WILL THE US ALWAYS HAVE THE MOST MASS MURDERS?

…The AR 15:  The weapon of choice for mass shootings

America: The only country with one gun for every citizen.

In a recent article in The New York Times, the writer noted that most likely there are not 100 times more insane people in the US than in the rest of the world.  But you would not know that by the number of mass killings in the US versus those in other countries.

The definition of a “mass murder” has been any event were 4 or more killings occurred.  Using the four-person-killed definition, it was found that the United States had far more mass shooters (90 shooters in the 46 years, or 31%t of the total) than any other countries, which they averaged only 1.7 public mass shootings per country.

However, this mass-murder research excluded gang-related shootings, drive-by shootings, hostage-taking incidents, robberies and acts of genocide or terrorism.

At the time, the data published in 2016 says it was based on a report from the New York City police department and an FBI report as well as a survey of news reports from overseas.

In the study, it specifies the US number of shooters 90 in comparison to the other countries that had shooters in the double digits that includes the Philippines (18), Russia (15), Yemen (11), and France (10).

That takes us to the latest mass shooter in a bar in Thousand Oaks, Calif., that murdered 12 people, including a sheriff’s deputy responding to the incident.  The total deaths were actually 13, as the shooter turned the gun on himself. 

And get this, this was the worst shooting incident in the United States…… in just over a week.

Even though the annual crime rate in the US has been dropping for years, there is little question that the US has the highest frequency of fatal mass shootings   In fact, for the US, the latest definition of a mass murder has in some statistics been increased to those events where at least 10 people are killed.  Isn’t that special!

Mother Jones magazine has tracked mass shootings since 1982.  Its database includes additional information on the shooting, such as the shooter’s demographic information, the apparent motive and the weapon of choice.

From 1984 to 2004, there was an incident in which at least 10 people were killed about once every four years. Over the past four years, there have been eight, and there have already been four this year alone.

The shooter in Thousand Oaks used a handgun, which is uncommon for recent shootings.  The last handgun mass shooting was at a movie theater in Aurora, Colo., in 2012.  Most of the incidents in which at least 10 people were killed have included the use of a semiautomatic rifle (eight of 10 incidents) or a shotgun (four of 10 incidents), in addition to a handgun (7 of 10 incidents).

Since the assault weapons ban expired in 2004, there have been 14 incidents in which at least 10 people have been killed, eight of them involving the use of a semiautomatic rifle such as the AR 15.

When the world looks at the United States, it sees a land of exceptions.  A time-tested but very noisy democracy.  It was a crusader in foreign policy, but with Donald Trump, that is now in question.  But the US is an excellent exporter of beloved music and films.

There is one issue however, that consistently puzzles America’s fans and critics alike. 

Why does it experience so many mass shootings?

Perhaps, some speculate, it is because American society is unusually violent. Or is it, its racial political divisions that have frayed the bonds of society?  Or does its citizens lack proper mental care under a health care system that is a disgrace when compared to some European countries?.

However, all these explanations share one thing in common: Though seemingly sensible, all have been debunked by the research on the shootings around the world.

Instead, the ever-growing body of research consistently reaches the same conclusion.

The only variable that can explain the high rate of mass shootings in America is its astronomical number of available guns.

The United States has ~300 million available guns.  And in the US between 1966 and 2014, there were 100 mass shootings.

No other country has more than 50 million guns and no more than 18 mass shootings.

Americans make up about 4.4% of the global population but we own 42% of the world’s guns.  From 1966 to 2014, 38% of the gunmen in mass shootings worldwide were all Americans.  This is according to a 2015 study by a Mr. Adam Lankford, a professor at the University of Alabama.

Adjusted for population, only Yemen has a higher rate of mass shootings among countries with more than 10 million people.  Yemen has the world’s second-highest rate of gun ownership, after the United States.

Another statistic is that the NRA (National Rifle Association) has spent over $22 million in lobbying over the past 6 years.  That’s an average of $3.7 million per year.  But the NRA lobby spending hasn’t been spent on such an average basis.  It has been increasing every year in the past 6 years.  As an example, the NRA spent $5.2 million in lobbying in 2017 alone.  Prior to the last 6 years, the NRA only spent ~$2.2 million per year in lobbying.

The NRA was first established as a training association for learning the proper safety, handling, hunting and target shooting rules and regulations for guns.  Today, they are primarily a lobbying organization for all of the gun manufacturers, both foreign and domestic.

Based on the above information, it is appearing that the combination of approximately one gun for every person in the US, plus the mental health issues of those Americans returning from 18 years of constant war in the middle east, that is the reason that the US has more mass shooting incidents than any other nation on the globe.

At some point this has to stop….or is it already too late?

Copyright G. Ater 2018