the reason to target fourth graders, is nobody safe?

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This week's massacre in Uvalde, Texas, was yet another grim reminder that in the U.S., where civilians own nearly 400 million firearms, children are more likely to die from gun violence than in any other high-income country.

The killing of 19 fourth-graders and two adults at Robb Elementary School has unleashed an outpouring of grief and sadness across the nation. It has also, once again, spurred many to ask why the United States has failed to make any significant changes to its gun laws following the horrendous mass shootings that now happen with regularity.

Columbine High School, Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook Elementary, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School: All are names seared into the nation's memory for the terrible violence that took the lives of students there.

But the dangers young people face from firearms in America go well beyond school shootings, which account for only a fraction of all gun-related deaths. Whether it's the gun violence they face in their neighborhoods, or suicide or accidents at home when guns are left unsecured, the threat to the nation's children and teenagers is not only bad, but worsening.

"It's extremely scary," says Ade Osadolor-Hernandez, 20, a rising junior at the University of Chicago and a member of the national advisory board for the group Students Demand Action. "It's extremely disappointing to see that we're still living in this condition, and that there is nothing that is being done to save our lives."

Guns are now the leading cause of death among young people in the U.S.

For decades, car crashes were the leading cause of death for Americans ages 1 to 19. But the gap between car crash deaths and firearms deaths began to steadily narrow in recent years. In 2020, gun violence overtook car accidents to become the No. 1 cause of death for U.S. children and adolescents.

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Researchers at the University of Michigan found that while firearm-related deaths overall increased 13.5% between 2019 and 2020, among children and adolescents they surged a staggering 30%.

In the U.S., kids are more likely to die from gun violence than in other wealthy countries

For years, researchers at the University of San Francisco and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health have compared the rates of firearm deaths in the U.S. and other populous, high-income countries - mostly nations in Europe.

Their most recent study, which looks at data from 2015, finds that the U.S. accounts for the vast majority of firearm deaths among children. Across the 29 countries in the study, the U.S. accounted for almost 97% of the firearm deaths among children 4 years old or younger, and 92% of firearm deaths for those between the ages of 5 and 14.

And over time, the U.S. is accounting for an ever-larger share of people killed by guns in these countries. The U.S. firearm death rate increased nearly 10% between 2003 and 2015, even as it fell in other high-income countries.

Compared to countries of all sizes and incomes, the firearm-related death rate in the U.S. ranks 32nd in the world, according to a study by the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. (Topping that list, which uses data from 2019, were El Salvador, Venezuela and Guatemala.) When the total number of firearm deaths are counted, the U.S. ranks second in the world, after only Brazil, according to a study using data from 2016.

One factor in America's high level of gun deaths is the massive number of guns in the country: Civilians in the U.S. own an estimated 393 million firearms, according to a 2018 study by the Small Arms Survey. That's nearly 46% of the estimated 857 million civilian-held firearms in the world. That's a striking proportion, when the U.S. has just 4% of the world's population.

The numbers of gun-related deaths and injuries are climbing

Five years ago, just under 4,000 children and teens up to the age of 17 were killed or injured by gun violence, according to the Gun Violence Archive. By the end of last year, that number was up 43% to 5,692. Some 1,560 of these children and teenagers died.

So far in 2022, at least 653 children and teens in the U.S. have been killed by guns. Another 1,609 children and teens have been injured by firearms, according to the archive.

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The highest rates for gun-related deaths, according to an analysis by the National Safety Council, are among people ages 15 to 34.

Many guns come from inside the home

In 2012, the shooter at Sandy Hook used his mother's guns to kill her and 26 children and school staff members. In the 2018 shooting at Santa Fe High School in Texas, the shooter used his father's guns.

Research published last year and funded by the National Institute of Justice (a program of the U.S. Justice Department) suggests that's very much the norm. The analysis examined mass shootings that took place from 1966 to 2019 and found that over 80% of mass shooters at K-12 schools stole guns from family members.

"The findings support safe storage of guns," the authors write. But as the analysis points out, "there are no federal laws requiring safe storage of guns, and no federal standards for firearm locks." The NIJ said the data "also support 'red flag' laws permitting law enforcement or family members to petition a state court to order temporary removal of a firearm from a person who presents a danger."

Most people killed by gun violence don't die in mass shootings

The Uvalde massacre was the 27th school shooting in the country this year.

