Most days, I have an alert on my phone: Washington, D.C. police have issued an update on the latest shooting in the nation’s capital.
“fired”
“Suspect Arrested”
“Victim Hospitalized”
Here’s an update from the DCPD a few hours ago: “One suspect has been apprehended and more are being sought in connection with an assault with a dangerous weapon (firearm) that occurred on 10/09/22 in SE 2600 block of Birney Place.”
Mind you, they don’t even call it a shooting anymore. It was “an attack with a dangerous weapon (gun)…”
On Friday, my son’s school sent an urgent email to parents.
They told us that another school nearby had gone “on lockdown” (yes, that’s what schools in the US do) because they heard gunshots. It turned out that the shooting was not at the actual school, but nearby (which is clearly better, or less bad, on the relative scale of shooting severity).
I’m not going anywhere now to see where the exit is. I did it today at my son’s swim lesson. Two exits – one at the back and one at the side.
It’s just crazy. What a lifestyle.
However, just look at the statistics. This is truly shocking, and it perfectly represents America’s problems. Yes, there have been mass shootings elsewhere – the horrific events in Thailand a few weeks ago reminded us of that.
But America’s gun problem is unique.
this The latest shooting at Club Q in Colorado It marked the 26th mass shooting in the United States this month, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which documents gun-related violence in the United States.
This year a total of 601* Mass shootings in the United States are on the rise year by year. In 2014 there were less than 300 people.
Here’s the breakdown:
2014: 273
2015: 336
2016: 383
2017: 348
2018: 336
2019: 417
2020: 610
2021: 690
2022: 601
This year, nearly 40,000 Americans died in gun-related incidents (including homicides, accidents and suicides).
By the time you read this, all those numbers will be out of date.
America has a big, big problem.
*A mass shooting is defined as a shooting in which four or more people are killed or injured.