Koon Yew Yin 5 June 2021
Almost every day, CNN reports gun violence in US. Currently more than 100 firearm deaths every day. Mass shootings is America’s killing culture
There are more guns than people in the United States, with 121 firearms for every 100 residents.
Fortunately, Malaysia has a mandatory death sentence for anyone caught with a gun without a valid gun permit. As a result, there is no gun violence in Malaysia.
Gun violence in the United States results in tens of thousands of deaths and injuries annually. In 2018, the most recent year for which data are available as of 2021, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention‘s (CDC’s) National Centre for Health Statistics reports 38,390 deaths by firearm, of which 24,432 were by suicide and 13,958 were homicides. The rate of firearm deaths per 100,000 people rose from 10.3 per 100,000 in 1999 to 12 per 100,000 in 2017, with 109 people dying per day, being 11.9 per 100,000 in 2018. In 2010, there were 19,392 firearm-related suicides, and 11,078 firearm-related homicides in the U.S. In 2010, 358 murders were reported involving a rifle while 6,009 were reported involving a handgun; another 1,939 were reported with an unspecified type of firearm.
About 1.4 million people have died from firearms in the U.S. between 1968 and 2011. This number includes all deaths resulting from a firearm, including suicides, homicides, and accidents.
Gun violence against other persons is most common in poor urban areas and is frequently associated with gang violence, often involving male juveniles or young adult males. Although mass shootings are covered extensively in the media, mass shootings in the United States account for only a small fraction of gun-related deaths. School shootings are described as a “uniquely American crisis”, according to The Washington Post in 2018. Children at U.S. schools have active shooter drills. According to USA Today, in 2019 “about 95% of public schools now have students and teachers practice huddling in silence, hiding from an imaginary gunman.”
Gun Sales in US
In 2020, 40 million guns were sold in US. There are more guns than people in the United States, with 121 firearms for every 100 residents, (although the weapons are concentrated in about a third of U.S. households.)
U.S. gun sales in January 2021 surged 60% to 4,137,480. This makes it the largest single month since figures started to be recorded in 1998.
The rise is part of a trend. Gun sales in the United States rose 40% last year to 39,695,315. The figure also represents the high-water mark in gun sales since the current record-keeping system went into effect. Increases by state in January varied substantially, as has been the case for years.
Americans bought guns in record numbers in 2020 during a year of unrest — and the surge is continuing.
Gun sales in the United States reached a record level last year, with the biggest increases in background checks for firearms overlapping with months of social and political unrest, according to industry and government data.
During the unrest following the police killing of George Floyd, background checks surged again: to 3.9 million in June and 3.6 million in July. That compares to 2.3 million background checks in June 2019 and 2 million in July 2019.
And the political uncertainty after the presidential election overlapped with a jump in gun background checks in November, at 3.6 million, and December at 3.9 million. That compares to 2.6 million in November 2019 and 2.9 million in December 2019.
Inside Stoddard’s Range and Guns.
The jump in gun sales also continued into 2021. In January, as rioters stormed the US Capitol and a new administration took office, the FBI was swamped with 4.3 million requests for background checks — up from 2.7 million requests last January. Those checks are initiated by gun sellers.
Mass shootings is America’s killing culture
Lost amid the weekly spasms of gun violence – the latest a shooting spree outside a Miami-area banquet hall early Sunday that left two dead and 21 wounded – are the numbers documenting America’s unique love affair with firearms.
Whether the result of a constitutionally guaranteed right to own a gun, or a natural consequence of a U.S. history forged by conflict and rugged individualism, or both, USA’s gun culture is without peer.
There are more guns than people in the United States, with 121 firearms for every 100 residents, (although the weapons are concentrated in about a third of U.S. households.)
