Everytown for Gun Safety put together a research paper last week examining nonfatal gun injuries in America.
Though the authors of the study end by advocating for three specific gun-control policies — universal background checks, safe storage requirements, violent misdemeanor prohibitor laws — the non-agenda driven information is quite helpful at painting a picture of gun-related violence in America.
What one quickly realizes is that certain categories of people are disproportionately affected by gun-related violence.
You can peruse the full study, which is embedded below. But here are the main takeaways:
- Daily Impact: Every day in America, more than 230 people sustain a nonfatal gun injury.
- Intent: More than 60 in 100 gun deaths each year are by suicide, while just three in 100 hospital visits each year due to a gunshot wound are the result of a suicide attempt. This strongly reaffirms existing research on the lethality of firearms.
- Sex: 87 percent of those who visit a hospital for a gunshot wound are male, mostly adolescents and young adults.
- Age: Adolescents and young adults, starting at age 15 and peaking in the early 20s, are at highest risk of gun injury.
- Race and Ethnicity: Black people, with a rate of 113.8 nonfatal injuries per 100,000 people, have the highest rate of nonfatal gun injuries over 10 times higher than white people. The Latino/a rate of nonfatal gun injuries is double that of white people.
- State: Rates of nonfatal firearm injury vary tremendously, from states with a rate above 60 persons injured per 100,000 people (including Alabama, Washington, DC, Louisiana, and Mississippi) to rates below 10 (as in Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, and New Hampshire).
Full Study:
Look, the elephant in the room is that young, black men living in poor parts of large cities are both the victims and the drivers of a lopsided amount of gun violence in America. Any so-called “solution” to the “gun violence epidemic” ought to start by acknowledging this very truth. Politicians, gun-control activists, Hollywood elites, media talking-heads need to stop dancing around this reality and confront it head-on. Then and only then can sustainable progress be made.
To their credit, the authors of this study acknowledged one promising solution that has nothing to do with restricting 2A rights: hospital-based intervention programs that help victims of gun violence with recovery, employment, education, health care, and other basic needs.
Because one-fourth of nonfatal shooting victims under the age of 24 will be shot again within the next 10 years intervention is critical. What it boils down to is that putting more laws on the books isn’t going to help the situation, these young men need real support from real people.
To break that down further, changing a law does not change one’s lifestyle. A gangster doesn’t stop being a gangster because progressive politicians enacted a law limiting gun purchases to one per month or a law requiring universal background checks. A gangster will only stop being a gangster when a better path forward becomes imminently attainable.
To back up the efficacy of such programs, researchers cited a Baltimore study that found “individuals who did not participate in a hospital program were six times more likely to eventually be re-hospitalized for a violent injury and four times more likely to be convicted of a violent crime than those who did.”
“For those who participated, employment rates went up from 39 percent to 82 percent. State and local governments should invest in these programs and take advantage of grants such as the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) assistance funds to support and expand them,” they continued.
GunsAmerica highlighted one such program in Minneapolis, called “Next Step,” a few weeks ago. It also demonstrated encouraging results, showing that only 3 percent of participants became victims of violent crime again. That figure was as high as 41 percent prior to Next Step.
Along with teaching responsible gun ownership in schools, the best way to curb violence, including nonfatal gun injuries, is to fix broken people. Why “gun violence prevention” organizations don’t spend all their money on programs that aim to achieve that objective is a question worth asking. Because clearly, they know they work.
SEE ALSO: Bloomberg-Funded Study Finds that ‘Assault Weapon’ Bans Don’t Stop Mass Shootings
The same cannot be said for gun control, which is what all those anti-2A groups waste their money on. Even the most in-depth studies show that gun control, like a ban on “assault weapons,” has no statistically significant effect on crime. Case in point, crime dropped — not increased — following the expiration of the Clinton-Era ban on black rifles.
Gun owners are all ears when it comes to effective solutions to make our communities safer. It’s why we wholeheartedly support initiatives like the NSSF’s Project ChildSafe, which promotes firearm safety and education. Quite honestly, gun owners could do much, much more along these lines if the vast majority of our collective donations and resources weren’t chewed up fending off misguided legislation that punishes law-abiding citizens while doing nothing to fix broken people.
Welcome to the post Great Society era. And No prayer in school, no esteem for life, abortion on demand, if it feels good do it, and no accountability by the young males in the ghettos.
There is no more simple way to say it. Thank you Phil. I’m sorry that your post does not fit the liberal agenda and will never see full appreciation for clarity
The urban hip hop culture that idolizes and romanticizes mobster memes and has as its credo “keepin’ it real” and reacting violently to every perceived offense is what needs to be changed. Change THAT or Jeez, just discuss it for once.