Though mass shootings tend to get the most attention, they are not the cause of most firearm deaths in the U.S.

In 2020, 45,222 people died from gun-related injuries, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - about 124 people each day. Of those, 54% were suicides, and 43% were murders, according to a Pew Research Center analysis. Other firearm-related deaths were unintentional, involved law enforcement or had undetermined circumstances, according to Pew.

That same year, 513 people died in mass shootings, according to the Gun Violence Archive - meaning mass shootings accounted for about 1% of all gun deaths in 2020. The archive defines a mass shooting as one in which four or more victims were shot, whether they were injured or killed.

According to the Brady Campaign to End Gun Violence, nearly 8,000 children and teens on average were shot and more than 1,600 died each year between 2015 and 2019. Of those who died, 52% were murdered, 40% died from gun suicide and 5% were killed unintentionally.

Youth suicide using guns is rising

An analysis by The Trace, a newsroom focused on gun violence, found a sharp rise in firearm suicide rates among young people in their teens and 20s in the U.S. between 2011 and 2020.

"The firearm suicide rate more than doubled among Black, Latino, and Asian teenagers, while it increased by 88 percent for Native Americans and 35 percent for white teens," the analysis found.

A study published last year looked at 134 cases of suicide among children between the ages of 5 and 11 in the U.S. between 2013 and 2017. Researchers found that guns were the second most common method of suicide. When guns were used, in every case where details were available, "the child obtained a firearm stored unsafely in the home," according to the analysis.

Young people are calling for action

"Every single time I walk into a classroom, the first thing I do is find the nearest exit," says Osadolor-Hernandez, the UChicago student and anti-gun violence advocate.

Instead of being focused on her professor's lecture, she finds herself constantly glancing around to see if anyone looks suspicious.

"Every single time anyone just reaches into their backpack, there is a sense of panic that I feel," she says. "It's extremely frustrating to have to feel this way, and it's extremely hard to live with this reality."

She says many people seem to have growing concern for the problem. Now she wants to see the same from lawmakers: "We are demanding action from them and it is time for them to listen to us, and to truly, truly change the way that this country is functioning."

Osadolor-Hernandez says she sees the harrowing numbers and fears for future generations.

"I even wonder if I want to have kids when I'm older," she says, "because do I want to put my kids in the situation where they might be shot and I won't be able to live with them again? It's a real fear that I live with every single day of my life."
If you or someone you know may be considering suicide, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 (en español: 1-888-628-9454; deaf and hard of hearing: 1-800-799-4889) or the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741.

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The U.S. is uniquely terrible at protecting children from gun violence

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This week's massacre in Uvalde, Texas, was yet another grim reminder that in the U.S., where civilians own nearly 400 million firearms, children are more likely to die from gun violence than in any other high-income country. The killing of 19 fourth-graders and two adults at Robb Elementary School has unleashed an outpouring of grief and sadness across the nation.

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School Shootings by un-licensed shooters?

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School Shootings by un-licensed shooters?

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https://www.npr.org/2022/05/28/1101307932/texas-shooting-uvalde-gun-violence-children-teenagers?scrlybrkr=49a0e161

BY: Laurel Wamsley

The article states, “80% of mass shooters at k-12 schools stole guns from family members” (Wimsley 18). This shows that gun license requirements aren’t really to blame the real shooters are the illegal ones, who aren’t allowed to bear arms. Why should legal arm bearers be deprived from their protection because some kids are taking their guns and shooting schools without them knowing. Sandy Hook and Santa Fe High shooters took their parent’s guns, they didn’t have permits.

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This week's massacre in Uvalde, Texas, was yet another grim reminder that in the U.S., where civilians own nearly 400 million firearms, children are more likely to die from gun violence than in any other high-income country.

The killing of 19 fourth-graders and two adults at Robb Elementary School has unleashed an outpouring of grief and sadness across the nation. It has also, once again, spurred many to ask why the United States has failed to make any significant changes to its gun laws following the horrendous mass shootings that now happen with regularity.

Columbine High School, Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook Elementary, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School: All are names seared into the nation's memory for the terrible violence that took the lives of students there.

But the dangers young people face from firearms in America go well beyond school shootings, which account for only a fraction of all gun-related deaths. Whether it's the gun violence they face in their neighborhoods, or suicide or accidents at home when guns are left unsecured, the threat to the nation's children and teenagers is not only bad, but worsening.

