Is it too soon to ask: Is the gun OK?

It's been a year and a week since the Pulse Nightclub shootings. Many unimaginable events have transpired since then, but one thing remains a constant in our lives: American Gun Violence. It happens every day to over 300 Americans. Of these daily shootings, 92 victims will die.

Of course, not everybody who is shot is a crime target. Of the 33,599 US gun deaths in 2016, there were 21,334 suicides and 1,320 accidents. But that leaves 10,945 homicides, or 30 per day. The American Journal of Medicine took a look at how these statistics compare against the 22 other highest-income nations and it ain't too pretty at all:

http://amjmed.org/violent-death-rates-us-vs-22-other-countries/

According to the article, Americans are:

• Seven times more likely to be violently killed
• Twenty-five times more likely to be violently killed with a gun
• Six times more likely to be accidentally killed with a gun
• Eight times more likely to commit suicide using a gun
• Ten times more likely to die from a firearm death overall

“Overall, our results show that the U.S., which has the most firearms per capita in the world, suffers disproportionately from firearms compared with other high-income countries,” noted Dr. Grinshteyn. “These results are consistent with the hypothesis that our firearms are killing us rather than protecting us.”

Another way to look at the US versus The World gun violence stats is supplied by the NY Times. There is a really nifty table chart that supplies the firearm death rate in a particular country and compares the US rate of death likelihood. For example, the likelihood of being killed by a gun in Ireland is as likely as being drowned in a lake, river or ocean in the US.

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/14/upshot/compare-these-gun-death-rates-the-us-is-in-a-different-world.html

You'll note, too, that the US compares favorably to some countries. But these are Basket-Case Nations like El Salvador. Other countries, like Syria or Iraq or Afghanistan aren't included, for obvious reasons. But just for the fun of it, let's take a look at how The Atlantic compared our cities' gun homicide rates with hot spots around the globe. For example, Chicago measures up with Guyana's firearm death rate:

Hmm. Living in Austin or Cambodia looks good. The Big Easy looks like The Big Shootout and please cancel your plans to retire in Honduras. This is quite a range of violence, from sea to shining sea. Concentrated homicide centers abound, but let's face it, some places are avoiding our American Carnage. Maybe we should take a look at who owns guns in our country:

Huh. I suppose it's not surprising that if one owns a gun, one is more likely to oppose gun control laws. The good news is that most gun owners support more background checks for private and gun show sales. The bad news is, well, most everything else.

Would more guns have helped at the Republican softball practice? There were already Capitol Police there. More gunfire from frenzied participants might have taken out the shooter quicker, but who knows where any wild shots would land. It's a miracle nobody in that urban neighborhood was affected. But if no police were there, it would have been a massacre. Would more guns have helped in London? Nope. Bystander guns may have brought down those three terrorists sooner... but if guns were available like they are here, the terrorists wouldn't have had to use a van and knives.

The Atlantic's David Frum has weighed in on this matter. Here is his essay in full:

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/06/when-prayer-alone-does-not-suffice/530289/

This is the money quote:

Like ancient villagers, Americans accept periodic plagues as a visitation from the gods, about which nothing can or should be done. The only permitted response is “thoughts and prayers”—certainly never rational action to reduce casualties in future. Even to open the discussion as to whether something might not be done violates the taboos of decency: How dare you politicize this completely unpredictable and uncontrollable event! It is as if gun violence were inscrutable to the mind of man, utterly beyond human control.

When a society refuses to address the need to control high-volume ammo weapons, there is a much higher likelihood that events like today's will happen, but much more deadly. Here is a frightening recent event that could have easily turned into a real bloodbath. A couple of hundred heavily-armed  "patriots" showed up in the mistaken belief that a statue of Sam Houston was going to be removed:

http://www.chron.com/houston/article/Armed-protesters-at-Hermann-Park-protest-statue-11210583.php#photo-13062599

They were within their rights to display their ordinance. But why? What if someone tossed a string of firecrackers? These folk were on edge, and their guns were powerful. Why is it that such a Cult of Personality revolves around such weaponry?

Perhaps we should look to the wisdom found in The Onion, America's Finest News Source. Following last year's Pulse shootings, The Onion accepted an article from an AR-15 which expressed its gratitude for Americans placing it above the rights of human beings:

http://www.theonion.com/blogpost/its-honor-continue-being-valued-over-countless-hum-53094

Jonathan Swift can't hold a candle to that one. That's some supreme satire! But honest to God, what will it take to enact some sort of gun control change? Nothing, that's what. If having 20 Sandy Hook first-graders blown to bits under an unrelenting close range barrage of high-powered semi-automatic rifle fire won't dent our nation's gun laws, then nothing will - not even Republican lawmakers being shot.

It's just the way it is. "Violence is as American as apple pie," said H. Rap Brown. "Happiness is a warm gun," sang John Lennon. The gun eradicated "the natives" from this land, making for Manifest Destiny. The gun kept a race subjugated in slavery. The gun has spread like a virulent cancer through our country. It is intractably entwined deep into our nation's character. It is no longer a tool. The gun is now the symbol of all our fear and doubt - about ourselves and The Other.

If only John Lennon or Yoko Ono had a gun...