Mass Shootings and American Carnage
W.J. Astore What can you say about mass shootings in America that hasn't already been said? El Paso and Dayton (not Toledo, Mr. Trump) are the most recent in a seemingly unending series of shootings in America. A grim statistic: "Dayton was the 22nd mass killing in America this year, according to an AP/USA Today/Northeastern University mass murder database, which tracks all attacks involving four or more people killed." Or, alternatively: "The shooting in Ohio marked the 31st deadly mass shooting in America this year, defined as those where at least three people are killed by gun violence in a single episode." Or, alternatively:
"As of today (Aug. 4), we are 216 days into 2019. In the US over that time, more than 1,300 people have been injured or killed in mass shootings, according to data collected by the Gun Violence Archive.
The nonprofit organization, which is based in Washington, DC, defines a mass shooting as an event in which at least four people were shot. By its calculations, that means there have been some 292 mass shootings in the US since the year began."
In a prepared statement this morning, President Trump came out against white supremacy, racism, and bigotry, but tragically this is a clear case of "Do what I say, not what I do" for Trump. He compounded his hypocrisy by ignoring the ready availability of assault weapons, blaming instead mental illness and violent video games, among other factors. Firstly, the mentally ill are more likely to be the victims of violence than the perpetrators of it. Secondly, violent video games are a global phenomenon, but I'm not reading about dozens of mass shootings each year in Japan or Korea or Sweden. Trump's weak-willed words were thoroughly predictable; he's closely aligned with the National Rifle Association and its total fixation on gun rights to the exclusion of all others. He's not alone in this. When I taught in rural Pennsylvania, my students knew all about the Second Amendment. But their knowledge of the First, Fourth, and Fifth Amendments was far weaker. Yes, for many Americans guns really do trump free speech, freedom of the press, and similar rights. Predictably, Americans search for a magic bullet (pun intended) after these horrifying massacres to put a stop to them. How about better background checks? Eliminating extended magazines for the millions of assault rifles that are already in the hands of Americans? Better databases to track the mentally ill and the criminally violent? And so on. And we should have better background checks before you can buy a gun; we should stop selling military-style hardware; we should keep better track of dangerous people. But steps such as these will only stem the violence (if that). They won't put an end to it. Our culture is suffused with violence. At the same time, powerful forces are at play (stoked by our very own president) to divide us, to inflame our passions, to turn us against them, where "them" is some category of "other," as with the El Paso shooter, who targeted immigrants "invading" America. To stop mass shootings, we must change our culture of violence. This is made much more difficult by men like Trump, who've embraced violent rhetoric for their own selfish purposes. But we must change it nonetheless, else witness more carnage across America. Note to readers: This is not the first time I've written about violence and guns in America. Here are links to a few articles on this subject at Bracing Views: God, Country, Guns Guns and Grievances "People Who Cherish the Second Amendment" America: Submerged in a Violent Cesspool Lockdown America and School Shootings