The CDC has compiled all its 2017 statistics and revealed a startling fact: almost 40,000 people died last year from guns in the U.S. That’s the highest number in 40 years. (1999 saw 30,000 such deaths.) It’s also the third year in a row of increase, after years of stable numbers.
Worldwide, our country makes up 14.2% of gun deaths, surpassed only by Brazil, with 17.2% of the world’s gun-related deaths. Note that we aren’t talking war here–except individually against other individuals and ourselves. A good number of U.S. gun deaths (60%) are suicides, and we see daily news reports about someone shooting people in schools, venues, and places of worship.
You can read more specifics in the Huffington Post article U.S. Gun Violence Claimed More Lives In 2017 Than Ever: CDC.
I don’t care if you’re pro-gun, anti-gun, or something in between. It’s obvious that gun violence is an epidemic in America, one that needs a cure. Studies have shown that it isn’t because we have more people with mental health problems here–countries with similar numbers of those people don’t have the gun violence we have.
So what is the cause? We don’t know but must get serious about finding out. And what is the cure? Again, we don’t know but MUST get serious about finding out.