This whole thing proves one thing, that the LEFTS idea of gun control nation wide is not the problem. The Problem is with the large cities, that is where all the problems are at, where the higher crime rates are at. We all know that most of those cities are controlled by the LEFT, as in Chicago, LA, DC, Portland, and on and on.. but yet they want the laws to hit everyone. So that is like a farmer putting up brick wall fences to keep insects from getting to is products, when its the crows who are destroying it. In other words, like always, the left wants to make one law for everyone when it is their fault that it is happening. Control, by everything in this article, the rural area and small town / cities are not the problem, yes they still issues, but not like the big cities. Stop trying to make their (the LEFTS) failures everyone else problem. You can pass laws, and make it so the rural, small city and towns are 100% perfect, and yet the big problems will still be in the BIG CITIES….
I agree that we have to address the perpetrators in the African-American neighborhood and the question is where are the fathers where are the parents?
There has to be accountability for one’s actions. The family is a critical component and African Americans must stress the importance of raising our children with God-fearing values and in these communities they must teach their children accountability.
But we also have a problem in our affluent rural communities with the increasing amount of mass shootings in our schools, theaters and places of entertainment where the perpetrators are predominantly Caucasians. Often times when it is a Caucasian perpetrator reporters, bloggers, and editors label the perpetrators as being sick, mentally ill, when they commit these crimes. The facts are the facts, someone used a firearm and someone lost their life as a result of A criminal act. The only difference is the perpetrator was a Caucasian and not a person of color. When a victim loses their life as a result of a crime involving a gun in the African American communities the perpetrators are labeled thugs, criminals, and gangsters. Our biases in categorizing criminals creates a distrust in non-Caucasian communities . The majority of these caucasian perpetrators come from affluent two parent homes and have access to a firearm which was purchased legally.
So the real issue is reporting and holding all criminals accountable, caucasians, African-Americans, Hispanic, all human beings. We see this bias even in our laws when it comes to drug addiction, when crack cocaine invaded the African-American communities the remedy was lock up the dealers and lock up the users, now let’s go to 2019 and 2020. We have an opiate epidemic but the majority of the users are Caucasian now the remedy is congressional legislation for treatment instead of jail time.
Drug abuse, gun violence is crime! We have to hold everyone accountable and have the same compassion even when we are talking about people who don’t look like us.
We have a moral problem, and until we practice and living by Godly standard then we will continually see a immoral behavior regardless if it’s Hispanics, African-Americans or Caucasians!
I am not sure if you’re going to publish this, if you don’t I will continue check out your blog! but at least I shared what was on my heart!
God Bless you! 🙏🏾
Are you also asking where’s the father when a white teenage illegally purchases an AR, crosses state lines, and then shoots 3 people, killing two?
So are you also going to mention the fact that those people were trying to kill him and he acted in self-defense? Oh wait that doesn’t fit your narrative does it or the fact that the guy he shot in the arm was trying to kill him! Yeah you forgot to mention that in your reply just thought I’d let you know their buddy. The guy he shot in the arm was armed with a pistol have no legal right to have that pistol yeah he’s not facing any criminal charges, would you care to come in on that as well or you just gonna crawl back in your rabbit hole.
He is a good kid. Lay off.
He didn’t purchase anything. He was criminally assaulted and acted in self defense. And yes, it would be good to know where the father is to congratulate him on his son’s skill with a modern rifle in protecting his life.
I would NOT ask that question even if Kyle Rittenhouse was Black because he was NOT committing a crime. If on the other hand a White person much like Kyle Rittenhouse was rioting and burning other people’s property then all sorts of critical questions should arise.
You bring up a great point. I have not once heard the term “straw purchase” with this incident.
The facts are this boy was too young to purchase, but had an older friend procure it for him. THE definition of straw purchase, however there is no call-out of it.
If we are to stand around and gripe about other demographics needing to “police themselves” (ie, black on black violence, etc), then shouldn’t we be doing the same??
Where was HIS father?? IF his father thought it a good idea for his son to OWN an ar15, why didn’t he get it for him?? (There are exemptions/grey areas about possession, minors, and immediate family)
I’m not seeing direct parallels between some of the comparisons you’re making.
