Gun violence has been dominating almost all news outlets for the past couple of years and seems to be on everyone’s minds lately. It seems that mass shootings making major headlines has all but become the norm in America. The most recent of these mass shootings happened just last week, when two gunmen opened fired at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, CA, killing 14 people and injuring 21 others.
This tragedy came just weeks after three people were shot at a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood, and six weeks after eight people were shot and nine were injured at Umpqua Community College in Oregon. After this particular mass shooting, President Obama had to once again address the nation about America’s unique and horrifying gun problem. In his address, he stated, “as I said just a few months ago, and I said months before that, and I said each time we see one of these mass shootings, our thoughts and prayers are not enough… it does not capture the heartache and grief and anger that we should feel. And it does nothing to prevent the carnage from being inflicted someplace else in America next week or a couple of months from now.”
10 shocking gun violence statistics (from the year 2000 to 2015)
- On June 18, 2015, President Barack Obama made a statement after worshippers were shot in an African-American church in Charleston, South Carolina, saying that “at some point, we as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this type of violence does not happen in other countries… with this kind of frequency.” Contrary to half of what President Obama said, there are cases of gun violence in other countries, but absolutely not at the frequency as in America. It was estimated that Americans are 20 times more likely to die from gun violence as citizens of other civilized countries.
- America has around 4.5 percent of the world’s population--that small percent owns almost half of the civilian-owned guns in the world.
- Seven out of 10 active shootings are in schools and businesses.
- During his term, President Obama has had to address the nation 17 times on the issue of gun violence in the U.S., the most recent being last Thursday when 16 people were killed (including the shooters) and 21 were wounded in an attack on a public health center in San Bernardino, California. (BBC News)
- According to CNN, more people now die from guns than from cars. For decades, one of the most dangerous pieces of machinery was a car -- and now it’s a gun.
- In 2015 alone there have been 353 mass shootings. A mass shooting is defined by the FBI as being any incident where at least four people are murdered with a gun.
- Within the previous number of shootings in 2015, 62 of them have been in schools, and 161 incidents since the devastating shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012. (CNN)
- It is estimated that 12,223 people have been killed and an additional 24,722 people injured in the U.S. by firearms -- just this year alone.
- On average, gun violence incidents happen about once every two weeks, whether they make the major headlines or not. (CNN)
- Gun violence kills more Americans than terrorism. (CNN)
Is America still shocked by mass shootings?
We receive updates, send our prayers and thoughts toward those killed or injured and their families, we tweet, post a status on Facebook and then it seems that we do it all again next week or next month. Daily activities, like going to the movies, sending your child to school, or going to church are now places and activities that people have to fear in the back of their minds. Daily activities that used to be so mundane and “safe” are now things that have been tainted by violence. They are places where children, students, men, and women have been killed. Whether you are in favor of our second amendment right to bear arms and the view that “guns don’t kill people, people kill people” or you are in favor of making guns completely illegal, we all agree that something in America needs to change. As President Obama said in his 17th address on gun violence, our prayers and thoughts are not enough and they do absolutely nothing to prevent the tragedies to come in the following months if we, as a country, keep up this pace of violence.
Full reports & data can be found here:
