by Tom Kando
August 3-4. Two more mass shootings. This time, in one day. El Paso, 20 dead, Dayton, 10.
So far, this year’s death count for mass shootings is 58 (Source: Mother Jones). Annualized, this comes to about 100. This is roughly the annual average over the past decade or so (except for a couple of years which experienced a very large event, such as the Las Vegas mass shooting in 2017, where 58 people died.
Using a different definition, Wikipedia’s number for 2019 so far is much higher: 246. (See Mass Shootings in the US ). For the full year, this would be over 400. However, the vast majority of the events on Wikipedia’s list resulted in only one death. So One could quibble about what constitutes mass shootings and what does not.
So here we go again, with the same old refrain: The media, the politicians, the main talking points:
1. Most obviously: “We need (more and better) gun control. Outlaw assault weapons, do background checks, etc.” Correct.
2. This is a uniquely American phenomenon. It doesn’t exist in other comparable (highly developed) societies. Correct.
3. The main obstacle to progress consists of power groups such as the NRA and their toadies, largely GOP leaders such as Mitch McConnell. Correct.
4. The problem is mental illness. The problem is that the mentally ill have access to guns. Hmm... Isn’t this subsumed under item #1, above? Do the Europeans, the Australians, the Canadians, the Japanese have less mental illness? I doubt it. So this argument is a diversionary tactic by the defenders of the status quo.
5. For the rest, it’s mostly eloquent speeches by presidential candidates such as Beto O’Rourke, Cory Booker, Joe Biden, etc. But that’s okay. It’s better than saying nothing. Let’s not let go of our outrage. Let’s not normalize the situation.
Now for some less obvious and less repetitive points:
1. The vast majority of mass shootings are committed by white supremacists, white racists, fascists, young white men. True, and horrific. This has the beginnings of a political movement, an incipient civil war.
2. We now recognize, conceptually and legally, a relatively new category of criminals: domestic terrorists. These people murder more Americans than all foreign terrorists put together.
And now, let me say something even less obvious: In order to calculate the annual number of people killed by mass murderers, let’s average the two sources I gave at the outset of this article, and say that it’s about 250. At the same time, the total annual number of murders in the US is about 17,500.
So here is my question:
What about the other 17,250 victims of murder each year? Nearly 50 people are murdered every day in America. Mass shootings? Not even 1 person per day.
The only good thing about mass shootings is that they remind us, once every other week or so, that too many Americans are murdered, because Americans have too many (fancy) fire arms. The mass shootings energize us, the anti-gun people. That’s good. In time, we may accomplish what Australia, New Zealand and most other civilized countries have accomplished, namely a reasonable level of gun control and gun eradication.
Controlling, eliminating, reducing the number of firearms must absolutely remain our central goal, no doubt about it. And the reason for this is not primarily because it will reduce the number of mass shootings (although it is likely do that, to some extent), but because it will make a big dent in THE OTHER 17,250 annual murders!
The selective attention paid by the media and by the public to the fewer than 250 annual deaths at the hands of mass murderers is not really rational. I don’t mean to sound callous, but, tragic as mass shootings are, their number pales in comparison to the total number if violent deaths. We are very upset about fewer than 250 victims, but we don’t fret about the other 17,250.
I’ll repeat my mantra: It’s simple, folks: the more guns there are, the more people will die from guns.
© Tom Kando 2019;All Rights Reserved
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10 comments:
In February 2017 Trump revoked The required background check from the Obama era to allow free access to firearms for the mentally ill.
His defense now is that the El Paso shooed is a mentally ill person. He refused to state white supremacy.
In either way, Trump is the culprit in both cases.
Ditto! We must take note of the devastating toll this is taking on everyone.
Thanks for this timely post.
Gail
Excellent presentation of data for a debate team. Most thought provoking. It's certainly good logic to try to address 17,000 murders rather than focus on 250. But all of them have similar causes and of course, the same result. The single dominent cause is some mental problem. The availability of assault rifles contributes to the problem; but, is not a major factor. Bomb making materials are not too difficult to obtain. Should we ban ammonia fertilizer and other necessary chemicals just because they can be used to make bombs? Can we ban gasoline because it can be used to make Molitav Cocktails? I think history will show that when the rifle was invented there were movements to curtail this weapon that will destroy mankind. Same thing when the knife, the sword and probably the club that was invented during the cave-man era.