"It's extremely scary," says Ade Osadolor-Hernandez, 20, a rising junior at the University of Chicago and a member of the national advisory board for the group Students Demand Action. "It's extremely disappointing to see that we're still living in this condition, and that there is nothing that is being done to save our lives."

Guns are now the leading cause of death among young people in the U.S.

For decades, car crashes were the leading cause of death for Americans ages 1 to 19. But the gap between car crash deaths and firearms deaths began to steadily narrow in recent years. In 2020, gun violence overtook car accidents to become the No. 1 cause of death for U.S. children and adolescents.

Loading...

Researchers at the University of Michigan found that while firearm-related deaths overall increased 13.5% between 2019 and 2020, among children and adolescents they surged a staggering 30%.

In the U.S., kids are more likely to die from gun violence than in other wealthy countries

For years, researchers at the University of San Francisco and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health have compared the rates of firearm deaths in the U.S. and other populous, high-income countries - mostly nations in Europe.

Their most recent study, which looks at data from 2015, finds that the U.S. accounts for the vast majority of firearm deaths among children. Across the 29 countries in the study, the U.S. accounted for almost 97% of the firearm deaths among children 4 years old or younger, and 92% of firearm deaths for those between the ages of 5 and 14.

And over time, the U.S. is accounting for an ever-larger share of people killed by guns in these countries. The U.S. firearm death rate increased nearly 10% between 2003 and 2015, even as it fell in other high-income countries.

Compared to countries of all sizes and incomes, the firearm-related death rate in the U.S. ranks 32nd in the world, according to a study by the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. (Topping that list, which uses data from 2019, were El Salvador, Venezuela and Guatemala.) When the total number of firearm deaths are counted, the U.S. ranks second in the world, after only Brazil, according to a study using data from 2016.

One factor in America's high level of gun deaths is the massive number of guns in the country: Civilians in the U.S. own an estimated 393 million firearms, according to a 2018 study by the Small Arms Survey. That's nearly 46% of the estimated 857 million civilian-held firearms in the world. That's a striking proportion, when the U.S. has just 4% of the world's population.

The numbers of gun-related deaths and injuries are climbing

Five years ago, just under 4,000 children and teens up to the age of 17 were killed or injured by gun violence, according to the Gun Violence Archive. By the end of last year, that number was up 43% to 5,692. Some 1,560 of these children and teenagers died.

So far in 2022, at least 653 children and teens in the U.S. have been killed by guns. Another 1,609 children and teens have been injured by firearms, according to the archive.

Loading...

The highest rates for gun-related deaths, according to an analysis by the National Safety Council, are among people ages 15 to 34.

Many guns come from inside the home

In 2012, the shooter at Sandy Hook used his mother's guns to kill her and 26 children and school staff members. In the 2018 shooting at Santa Fe High School in Texas, the shooter used his father's guns.

Research published last year and funded by the National Institute of Justice (a program of the U.S. Justice Department) suggests that's very much the norm. The analysis examined mass shootings that took place from 1966 to 2019 and found that over 80% of mass shooters at K-12 schools stole guns from family members.

"The findings support safe storage of guns," the authors write. But as the analysis points out, "there are no federal laws requiring safe storage of guns, and no federal standards for firearm locks." The NIJ said the data "also support 'red flag' laws permitting law enforcement or family members to petition a state court to order temporary removal of a firearm from a person who presents a danger."

Most people killed by gun violence don't die in mass shootings

The Uvalde massacre was the 27th school shooting in the country this year.

Though mass shootings tend to get the most attention, they are not the cause of most firearm deaths in the U.S.

In 2020, 45,222 people died from gun-related injuries, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - about 124 people each day. Of those, 54% were suicides, and 43% were murders, according to a Pew Research Center analysis. Other firearm-related deaths were unintentional, involved law enforcement or had undetermined circumstances, according to Pew.

That same year, 513 people died in mass shootings, according to the Gun Violence Archive - meaning mass shootings accounted for about 1% of all gun deaths in 2020. The archive defines a mass shooting as one in which four or more victims were shot, whether they were injured or killed.

According to the Brady Campaign to End Gun Violence, nearly 8,000 children and teens on average were shot and more than 1,600 died each year between 2015 and 2019. Of those who died, 52% were murdered, 40% died from gun suicide and 5% were killed unintentionally.

Youth suicide using guns is rising

An analysis by The Trace, a newsroom focused on gun violence, found a sharp rise in firearm suicide rates among young people in their teens and 20s in the U.S. between 2011 and 2020.

