The U.S. has the 28th-highest rate of deaths from gun violence in the world, but yet has the weakest gun laws and gun regulation.
News stories are constantly about a death due to gun violence rather it’s against oneself, another individual, or a group of people. As of 2019 America ranked 2nd amongst other countries for death due to gun violence with the number of deaths being around 37,040.
The United States actually has by far the highest rate of privately-owned guns per inhabitant, while the country, Yemen, with the second highest rate only has half the number that the United States has.
Reasons for death by gun violence vary. A study done by John Hopkins university states that as of 2022 over 27,032 people died by firearm suicide while another 19,561 have died from homicidal incidents.
BradyUnited, an organization protesting against gun violence, shared a recent statistic which states that Americans are 25x more likely to be shot and killed than others in high-income countries. With that same statistic they also shared that every day an average of 327 people are shot and on average, 117 of those will die.
But the issue of gun violence isn’t just an “adult issue” – minors are just as heavily impacted by the issue of gun violence. According to BradyUnited, every day 23 minors are shot in the United States but that isn’t regarding the 35 school shootings that have happened this year. It’s not just adults being shot during a heated dispute, it’s kindergartens being shot while learning their abcs. It’s highschool seniors not getting to walk across the stage because they and their classmates were fatally shot on a random Thursday.
The issue of gun violence isn’t just an issue you see on TV or hear adults discuss over coffee.
The issue of gun violence in America is serious. People are dying daily, families losing loved ones, mothers losing children due to the hands of someone else who got their hands on a gun. America’s gun violence rate is high due to the carelessly weak gun laws and restrictions. Gun violence impacts every American in this country. Every child, teen, adult, and senior even if they don’t realize it.
It’s time to take a stance against gun violence and strengthen the laws plus restrictions against firearms. Gun violence targets everyone, and one day it could target you too.
