by Lynn Mandaville

In Washington, D.C., there is an independent agency called The Gun Violence Archive.  It is non-partisan, affiliated with no political party, PAC, or movement.

It is an online archive that collects statistics daily about, among other acts of gun violence, the mass shootings reported and verified by law enforcement, media, government, and commercial agencies.

Today, Jan. 23, the Archive says that the past weekend’s mass shooting in Monterey Park, CA, was the 39th this calendar year.

If my most basic algebra is correct, using the Archive’s numbers, this means there have been 1.63 mass shootings per day so far in 2023, which could be extrapolated out to 595 such mass shootings by the end of the year.  (If you double-check my math and find errors, my apologies.  Numbers have never been my strong suit.)

By definition, a mass shooting is one in which there are at least four victims, NOT including the perpetrator, either killed or injured.

The shooting over the weekend in Monterey Park has had 11 fatalities so far.

So where do we begin the argument again?  Again?  Again?  Again?

In no other developed nation on the planet does this level of insanity exist.

None.

In no other developed nation on the planet does the number of individually owned firearms exceed the population of that nation.

None.

Yet the NRA continues to perpetuate the myth that anyone wanting common sense gun reform is “out to take away your guns.”

And a misguided portion of the country believes that any attempt to stem the tide (an epidemic, according to the CDC) of death and disfigurement by firearms is a movement to undo the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution.

Both of the previous statements are absolutely untrue.

A UChicago Harris/AP-NORC poll in August of 2022 determined that while 71% of Americans favored stricter gun laws, 52% believed that it was both important to prevent mass shootings while protecting the ability of people to own guns for personal protection.

According to this poll, there seems to be a schizophrenic aspect to citizens’ philosophies about guns.  There are conflicts where the issue of who should be able to buy guns intersects with whether certain types of guns should be lawful in the first place.

With this kind of conflict, coupled with the ability of gun lobbies to buy the support of legislators who favor more and deadlier guns available to the buying public, it seems we’ll never stem the tide of violent gun death in the United States.

Twenty-one percent of people polled said they had personally been, or had a family member or close friend who had experiences with gun violence in the last five years.  Twice that number believed they would be the victim of such violence in the next five years.

When I lived in Wayland it was rare to hear of gun crime in our isolated area of Allegan County.  Far more frequent were incidents of gun violence in Grand Rapids and its suburbs.

Here in AZ, our nightly news reports at least two murders, suicides, or gun violence involving police each day in Phoenix.  It’s been only four months since we had an active shooter two miles from our home at an Amazon warehouse.  Shoot-outs with police in Chandler, the Phoenix suburb where we live, happen a few times per year.

There is no safe haven from gun violence anywhere any more.

Our government is full of impotent men and women who fail us session after congressional session.

It is only a matter of time before you and I become part of that percentage who experience personal involvement as victims of gun violence in the next five years.  Or has it happened to you already?

Until the next ungodly act of gun violence, which statistically will happen within 0.63 days of this writing, God (or whomever) help us all.

Post Script:  Since I wrote this last night (1.23.23) there were two more mass shootings, one in Half Moon Bay, CA, and one in Des Moines, IA.  On one of the morning shows today, statistics almost identical to mine above were shared with the viewing nation.  They cited their source as The Gun Violence Archive, just as I did.

The exact number of dead in mass shootings so far this year is 69.  To view the chilling details for yourself about gun violence and its consequences, you can Google The Gun Violence Archive.  Check the increases in all categories from year to year. 

It would seem Charlie Brown of Peanuts fame has summed up our future saying, “we’re doomed.”