"The firearm suicide rate more than doubled among Black, Latino, and Asian teenagers, while it increased by 88 percent for Native Americans and 35 percent for white teens," the analysis found.

A study published last year looked at 134 cases of suicide among children between the ages of 5 and 11 in the U.S. between 2013 and 2017. Researchers found that guns were the second most common method of suicide. When guns were used, in every case where details were available, "the child obtained a firearm stored unsafely in the home," according to the analysis.

Young people are calling for action

"Every single time I walk into a classroom, the first thing I do is find the nearest exit," says Osadolor-Hernandez, the UChicago student and anti-gun violence advocate.

Instead of being focused on her professor's lecture, she finds herself constantly glancing around to see if anyone looks suspicious.

"Every single time anyone just reaches into their backpack, there is a sense of panic that I feel," she says. "It's extremely frustrating to have to feel this way, and it's extremely hard to live with this reality."

She says many people seem to have growing concern for the problem. Now she wants to see the same from lawmakers: "We are demanding action from them and it is time for them to listen to us, and to truly, truly change the way that this country is functioning."

Osadolor-Hernandez says she sees the harrowing numbers and fears for future generations.

"I even wonder if I want to have kids when I'm older," she says, "because do I want to put my kids in the situation where they might be shot and I won't be able to live with them again? It's a real fear that I live with every single day of my life."
If you or someone you know may be considering suicide, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 (en español: 1-888-628-9454; deaf and hard of hearing: 1-800-799-4889) or the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741.

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The U.S. is uniquely terrible at protecting children from gun violence

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This week's massacre in Uvalde, Texas, was yet another grim reminder that in the U.S., where civilians own nearly 400 million firearms, children are more likely to die from gun violence than in any other high-income country. The killing of 19 fourth-graders and two adults at Robb Elementary School has unleashed an outpouring of grief and sadness across the nation.

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https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2201761

By: CDC

This shows that in the recent years, as indicated by 2020, firearm death rates have skyrocket from about 4.5 per 100,000 to about 6 per 100,000 in the span of 1-3 years. If this pattern continues how long do we have until all youth is dead. The Car industry is innovating and becoming safer whilst the gun industry is just getting more dangerous and innovating for more efficient gun homicide.

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America is now more dangerous than 27 other first world countries.

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America is now more dangerous than 27 other first world countries.

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https://www.statesman.com/story/news/politics/politifact/2022/12/05/gun-homicides-rates-us-european-union-fact-check/69697014007/

By: Warren Fiske

The quotes Virginia Delegate Cliff Hayes Jr., “When you compare us here in this country to the European Union, we’re something like 23 times more likely for these incidents to occur here” (Fiske 2). The article would then go on to state, “The U.S. firearm homicide rate in 2019 was 4.11 people per 100,000, compared to 0.19 in the 27-nation European Union. Bulgaria had the EU’s highest firearms homicide rate 0.56 per 100,000 – more than seven times lower than the U.S” ( Fiske 5). These pieces of evidence show how different America is to other first world countries. Let it soak in that there is a 22% less chance you will die in a country in the European Union than in America. This could majorly impact America’s population, America has been known to house immigrants and refugees in search of a safe more better life. However, how safe are they really, and how safe are citizens?

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Gun possession continues to increase even after mass shootings

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Gun possession continues to increase even after mass shootings

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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/dec/15/americans-bought-150m-guns-decade-sandy-hook-shooting?scrlybrkr=49a0e161

By: Lois Beckett

This article shows how American gun possession can correlate to homicides. One third of the American population claims to own a firearm; the article states, “One large survey conducted by the Harvard and Northeastern University researchers estimates that the number of American gun owner rose by 20 million since 2015, from an estimated 55 million to 75 million people” (Beckett 5). This shows that gun possession continues to rise in America, but how much of this gun possession directly correlates to gun homicides? The article answers this question by later picturing how 88% of gun owner need them for “crime protection”; a superstition that has only risen as prisons are shut down in the covid epidemic. This shows that crime protection is the main reason for the purchase of guns, but how can we differentiate attackers and defenders. The article then goes on to talk about how guns are so accessible they are compared to toilet paper. What this means is that, when toilet paper was made everyone wanted to get their hands on it. Since guns are only “for protection” why not give everyone a gun.