First with regards to mass school shootings vs. Inner City gang shootings… first of all, the suburban white kids who most often perpetrate these crimes, are just as much punk-ass thugs as inner city gang shooters. And the inner city gang punk-ass thugs are just as sick as the Dylans and Kliebolds of the world…
However, the number of people killed in these isolated acts is just a tiny fraction of the number of kids shot and killed in inner cities. Sadly, every few years when one of these sick punk-ass white thugs shoots up a school, it dominates national news for weeks… but no one reports on the dozens or even hundreds of shootings by sick punk-ass black thugs that happen every week. We’ve reached a point where simply reporting the truth of this problem is decried as racist… how do we ever solve a problem that we can’t even speak truth about without being called racists???
As a society, we’ve permanently abandoned the African American families in our inner cities. Our welfare state throws money at the problem with no thought about the impact its actually having. Black families as an institution have been DESTROYED by the Welfare State. If you go back to the period before the, “Great Society” you’ll find that Black and White out of wedlock births and single parent families occurred at fairly similar and very low, rates. But since the corrosive influence of blindly throwing money at the inner cities to assuage liberal guilt has become the standard response, those domestic factors (that we all agree are key drivers of the problems of inner city crime) have exploded in the African American inner city.
Regarding the difference between the response to Crack and the response to the Opioid Epidemic, there is a BIG difference. Crack cocaine is a completely illegal substance for which even the making of the drug is a criminal act. Opioids on the other hand are legal substances that have legitimate and beneficial purposes. It would cause more harm that good to just out-right BAN opioids; whereas it is absolutely more beneficial to ban Crack than to allow it.
The distribution of Crack is illegal… as is its consumption. Opioids are legal to distribute and to consume. The problem comes in the fact that the way physicians prescribe opioids is far too loose, leading to addiction.
Granted, the Opioid addict, once he runs out of doctors who are willing to prescribe to him (and believe me, it could take months or years to reach this point because of how lax doctors are about it) then he turns to illegal channels. But even then, the channels that supply illegal opioids are far less prone to violence than crack distribution channels.
The best analogy for understanding the difference is like two people who are trying to overcome different addictions. One is addicted to cigarettes and the other is a food addict.
Nicotine addiction is very tough to break, but the one thing going for it is that nicotine isn’t a required substance for life. The person, with enough will power, can just walk away from his cigarettes, and while the symptoms of withdrawal will be difficult, he won’t perish by walking away from his addiction.
The food addict has a much tougher challenge… he must find a way to break his addiction while still consuming the very substance to which he’s addicted. To treat food like tobacco when it comes to breaking an addiction will kill the addict.
Crack has NO beneficial impacts on society, so society should treat it like this smoker would treat his tobacco addiction. Root it out, eliminate it, drive its consumption to ZERO.
Opioids on the other hand DO have a beneficial impact on society when they are used properly. Some people experience incredible levels of pain due to illnesses, injuries, etc, and opioids dramatically improve the quality of life for an individual dealing with such suffering. Therefore, it must be treated more like the food addiction. Better control over who receives a prescription and how many pills are given and how many refills are granted so as to prevent the addiction from occurring in the first place.
The question of Crack vs. Opioids is not an issue of race as some on the left try to assert… its a difference between addressing a substance with NO societal benefit and addressing a substance with significant societal benefit.
I forgot to mention; a better analogy between drugs abused in predominantly black areas and drugs abused more by whites would be comparisons between Crack Cocaine and Methamphetamine.
When you look at these two drugs, you’ll find the law enforcement approach is very similar… despite the fact that Meth is a huge problem in white small-town America.
How about arresting and prosecuting criminals, then sending them to jail, rather than coddling them?
How about three strikes you’re out, rather than more coddling of career criminals?
What is being suggested is free scholarships and other “programs “ to reward criminals who end up getting shot and make it to the hospital, effectively rewarding their lawlessness. I call bravo Sierra on that.
I suspect that many of those unintended or undetermined are bystanders when someone opens up on a crowd after a fight/insult/sleight whatever out side a bar after closing time, or during a drive-by. These are not “accidental” shootings, just persons who are not the intended victims.
Yes they know it. That’s why they release them back on to the public. So they can fuel their antigun stats to remove the rights of law abiding thru useless laws. They only make more criminals with BS laws that have been proven NOT to work. It’s nothing new. They have always known the gangs & inner cities are the problem areas for the most part. Young men lack a good role model & oppertunities. And when given a oppertunity most don’t know it. Or know how to make use of it. Judges & lawyers need to be held accountable for releasing repeat offenders. A lot of these criminals have very colorful rapsheets. And yet are still released onto the public. Look at NY. Releasing repeat firearm offenders. Maybe if legislaters were held solely responsible. They wouldn’t be so quick to release a criminal they know will be a repeat offender. They have no problem holding me responsible for the criminals actions. When I had nothing to do with their crimes.