Gun Madness

Sportscaster Bob Costas ignited a firestorm when he referenced a piece by former NFL player Jason Whitlock on the murder-suicide by a Kansas City Chief linebacker.  Whitlock's primary point was that the Chiefs' game should not have been played the day after the tragedy.  His secondary point was that our gun culture is out out of control.  Costas, paraphrasing Whitlock, said during his halftime editorial: "“If Jovan Belcher didn’t possess a gun, he and Kasandra Perkins would both be alive today.”  The response from the right-wing echo chamber and Second Amenment rights nuts was as expected.  Outrage.  Costas knows nothing. He should be fired.  Etc. Etc. Etc.

Actually Costas was just stating a fact.  It's easier to kill someone and yourself with a gun than almost any other weapon.  Domestic disputes, arguments - these can escalate easily.  That the ready availability of guns increases the murder rates is uncontestable.  A 2003 study of gun violence in 23 populous high- income countries found the following:

• The United States has more firearms per capita than the other countries, more handguns per capita, and has the most permissive gun control laws of all the countries.
• Among the 23 countries studied, 80% of all firearm deaths occurred in the United States; 86 % of women killed by firearms were U.S. women, and 87% of all children aged 0 to 14 killed by firearms were U.S. children.
• U.S. homicide rates were 6.9 times higher than rates in the other high-income countries, despite similar non-lethal crime and violence rates. The firearm homicide rate in the U.S. was 19.5 times higher. 
• For 15-year olds to 24-year olds, firearm homicide rates in the United States were 42.7 times higher than in the other countries.
• For U.S. males, firearm homicide rates were 22.0 times higher, and for U.S. females, firearm homicide rates were 11.4 times higher.
• U.S. suicide rates overall were 30 percent lower than the other countries, but the U.S. firearm suicide rate was 5.8 times higher.
• The U.S. unintentional firearm death rate was 5.2 times higher than that of the other high-income countries combined.

Need a gun for protection?  Think again.  A family member is twelve times more likely to die than for you to use it on a violent intruder. 

Somewhere in the ballpark of 10,000 murders per year in the US are caused by guns, NRA money bankrolls elections, and gun nuts control the national conversation on this deadly issue.  There was hardly a whisper about the inadequacy of our gun control laws during the Presidential campaign.  Senator Frank Lautenberg's bill to reinstate the assault weapons ban didn't even make it to the floor of the Senate. 

December 8 marks the 32 nd anniversary of John Lennon's murder by a crazed gunman in New York.  By my count, that makes more than 300,000 gun murders committed since then.  It's time to stop the madness.

Links

Useful organizations
Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence
Mayors Against Illegal Guns

What the Rest of the Civilized World Thinks and How It Acts
A Land Without Guns: How Japan Has Virtually Eliminated Shooting Deaths
The Rest of the First World Is Astounded by America's Enduring Gun Culture