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Friday, July 19th, 2024

Is gun violence an epidemic in the U.S.? Experts and history say it is

Author:     Destinee Adams
Source:     npr
Publication Date:     Jul 17, 2024 | 4:30 AM PDT
 Link: Is gun violence an epidemic in the U.S.? Experts and history say it is
Stephan:  

Studies show the the largest population of gun killers are lonely isolated White men. I have thought a lot about why this is the case. One obvious part of an answer is the laxity of gun laws. But there is more to it than that. When I was young men there was a draft and a large percentage of young men went into the armed forces. Where you both hung out and were part of a group with a purpose. And society as whole recognized this, because fathers, uncles, cousins, even mothers and aunts were veterans. All that is gone now. Only about one percent of Americans today are involved with the military. Then you have the trends toward racial and gender equality which frightens and creates resentment in psychologically unstable White men. The Incel movement reflects this aspect of the epidemic of gun violence. All of it is a manifestation of America’s growing social disorder.

Credit: Kriston Jae Bethel / AFP / Getty

Six months into the year, more than 21,000 people have died because of gun-related injuries in the United States.

Doctors and public health officials have a word to describe the rising number of people killed or hurt by guns in recent years: epidemic.

“I would certainly consider the problem of firearm injuries and firearm violence as an epidemic in the United States,” said Patrick Carter, director of the University of Michigan Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention, whose research is partly funded by the National Institutes of Health.

“When we think about what the term epidemic means, it means a sudden increase in the numbers, or incidents, of an event over what would be considered a baseline level,” Carter told Morning Edition.

Since the mid-2000s, the United States has seen year-after-year increases in the number of deaths and injuries from guns “that would mirror what we would consider to be a sudden increase consistent with an epidemic,” Carter said.

The “epidemic” label and what it means

For those charged with protecting public health in the United […]

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