WASHINGTON – On an average day, 93 Americans die in gun-related violencewhile 18 of their compatriots succumb to AIDS. The call for regulatingaccess to firearms has been accentuated after the mass shooting at aconcert in Las Vegas claimed 59 lives and injured 527, making it the worstsuch incident in U.S. history.
Here are a few statistics to show the extent to which gun culture hasbecome entrenched in American society.
The U.S. tops the list of per capita firearms possession compiled by the UNOffice on Drugs and Crime, with strife-torn Yemen coming a distant second.The number of homicides using guns is greater in countries with lessstringent gun-control laws.
A Mother Jones’ Report titled U.S.Mass Shootings, 1982-2017 found that 760fatalities have been registered in mass shootings in the U.S since 1982,while 1968 people suffered injuries. Of the 90 incidents, 61 were carriedout using legally-purchased weapons. Children have also been caught in thecrossfire, with 12 incidents of mass shootings taking places at schools.36% of the perpetrators had a history of mental illness.
The states of California, Texas, and Florida top the list of casualtiessuccumbing to gunshot wounds, while the mortality rate is highest inLouisiana, where 18.9 people die in gun-related violence every year.
“If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on a wall,in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. If it’s not goingto be fired, it shouldn’t be hanging there.”
There is a linear correlation between the ownership of firearms and thenumber of deaths due to gun-related violence. The National Centre of HealthStatistics data for 2014 reveals that a greater prevalence of firearmstranslates into more civilian deaths due to gunshot wounds. Arkansas andNew Hampshire recorded maximum gun-related fatalities per 1,00,000residents, whilst having the most firearms in circulation among thepopulace. This refutes the claims of the National Rifle Association (NRA)that firearms are essential for self-defence and bring down crime rates.
Of the 22,613 individuals who died in encounters with American lawenforcement agencies since the turn of the millennium, 70.7% of them fellto police bullets. Data collected by Fatal Encounters, a non-profit, foundthat 4,336, or 19% of the total victims, were of African-Americanextraction, countering the perception that the excesses of the police hadracial undertones.