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Americans bought an estimated 150m guns in the past decade, as a drumbeat of mass shootings and other violence has convinced more people that owning a gun for self-defense will make them safer.

In a country where the leading cause of gun death is gun suicide, public health experts say a growth in gun ownership is likely to lead to more deaths.

In the 10 years since the mass shooting at Sandy Hook elementary school, the US gun safety movement has gained some political power, while the National Rifle Association has been weakened by internal disputes and legal battles. At the same time, overall gun ownership in the US appears to have grown.

People who choose to own guns are still a minority of the US population, with about a third of Americans saying they personally own a gun, and fewer than half saying they live in a house with a gun, according to survey estimates.

But the total number of American gun owners appears to have risen in recent years. One large survey conducted by Harvard and Northeastern University researchers estimates that the number of American gun owners rose by 20 million since 2015, from an estimated 55 million to 75 million people.

The number of Americans who choose to carry guns in public also appears to be rising, with 16 million people saying in 2019 that they carried a handgun at least once a month, and 6 million saying they did so daily, according to a new research study. That's roughly double the number who said they regularly carried handguns in public in 2015.

Surveys over the past few decades show that an increasing proportion of Americans say they own a gun for self-defense, not hunting or recreation, said Deborah Azrael, a Harvard firearms researcher. In 2021, Gallup found, 88% percent of gun owners cited "crime protection" as their reason for owning a firearm.

Americans' perception of the risk of crime and violence has often not lined up with reality: Gallup also found that, for nearly three decades, large majorities of Americans said almost every year that crime had risen nationally since the year before, even in the years when it was falling sharply. In 2013, Pew found that the majority of the public was simply unaware that the country's gun homicide rate had fallen nearly 50% since 1993.

In the past three years, the coronavirus pandemic, nationwide protests against police violence and the insurrection at the US capitol supercharged US gun sales, with an estimated 5 million Americans becoming gun owners in 2020 and 2021, researchers found.

The top reasons for buying a gun early in the pandemic, according to a survey of California residents, were concerns about lawlessness, concerns about people being released from prison, the "government going too far", and "government collapse".

Lisa Caso sells guns at Caso's Gun-A-Rama store in Jersey City, New Jersey. Women are estimated to make up half of new gun purchasers since 2019. Photograph: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

"When social problems happen, guns are one of the tools at the disposal of Americans", and for many Americans, they are "a familiar tool", Jennifer Carlson, a sociologist who studies US firearms culture, told the Guardian in an early 2020 interview, as gun sales surged. "If there's a run on toilet paper, what's going to be next? It's just the prudent thing to get a gun."

The majority of US gun owners are still white men, and the largest proportion live in the South, according to survey data. But research studies and gun industry sources agree that the demographics of gun ownership is shifting, with women estimated to make up half of new gun purchasers since 2019, and people of color making up nearly half, according to one major survey. Between 2019 and 2021, an estimated 5% of Black adults in the United States bought a gun for the first time.

Because of the political influence of gun rights advocates, there is no official government data on how many Americans own guns, or even exactly how many guns there are in civilian hands. Estimates range from 345m to 393m to more than 420m, according to the firearm industry trade group's most recent data.

While there's lots of interest in the eye-popping total number of guns in the US, "what matters is how these guns are distributed across people and households", said Matthew Miller, a Northeastern University professor who specializes in firearm research, and what that distribution means for their increased risk of gun suicide, homicide or accidental injury.

A woman visits the Sandy Hook Permanent Memorial in Newtown, Connecticut. Photograph: Michelle McLoughlin/Reuters

His 2021 study found that a surge of gun buying before and during the pandemic meant that an additional 5 million US children now live in households with guns.

The best proxy for US gun sales over time is examining the number of federal criminal background checks conducted on gun sales by licensed firearms dealers. (In many states, individuals can sell guns to each other without any background check.)

Two widely cited estimates, both based on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms' background check statistics, put the number of gun sales in the US since January 2013 at around 150m, though that figure is likely an undercount.

Because Americans can buy multiple firearms at one time with a single background check, and because some states also allow people with a concealed weapons license to buy guns without background checks, the actual number of gun sales in the past decade is almost certainly higher than 150m, said Mark Oliva of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a gun industry trade group that estimates there were at least 152m guns sales since January 2013.

At the same time, the number of background checks over the past decade will also include some double-counting of the same guns re-sold between people, said Jurgen Brauer, the co-founder of Small Arms Analytics, a firearms data company. Brauer estimates that, by the end of December, the total number of US gun sales in the past decade will reach nearly 164m.

