An entire generation of American kids are growing up in fear of being gunned down in their classrooms, or shot at a shopping mall.
The NRA likes to say, “An armed society is a polite society,” but the data say otherwise. Guns are now the leading cause of death of Americans under age 19 (see story here). Over 2023 Memorial Day Weekend alone, there were 20 mass shootings in the U.S. (see story here).
People aren’t safe in their cars, at work, or neighborhoods. Some parents are buying bulletproof backpacks for their kids; others are moving out of neighborhoods or cities perceived to be unsafe (see story here).
The spread of guns in American society is phenomenal (see chart below). A trade group representing firearms manufacturers estimates there are 434 million guns in circulation (see story here).
Tougher laws won’t deter mass shooters, for the simple reason most don’t survive; they’re either killed by police, or kill themselves. And with so many guns in circulation, it’s next to impossible to keep them away from people who shouldn’t have them. If there’s an answer to America’s plague of gun violence, I don’t know what it is, but I don’t think more guns or easier access to guns is healthy in any way.
On the other hand, let’s say we repealed the Second Amendment, and made guns illegal; then, I think you’ve got another Prohibition, i.e. laws people simply won’t obey. What we can do, though, is enforce the gun laws we have now: If you misuse a gun, you get locked up.
By the way, if you use marijuana in states where it’s legal under state law, you can’t legally buy a gun anywhere in the United States, because marijuana is a prohibited drug under federal law, and federal law also users of prohibited drugs from buying guns (see story here), although in February 2023 a Trump-appointed federal judge in Oklahoma ruled that law is unconstitutional (see story here).
