America's Gun Violence: Beyond the Headlines

Mar 11

By: Michael Morning-star

Yearly shootings in America contribute to the deaths of approximately 48,000 Americans from gunshot injuries. That is a serious matter no doubt, but there is something quite distinct in the statistics than is advocated through the standard media reports available today.

Suicide

Out of the estimated 48,000 Americans who die each year from guns, suicides are responsible for up to half of these deaths. That's nearly 24,000 lives lost each year not from homicide, mass shootings, or criminal activity, but from the simple fact that individuals shoot themselves. And this statistic revisions the entire discussion: America's largest killer, if you will, of guns is not public shootings, nor gang killings, but self-harming.

Mass Shootings

White offenders statistically have a higher likelihood of mass shootings, but we need to place this figure in context. Mass shootings dominate headlines and the political agenda, and so we might think they constitute the bedrock of the American gun violence epidemic. Mass shootings, however, account for only about 1.67% of annual gun-related deaths. They're horrific, but not representative of the broader epidemic.

The “Black-on-Black” Problem

If we look at statistics by race, there is additional nuance to the image of gun violence. Black Americans account for around 13% of the population of the United States but continue to be overrepresented at every level in rates of victimization and offending in gun homicide. From data provided by the FBI and the CDC, around half of the total nationwide firearm homicides will involve Black offenders, though these account for a substantially smaller percentage of the general population.

Much of this violence is intraracial. Just as most White victimizations involve White offenders, most Black homicide victims—nearly 90%—are killed by other Black offenders. It's frequently labeled “Black-on-Black crime,” but this statement isn't true only for Black Americans; rather, it's a larger reality: America's violent crime is intraracial, and in the majority of cases, there's a victim-offender racial congruence, accounted for by residence patterns, ties among members of the same neighborhood, and social bonds.

Economic Division

While race is so frequently at the center of the debate over gun violence, its underlying driver is frequently economic inequality. Poorer neighborhoods of concentrated poverty, fewer jobs, and schools underfunded will typically have higher rates of violent crime regardless of race. It spawns an environment in which cycles of violence and retaliation become legitimate, and guns become frequently a tool of self-defense and a symbol of standing.

There's data to support this correlation: the most impoverished neighborhoods have the most gunshot homicide rates, even after controlling for racial population. Poor White and poor Black neighborhoods, for example, have quite a bit of the same vulnerabilities—economic deprivation, social disorder, lack of availability of mental health services, and strained resident-law enforcement relations. It would then seem, the argument isn't solely race-related, but structural poverty and economic abandonment propel violence.

So, what's the Problem?

America's reality of gun violence is multi-faceted, and so is its solution, since suicide, mass shootings, racial inequities, and economic polarization each have a role. As the issue is multi-dimensional, so will the solutions be, and three central strategies emerge:

• Harder Penalties: Increased and more frequent sentences for violent offenders might serve both deterrent and ending-of-revenge-cycle purposes. Punishment, however, must be accompanied by efforts at rehabilitation so that repeats will not occur.

• Better School Systems: School spending is closely tied in the long run with reduced crime levels. Not only does quality education raise economic outlooks, but it improves neighborhood strength, providing youth with something better than gangs and crime.

• Increased Effort for Mental Health: With suicide accounting for half of all gun-related fatalities, taking mental health Seriously, is no longer a choice; it's part of the solution. Expanded availability of counseling, crisis intervention, and community prevention programs will conserve thousands of lives each year.

Conclusion

America's gun violence does present a real crisis, though data reflect it's not the same homogeneous crisis it's regularly framed as. Suicide is responsible for nearly half of all firearms-related fatalities, though it receives a minuscule percentage of media attention granted to mass shootings, which account for less than two percent of incidents. And homicide exhibits stark racial contrasts, in which Black Americans disproportionately appear as suspects and victims—though these patterns closely relate intimately to poverty cycles, inequality, and investments, and less so in individual race.

It's necessary to get involved in this broader landscape. Individuals' narratives typically emphasize the most sensational tragedies, but there's no solution if you only respond to the less evident, everyday dynamics: mental illness, poverty, and the intraracial aspects of the majority of the violence. There's an multi-faceted problem here, and there's a multi-faceted solution—harsher sentences for violent offenders, wiser investments in education, and a national movement toward addressing mental illness.

At the same time, any solution will have to respect the Second Amendment, which is not only a constitutional protection, but an American value at its heart founded on freedom, self-reliance, and resistance to oppression. Not only can the right of keeping and bearing arms not and shall not be revoked. Even if rights entail correlative responsibility, there is room for enhancements of safeguarding. A pragmatic first measure would be the requirement of a bill of good mental health at the time of purchase of arms. Such a step would reduce no constitutional rights, but would insure that those suffering serious mental illness receive treatment prior to gaining ready access to a lethal weapon.

If America wishes to end gun violence, it must rise above skin-level storytelling and confront the underlying, systematic issues behind the statistics; while at the same time safeguarding the constitutional freedoms which shape the nation. By addressing the crisis in a comprehensive manner; suicide, homicide, economics, race, prevention, and pragmatic regulation, true change can happen without losing the principles which created America.