Friday, September 13, 2019

Mass Shootings: Everything Is Just As It Should Be


Donald Trump has recently announced that there is no need for any strengthening of background checks, certainly no need for any further gun regulation, in the United States. In doing so, he was following orders from the NRA, whose advice he admitted was very, very important to him. Therefore, it appears, everything is exactly as it should be. We have exactly the right amount of gun safety, and the mass shootings that we have had and continue to have—I haven’t checked the news yet today—is a small price to pay for the freedom of crazy people to carry guns around and be ready to use them at a moment’s notice. From the Trump-NRA viewpoint, there should be no legal restrictions on firearms, until the moment the first shot is fired, and then the gunman should be neutralized.

I would like to present here a list of the deadliest mass shootings since 1949, according to an article published August 19, 2019, on CNN.


Number killed
Year
Place
Shooter/s
58
2017
Las Vegas
White man
49
2016
Orlando
Arab man
32
2007
Virginia Tech
Asian man
27
2012
Sandy Hook CT
White man
26*
2017
Sutherland Springs TX
White man
23
1991
Killeen TX
White man
22
2019
El Paso
White man
21
1984
San Ysidro CA
White man
18
1966
University of Texas
White man
17
2018
High school in Florida
White youth
14*
2015
San Bernardino CA
Arab couple
13
2009
Binghamton NY
Asian man
13
1999
Columbine CO
White youths
13
1983
Seattle WA
Asian men
13
1982
Wilkes-Barre PA
Black man
13
1949
Camden NJ
White man
12
2019
Virginia Beach
Black man
12
2018
Thousand Oaks CA
White man
12
2013
Washington Navy Yard
Black man
12
2012
Aurora CO
White man
12
1999
Atlanta
White man
11
2018
Pittsburgh synagogue
White man
10
2018
Santa Fe TX
White youth
10
2009
Alabama
White man
491
Total


*includes unborn child


This, apparently, is an acceptable situation. Let us consider these data a little further:

Ethnicity                     Incidents         Deaths
White man                   15                    279
Arabs                           3                      77
Asian man/men           3                      58
White youth/s              3                      40
Black man                   3                      37
Total                            27                    491

From this tabulation, we can see that all ethnicities are capable of mass violence, but it is overwhelmingly a phenomenon of white males.

These incidents have become much much much much more common in recent years. Consider this tabulation:

Year                Incidents         Deaths
1949                1                      13
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960
1961
1962
1963
1964
1965
1966                1                      18
1697
1968
1969
1970
1971
1972
1973
1974
1975
1976
1977
1978
1979
1980
1981
1982                1                      13
1983                1                      13
1984                1                      21
1985
1986                1                      14
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991                1                      23
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999                2                      25
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007                1                      32
2008
2009                3                      37
2010
2011
2012                2                      39
2013                1                      12
2014
2015                1                      14
2016                1                      49
2017                2                      84
2018                4                      50
2019                2                      34

There has been a huge acceleration of mass shootings. This is also, apparently, a situation that is acceptable to Trump and the NRA. And 2019 isn’t even over yet. I am not predicting that this acceleration will continue, but the rate will certainly not decline. Other countries such as France think we are freaking crazy. Their conclusion is understandable.

This essay, with an additional paragraph at the end, also appeared on my science blog.

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