Gun deaths have been rising in recent years, with a stark 35% increase in the nation's firearm homicide rate in 2020, but a study that examined the pandemic surge in gun sales and increase in gun murders at the state level found no evidence of a clear association.

There were nearly 21,000 firearm homicides and more than 26,000 firearm suicides across the US in 2021, according to preliminary data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

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Americans bought at least 150m guns in decade since Sandy Hook shooting

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Americans bought an estimated 150m guns in the past decade, as a drumbeat of mass shootings and other violence has convinced more people that owning a gun for self-defense will make them safer. In a country where the leading cause of gun death is gun suicide, public health experts say a growth in gun ownership is likely to lead to more deaths.

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Gun homicides are due to social media or gangs

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Gun homicides are due to social media or gangs

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https://www.11alive.com/article/news/local/community-attempting-to-find-solutions-gun-violence-among-kids-in-metro-atlanta/85-359bb618-08e2-44b3-933d-27abf887fa51

By: Karys Belger

In late December of 2022, a social media dispute broke out. One thing led to another until two Atlanta gangs in the Greenbriar Apartments had a firefight. Both a 14 year old and 16 year old boy were shot and killed. There is a growing list of kids getting hurt by guns, and there isn’t much clarity. We know in areas with high crime guns are more common, but this just leads to more crime. They say guns are for protection, but gun possession leads to more hostile and dangerous crimes. Atlanta activists are trying hard to try and unite gangs and teenagers in rough neighborhoods but it only ends in more disputes. Some teenagers these days are so engrossed in violence, they don’t feel remorse for shooting a opposing gang member.

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Saturday's shooting at Atlanta's Greenbriar apartment complex is the latest in a growing list of incidents involving youth gun violence.

ATLANTA - The morning after a shootout near her Atlanta home, resident Gwen Smith said she was sad to hear about yet another incident involving gun violence among teenagers.

"These children are shooting guns at each other and that's the saddest thing," she said. "I feel so sad."

A 14-year-old and 16-year-old boy died in a shootout between two groups at The Retreat at Greenbriar Apartments Saturday. The incident stemmed from an argument on social media, according to Atlanta Police.

Smith told 11Alive she was disappointed to hear about the shooting and hoped people in the community would take a more active role in helping children become better at conflict resolution.

"I think the schools should have more things for the children to do, like we did when we were kids," she said. "That school was open on the weekends. We went play basketball and stuff like that. But, you know, we need to get that back some of it anyway to relieve stress."

Saturday's shooting is the latest in a growing list of incidents where someone under the age of 18 has been hurt because of an incident involving a firearm.

Community activist Bruce Griggs has spent years trying to address gun violence through his organization Operation Correct Start, Inc. He said now is the time for people to try new tactics to address this concern.

"We've got to start attacking this as a public health issue," he explained. "We cannot and we can no longer think that we can play basketball and get rid of the disease of ours. We can no longer think that we can have a chess tournament."

Griggs said these programs are important, but he believes it will be more effective for children to have intervention early -- before they are susceptible to influences that cause bad behavior.

Griggs also explained the holidays present challenges for many children who don't have the structure school provides during this time of year.

"A lot of people look at the holidays as a joyful time, a time of giving happiness. But a lot of these kids that I deal with, this is not that cool to not have to go to school, because for some of these young people, school is the only safe haven they have. School is the only place they get a well-balanced meal -- it's that important for them."

In addition to Griggs, Smith said that more community intervention will be needed in order to prevent tragic gun violence among young people.

"We don't need the war in the community, and plus, especially our children," Smith said.

Eventually, Griggs wants to see people make a more effective investment in solutions to prevent crime completely.

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Community members attempting to find solutions to increasing gun violence among kids

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Saturday's shooting at Atlanta's Greenbriar apartment complex is the latest in a growing list of incidents involving youth gun violence. ATLANTA - The morning after a shootout near her Atlanta home, resident Gwen Smith said she was sad to hear about yet another incident involving gun violence among teenagers.

