Almanac (Personal) Comment: America’s Shame

 

Image: facebook

 

The late great comedian and satirist, Bill Hicks first performed the following segment in 1991:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vm8qCx3Qerw

 

Those same numbers in 2022 are:

UK- 155 or 0.23 people per 100,000

USA- 40,175 or 12.21 people per 100,000

Source: (https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/gun-deaths-by-country)

 

Here are just a few statistics that have emerged post the latest mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas where another 22 innocent lives were taken in the most disgusting of circumstances:

• The estimated number of firearms owned per 100 US residents – 120. The next closest is Yemen with 52 per 100 and then Serbia with 39 per 100 (small arms survey 2018);
• 5 million, or just under 3% of the US population, were first-time gun buyers between Jan 2019 and April 2021 (Annals of Internal Medicine);
• Nearly 53 people a day are killed in the US by firearms (Centre for Disease Control);
• There have been 212 mass shootings in the US in 2022. A mass shooting is defined by the FBI as four or more killed or injured by a gunman. That’s more than one a day in 2022. (Gun violence archive);
• The shooting at Uvalde and, earlier in Buffalo on May 14 which took ten lives, were both committed by 18 year olds;
• The number of guns purchased in the US in 2021 was estimated at 18.8m made up of 11.3m handguns and 7.5m rifles. (Trace.org);
• The estimated number of guns owned by US citizens is 81.4 million. (Trace.org);
• Number of states in the US where you don’t require a licence to carry a concealed weapon – 21. (Trace.org)

 

I saw a reporter on the news at the high school in Uvalde saying that we need to take the time to make sense of all this. SENSE?!?! There’s no such thing! Isn’t it clearer than the nose on your face?!

 

Guns kill, and if you can’t access them they won’t kill. The so called arguments from the fundamentalist Christians of the deep south are utterly appalling.

 

They fight to deny women the right to make decisions on their own bodies but are happy see a classroom of kids massacred. Praying just won’t appease the situation ok?

 

The problem is deep seated. Weapons manufacturers in the US have a combined annual revenue of $31 billion and an annual profit of $3.1 billion (IBIS World).

 

Citizens buy the guns and the manufacturers pay off the NRA who then pay off Congress. It’s a shit cycle that this President and those before him have failed to confront.

 

The frustration within the good-hearted people of the US was no more on show than with the Golden State Warriors Coach, Steve Kerr at his press conference a couple of days after the Texas shooting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHP98QVtQKE&t=9s

 

Given the completely spineless inaction by US politicians, I wonder whether it’s time for the privileged people of the US, such as the extremely well paid sports people and celebrities, to make a stand like they did with Black Lives Matter. No one else seems to be listened to.

 

We have a friend in Oregon, Jen, who shared a Zoom call that was set up by her community to allow women to share feelings regarding the gun madness.

 

Such is the confusion and anger that the hard-working citizens of the US must be feeling that calls like this are organised to help with some techniques and strategies to assist with the anxiety.

 

I see today that the husband of the teacher killed in Uvalde had died of heartbreak. A heart attack brought on by the death of his wife, a career teacher and mother to his four children.

 

What more evidence do Americans need to enforce change? Why can’t the Ted Cruzs of the world put themselves in the shoes of others? It all comes down to power.

 

Without the compromised position that senators like Cruz have, they are nothing. No vision, no ideas and definitely no empathy. Just God, greed and guns.

 

The idea that the Second Amendment justifies the level of gun ownership is ludicrous. It’s just that, an amendment and, worst of all, it was written in 1791!

 

How on earth can something that old still remain valid? They were using blunder busses back then, not AR15s that can shoot 45 rounds per minute! Evolution didn’t end with us having opposable thumbs, you know?

 

In Australia it was the most unlikely of champions in the PM of the time, John Howard, who, after the 1996 Port Arthur massacre, introduced a buy back scheme for all weapons in the country. We haven’t seen a massacre since.

 

Having said that, during the closing titles of the superb film Nitram, it mentions that another buy back may be required as there are currently 260,000 illegal firearms in our society.

 

It’s highly unlikely that the gun owners of the US would follow such a scheme. Perhaps some background checks could be a start as opposed to handing over high powered automatic rifles and 350 rounds of ammunition to psychotic 18 year olds.

 

Our thoughts are with the thousands affected by these disgraceful acts in the US.

 

Without the voices of the people, there clearly won’t be any change. Waiting for politicians to act is sadly pointless.

 

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Our writers are independent contributors. The opinions expressed in their articles are their own. They are not the views, nor do they reflect the views, of Malarkey Publications.

 

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