Gun Deaths

Forgive me if I return to a subject close to my heart. So far this year, we have had over 600 mass shootings in the U.S. Mother Jones defines mass shootings as indiscriminate rampages killing three or more people, excluding the perpetrator. But that’s only one category of gun deaths we suffer from. Firearms are now the number one cause of death for children in the U. S. Thus far this year, we have suffered 41,468 Americans killed by gunfire. We Americans are 25 times more likely to be killed by a gun that the citizens of any other comparable high-income nation.

Why? Because we have 120.5 guns for every 100 Americans. We have more guns than people. That’s due to the second Amendment to our Constitution which states: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” But the only militias I know of in the U.S. nowadays are extremist groups like the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys. Times have changed, and it’s time to abolish the Second Amendment.

But despite the death toll, many people, especially members of the National Rifle Association (NRA), oppose any limitation on gun ownership. They stress that the U.S. is a gun culture. They’re right. Because of our history—the American Revolution and later expansion into the untamed west—guns were a necessity.

They no longer are. It’s time for Americans to wake up and pass laws that restrict gun ownership. The alternative is to accept an annual gunfire death rate of more that 41,000 Americans every year.

Let’s act and save lives!