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https://www.statista.com/chart/14468/us-civilians-own-393-million-firearms/        BY: Niall McCarthy

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Infographic about Gun possession in America vs other countries

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Infographic about Gun possession in America vs other countries

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This infographic by McCarthy shows there is a clearly drop off between the leading country in gun possession, america, and the second largest gun possessed country, Yemen. USA, is more than half of Yemens gun possession rate and absolutely overpowers many of the other countries gun possessions across the world. It’s no wonder that more guns mean more gun homicides. So, this shows that America is the most likely country to die of gun violence out of 11 other countries. This may affect Americans as gun possession continues to rise in the twenty-first century.

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Sandy Hook Promise public service announcements

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Sandy Hook Promise public service announcements

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https://www.sandyhookpromise.org/psa/

About 10 years ago 20 children and 6 teachers were shot and killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School. This is the inspiration of the Sandy Hook Promise. This organization fights for guns to be outlawed. Who knows better than the people who experienced first hand gun homicide through their friends and family. These videos share awareness and teach watchers about the horror of introducing guns to school.

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Public Service Announcements – Sandy Hook Promise

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Our PSA campaigns raise awareness of the warning signs that can lead to school shootings, youth violence, and other harmful acts. Watch and share.

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The NRA’s affect on new gun protection policies

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The NRA’s affect on new gun protection policies

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https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-35261394

By: BBC

The National Rifles Association is very prominent in the gun security argument. It is the most powerful special interest lobby group with the power to influence congress. We see this done as Texas senator rejects gun control, a movement made by the citizens in hopes to prevent school shootings. Prosecutors and pro gun controllers want to abolish the organization, doing so would make a big change in congress and the longtime dispute of un-legalizing firearms. The NRA also spends 250 million dollars in 2020, all to support gun ranges and gun education; the NRA even spends 3 million a year to influence gun policy. This shows that American groups are very corrupt, they spend money to keep gun control out of their states. This is a major flaw in the fairness of the debate against guns.

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US gun control: What is the NRA and why is it so powerful?

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The National Rifle Association plays a central role in the contentious issue of US gun control.

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The NRA “deeply disappointed” with re-introduced Bipartisan Gun Control

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The NRA “deeply disappointed” with re-introduced Bipartisan Gun Control

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https://home.nra.org/statements/nra-statement-on-gun-control-package/

The NRA states, “We are deeply disappointed in the passage of this gun control bill” (NRA 2). This shows they are clearly biased towards these gun bills and would do everything to prevent the government from changing the accessibility of their rifles. The site continues to criticize Biden’s bipartisan gun control bill by saying, “The NRA cannot and will not support senseless gun control measures that some in Congress have already said is just a first step that “paves the way” for additional gun control that will only infringe on the rights of the law abiding. These measures were hastily jammed through ambiguous language and over-broad definitions to appease gun control supporters in Congress” (NRA 3). This shows the NRA doesn’t agree with Congress’ decision, however no wonder they do not since they are a rifles association. The NRA continues to fight against this bill in desperate measure to keep them out of America.

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On Thursday, SCOTUS released a historic decision in the NYSRPA v. Bruen case when they found the Second Amendment protects the right of law-abiding Americans to carry a firearm outside of the home. Despite the hysteria from many gun control extremists, this is a step in the right direction that simply provides good people the ability to protect themselves and their loved ones outside their home.

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By: Daniel Nass and Champe Barton

This chart shows how gun sales have increased since the last millennium. By 2012, gun sales skyrocketed, they reached a high point in 2020; 2020 sold 21 million guns. Gun sales started to decrease as of 2020 however if you compare gun sales in ‘21 and ‘22 you will see they are still significantly larger than last decade. Hopefully as gun laws become more strict as of President Biden’s new introduced gun control the pattern of gun sale furthermore decrease.

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https://www.pbs.org/newshour/spc/multimedia/gunmap/     THE STRIPES REPRESENT THE BILL IS IN MULTIPLE LEGISLATION STAGES

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State legislations passing gun control laws

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State legislations passing gun control laws

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By: Elizabeth Shell

This infographic shows that states, which have the power to alter and control these gun laws hold debates in the state legislation. It shows how a large portion of the United States still has weak to no gun laws, and most of the country hasn’t even considered changing their gun laws. The other large portion in the country is in legislation to loosen their gun laws, this would case guns to be more accessible. An interesting debate considering there are two very different sides.

