The USA is witnessing a surge in gun violence as the gun purchase rate has reached its highest level in 2020 and 2021, with an estimated 43 million guns purchased at a time when the rate of gun deaths also hit the highest records. According to Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), around 4,222 people died from gun-related injuries in the US in 2020, which includes gun murders and gun suicides.
The Report on Gun Related Injuries
According to Pew Research, gun violence has experienced a significant rise in recent years. In 2020, 54% of all gun-related deaths in the U.S. were suicides (24,292), and 43% were murders (19,384). The remaining gun deaths were unintentional (535), involved law enforcement (611), or had undetermined circumstances (400). The total number of deaths represents 14% increase from the previous year, a 23% increase from five years earlier, and a 43% increase from a decade prior. On a per capita basis, there were 13.6 gun deaths per 100,000 people in 2020, the highest rate since the mid-1990s. The states with the highest rate are Mississippi (28.6 per 100,000 people), Louisiana (26.3), Wyoming (25.9), Missouri (23.9), and Alabama (23.6). The gun death rate in the U.S. is much higher than most other developed nations. It is much higher than in countries such as Canada (2.1 per 100,000), Australia (1.0), France (2.7), Germany (0.9), and Spain (0.6).
Each Number Has a Story
While focusing much on data, statistics, and ranking, we often forget the tragic stories behind each number. Each life matters, and everyone has a different story. Gun violence not only affects the victim but also takes a significant toll on his family. “Gun violence is destroying our families. It’s an emotional roller coaster. The shooters think they’re harming that person, but in reality, it’s the family that suffers. Because the family is left to pick up the pieces, and it’s the children that suffer. The children who are left behind,” said Yarbrought Newson, victim’s mother, who lost his 23-year-old son to gun violence in Hammond.
Yarbrought Newson isn’t alone. There are thousands of people, and their sufferings remain unpublished. According to a recent poll, around 2 in 10 US adults say that either they or their close persons had a personal experience with gun violence. “A lot of mothers can’t eat, can’t sleep. They are still seeking justice. Everybody’s story doesn’t end the same. There are a lot of unsolved cases. Some cases could have been solved, but the killer got away because the justice system didn’t favor us,” the victim’s family member said. Angela Brooks, who lost her son Jullius Brooks on August 23, doesn’t understand why he was shot. Though the person charged with his murder case said that Jullius hurt his son earlier that day, it doesn’t give a justification to shoot him to death.
Even the survivors face severe trauma, which extends far beyond the immediate aftermath of the injuries. Research by Harvard Medical School shows many long-term effects of firearms injuries, including worse mental health and mental disorder, and causes higher health care spending. According to the report, “gunshot survivors average $2,495 more in health care spending per month than demographically and clinically matched peers. This latter finding, extrapolated to all gunshot survivors in the U.S., suggests that direct health care spending due to these injuries amounts to some $2.5 billion in the first year alone.”
Apart from these, gun violence also deteriorates the security situation of the citizens, specifically black and Hispanic, as they no longer feel safe in the country. As per the poll by the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs, nearly 54% of Black Americans and 27% of Hispanic Americans said they or someone close to them experienced gun-related injuries in the last five years, in comparison with 13% of White Americans.
Overall, around 21% of U.S. adults reported a personal tie to gun violence, i.e., being threatened by a gun or being a victim of a shooting. This, in turn, makes the people vulnerable, and they opt for a personal gun to protect their safety. Ebony Brown, whose brother was shot dead by a robber at home, said that she is not a gun lover; however, she is worried about becoming a victim of gun violence and planning to get a gun. According to BBC reports, gun ownership has grown significantly over the last few years. Around 7.5 million U.S. adults – just under 3% of the population, became the first new gun owners between 2019 and 2021.
Though gun-related murders often get more public attention, the suicide rate has been increasing sharply over the years, and in the 2020 report, suicide accounted for the majority of gun deaths in the U.S., which indicates that the problem lies within the society itself. The losing social fabric, together with the availability of guns, is making the situation even worse.
The rising trend of gun-related injuries in the USA, therefore, provides an alarming situation in the country. Gun violence is not stopping just by killing a person or mass shootings, rather, it is becoming a vicious cycle where the growing number of gun violence creates insecurity in peoples’ minds, which, in turn, results in buying new guns to ensure their safety.
The ever-increasing gun suicide rate also reveals the vulnerability inside the country. The availability of guns, together with other factors, is contributing to the increasing rate of gun violence. It is not only having lasting impacts on victims and their families, but also deteriorating the overall human rights situation in the country. Though the gun violence rate is still lower than that of 1974, the U.S. authorities should work more on improving the security situation by taking effective gun control measures before the situation gets out of hand. Besides, they should also establish a victim support mechanism to help the survivors and victims’ families to overcome the grief of losing their loved ones.
*The writer is an independent analyst. She has a B.S.S in International Relations from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh She also holds an M.S.S from the same department with a specialization in Security Studies.
October 15, 2022
The viewpoints expressed by the authors do not necessarily reflect the opinions, viewpoints and editorial policies of Aequitas Review.
