Gun Violence

America has the highest gun-related death rates in the world, 23 times that of Australia and 13 times that of France. The entire European Union combined doesn’t even scratch the U.S.’s numbers, as the U.S. has 22 times as many deaths. Children are not spared either, as 7% of deaths from those under 20 are caused by firearms. 

Black Americans experience worse statistics, as they make up 61% of the country’s firearm homicides. Those who live in impoverished states are 10 times more likely to be shot than white Americans and twice as likely to be accused of crime or killed by the police force. Even through all of this, African Americans are 1.3 times less likely to be armed, meaning that the most violence is inflicted upon the least violent. 

As a country, America has the worst gun protection and firearm restricting laws, using the constitution’s second amendment as protection and worse, an excuse. The Giffords Law Center states that the US itself holds only 4% of the world’s entire population, but singlehandedly makes up 35% of firearm-related suicides. Along with high death rates, America is in ownership of 393 million guns, more than the population of the US. That's 61 million more guns than humans and 120 guns per 100 civilians. 

Of course, this results in crime rates and gun violence at an all-time high. More than 1 million Americans have been shot and possibly killed in the past decade alone. An average of 600 mass shootings took place in both of the last two years. In this year alone, rates have gone up to 160 public shootings, many including the deaths of innocent children and adults. One of the major attacks took place in Las Vegas in 2017, leaving 50 dead and nearly 10 times as many injured or wounded. In 2021, the death rates peaked, reaching 48,830 fatal injuries. 54% of these were suicides and the rest were homicides, typically targeted at black communities.  As such, Americans are 25% more prone to gun violence than other countries.

A majority of gun-related deaths end up being people of different ethnicity. That means that for Black men, there is a two percent chance of being shot or injured in New York. It is worse in Cincinnati, with 1 person in every 44 either killed or injured. Over the decades, America has become responsible for tens of thousands of black deaths alone. This doesn't include any other ethnic mortality rates, just numbers from the Black communities.