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https://cdn.jwplayer.com/previews/ocEdwAXX

By: Tara Law

This shows that there is things other states can do to limit gun homicides. As shown through other evidence in the past couple of years California has leaded America in the most gun deaths. However, if California, the largest U.S state can turn their violent nature around so can any other U.S state. California did this making the criteria for purchasing a gun more specific; one must have a clear criminal record in terms of violent acts to buy a gun. It is also illegal if either the seller or buyer do not have a license; California even made mandatory background checks and wait period before guns can be delivered. California’s initiative in early October of this year could be the inspiration for a less gun friendly America.

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As gun violence rates are climbing nationwide, California has a completely opposite trend. For more than 20 years-except for two years during the pandemic-the Golden State's rate of firearm violence has consistently decreased. California has one of the lowest firearm mortality rates in the country. Its residents are less likely to die from a gunshot than almost anywhere else in the country, and are 25% less likely to die in a mass shooting.

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Here's How California Lowered Its Gun Violence

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As gun violence rates are climbing nationwide, California has a completely opposite trend. For more than 20 years-except for two years during the pandemic-the Golden State's rate of firearm violence has consistently decreased. California has one of the lowest firearm mortality rates in the country.

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President Biden’s take on the shooting at Uvalde, Texas

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President Biden’s take on the shooting at Uvalde, Texas

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https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2022/06/02/remarks-by-president-biden-on-gun-violence-in-america/

By: Joe Biden

In this speech Biden states that he will take action against the gun epidemic. Biden later states he doesn’t want to take away the right to bear arms. However, Biden states, “The rights granted by the Second Amendment not unlimited. It never has been”(Biden 10). Biden made it clear he will stand with rightful gun owners who have done no harm to their communities and carry guns for protection. Next Biden states, “We should reinstate the assault weapons ban and high-capacity magazines that we passed in 1994 with bipartisan support in Congress and the support of law enforcement. Nine categories of semi-automatic weapons were included in that ban, like AK-47s and AR-15s. And in the 10 years it was law, mass shootings went down.  But after Republicans let the law expire in 2004 and those weapons were allowed to be sold again, mass shootings tripled” (Biden 18). This is important because it proves without a doubt that powerful rifles play a big part in American homicides. Biden also blames the Republicans and their gun friendly attitude towards gun control. So, this brings up the question: How can we trust President Biden in this speech. Keep in mind he speaks in front of the families at Uvalde, Texas. In addition might President Biden be biased against the Republican party and try and pin the blame on them?

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Remarks by President Biden on Gun Violence in America | The White House

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Cross Hall 7:32 P.M. EDT THE PRESIDENT: On Memorial Day this past Monday, Jill and I visited Arlington National Cemetery. As we entered those hallowed grounds, we saw rows and rows of crosses among the rows of headstones, with other emblems of belief, honoring those who paid the ultimate price on…

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Illinois state legislature proposed a series of gun control measures week of 12/12

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Illinois state legislature proposed a series of gun control measures week of 12/12

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https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/illinois-lawmakers-begin-hearings-on-new-bill-for-stricter-gun-control-monday/?scrlybrkr=49a0e161

By: Mugo Odigwe

Just this month new states have joined the fight for gun control. Due to this article being so recent, it shows that a new initiative has taken place in state legislatures across the country. This will be names the Protect Illinois Communities Act, the goal being to ban assault and high powered weapons. This is a big deal, as one of Americas highest gun homicidal cities is in Illinois, Chicago. The act will raise the legal firearm license age to 21 and stop illegal gun trafficking. The citizens of Chicago urged lawmakers to pass the bill after various massacres. The bill was heard by the house Judiciary Committee on the 12th. This shows that once dangerous states are doing all they can to limit gun violence, as many other states join the fight for gun control, America becomes a safer place.

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Illinois lawmakers begin hearings on new bill for stricter gun control

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The goal is to ban assault style weapons.

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Bipartisan Gun Control Act 2021-present day

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Bipartisan Gun Control Act 2021-present day

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https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/7910/text

This website explains the Bipartisan Gun Control Acts. The act was introduced in May of 2022 and has been received in the Senate as of June. This act will raise the federal firearms license to sell or deliver semi-automatic centerfire rifles of shotguns to 21 years of age. Create stricter laws against gun trafficking, and prohibit out of state purchases. Require all firearms to be traceable by the government, in other words no secret deals. Require safer storage of firearms in homes, factories and stores. Abolish bump stocks (stocks that can turn a regular pistol into a semi-automatic one). Lastly, decrease the size of ammo cartridges. If this bill can pass it would make sure guns don’t fall into the wrong hands, through these policies getting ones hands on a gun would be harder than ever.