June is Gun Violence Awareness Month. It’s a bipartisan effort to create a heightened awareness of gun violence and safety. One of the best repositories of information on gun violence is the Gun Violence Archive which collects information from 2500 law enforcement, media, government, and commercial sources daily. It’s a non-profit corporation formed in 2013.
The Archive has reported on gun violence over the last six years and in the first five months of this year; here’s this year’s information:
- 23,300 gun violence events
- 6,120 deaths
- 11,750 injuries
- 160 mass shootings (four or more persons killed)
Here are ten warnings about gun violence:
1. The most important root cause is easy access to guns by persons who should not have them. How?
2. Northwest Ohio has recently recorded seven events of destructive forms of hate including guns. Why?
3. US gun violence has grown significantly over the last three decades. Why?
4. US rates of gun violence far exceed those of other countries. Why?
5. Broken families can lay the foundation for mental health issues leading to gun violence. How?
6. Mass killings are often copy-cat events. How?
7. Killers often target others who are “different” and members of outsider groups. Why?
8. The FBI and the US Department of Health / CDC do research US gun violence. So do SPLC, ADL, and overcominghateportal.org
9. The Second Amendment does NOT provide unlimited access to guns.
10. Universal background checks including gun shows and person to person exchange, access to military-style assault weapons, magazines holding massive numbers of rounds, open and concealed carry should be strictly controlled.
Tom Klein
Bowling Green