I don't know the answer. I wish I did. I think all we can do is live our own lives in a manner that enhances good social skills such as compassion, kindness and integrity.
And Tom, thanks to you and Madeline for regularly stimulatiog our gray matter.
Tom, Is there any sociological studies on the causes of violence that attempt to correlate the entire range of possible cause. Then we could look to these correlations for less ad hominem and political solutions.
Are the shooters inner-directed or other-directed personalities (Riesman's "The Lonely Crowd")? (I personally feel this shift after WWII might create perpetual irresponsible childhood).
Do a higher percentage come from single-parent homes?
Were a higher percentage of latch-key kids?
Does public school teaching about feminism and white guilt cause young white men to feel meaningless and angry?
What were the grades did shooters get in school.
Did they attend public or private schools?
Are there fewer shootings where gun control laws are more strict?
What are hours per week spent on social media?
Had the shooters used drugs, which kinds?
Add to this list all the factors you consider possible for the creation of a violent personality. Then sociological correlations to all of these factors could help us get a better handle on what we can do about it.
Another excellent column, Tom.
Dear Tom,
That is a very good piece, succinct, precise.
I wanted to publish my comment on your blog but you have this silly picture exercise, which I won’t do. Robots are much better at it.
Best regards
Lees dit bericht van Tom Kando, de zoon van Ata Kando, die als wetenschapper woont in de VS.
I agree, The solution seems so simple. No more assault weapons immediately. Even legitimate hunters don't need assault weapons.
I thank the many comments, most of them seemingly agreeing with me. Marianne makes a point made by a huge number of people in the news the last couple of days, as does Gail.
Tom goes over many of the arguments which have been proposed for many years, and with which I disagree. Tom is a true gentleman (and he is - perhaps not coincidentally - a Southerner).
Gordon proposes a complex research agenda. I'll consider it.
Dave agrees, as does Elva.
To Bram, let me just reply (irrelevantly, and having nothing to do with the subject of the article) to his gripe about the blog process: The people in Silicon Valley (Google, etc.) have too much time on their hands. In the name of privacy and security, they install all sorts of gimmicks that make electronic communication more burdensome - like having to click on all the pictures that show a car, or a stoplight, or whatever, before being permitted to post a comment. The true reason why they do this is a simple one: Because they CAN.
Elsje tells her Dutch friends to read my post, as I am a “scientist” in America. (Like Bill Murray in the first Ghostbusters).
Barack Obama
2019-08-06 - 14 uur ·
Michelle and I grieve with all the families in El Paso and Dayton who endured these latest mass shootings. Even if details are still emerging, there are a few things we already know to be true.
First, no other nation on Earth comes close to experiencing the frequency of mass shootings that we see in the United States. No other developed nation tolerates the levels of gun violence that we do. Every time this happens, we’re told that tougher gun laws won’t stop all murders; that they won’t stop every deranged individual from getting a weapon and shooting innocent people in public places. But the evidence shows that they can stop some killings. They can save some families from heartbreak. We are not helpless here. And until all of us stand up and insist on holding public officials accountable for changing our gun laws, these tragedies will keep happening.
Second, while the motivations behind these shootings may not yet be fully known, there are indications that the El Paso shooting follows a dangerous trend: troubled individuals who embrace racist ideologies and see themselves obligated to act violently to preserve white supremacy. Like the followers of ISIS and other foreign terrorist organizations, these individuals may act alone, but they’ve been radicalized by white nationalist websites that proliferate on the internet. That means that both law enforcement agencies and internet platforms need to come up with better strategies to reduce the influence of these hate groups.
But just as important, all of us have to send a clarion call and behave with the values of tolerance and diversity that should be the hallmark of our democracy. We should soundly reject language coming out of the mouths of any of our leaders that feeds a climate of fear and hatred or normalizes racist sentiments; leaders who demonize those who don’t look like us, or suggest that other people, including immigrants, threaten our way of life, or refer to other people as sub-human, or imply that America belongs to just one certain type of people. Such language isn’t new – it’s been at the root of most human tragedy throughout history, here in America and around the world. It is at the root of slavery and Jim Crow, the Holocaust, the genocide in Rwanda and ethnic cleansing in the Balkans. It has no place in our politics and our public life. And it’s time for the overwhelming majority of Americans of goodwill, of every race and faith and political party, to say as much – clearly and unequivocally.
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