Gun Violence (Karina Flores)

Research

Hearing on the news that someone had died by a gunshot is not uncommon. Actually, homicides committed by using guns kill about the same amount of people that car crashes do (Quealy & Sanger-Katz, 2016).When comparing gun homicide rates to other western countries, the United States is at another level. The death rate of people in the United States who have died from gun homicides stands at about 31 million. If spread out, the United States would have an average of 27 deaths by gun per day which is way more than other countries in the western world. Almost a third of the mass shooting that occurred around the world happened in the United States. The US is home to 5% of the world’s population and had 31% its mass shootings (Willingham, 2016). These statistics are very alarming to me since it means that anyone can die from a gunshot at anytime and anywhere. The following chart illustrates just how severe the US’ gun problem is compared to other western countries:

 

The chart shows just how severe our problem is. Even if other countries had the same population that we do, the next largest number of deaths would occur in Canada. Canada would only have 5 deaths compared to the 27 we have.

            Mass shootings can happen anywhere at any time. The government defined definition of "mass shooting" is a shooting where more than four people were wounded or killed. According to the Gun Violence Archive, so far in 2016 there have been a total of 355 mass shootings in the United States. In addition, there have been about 1,622 accidental shootings in the United States where about 515 of these accidental shootings ended up with children getting shot (Barone, 2016). In Los Angeles there have been multiple shootings such as the UCLA shooting that ended up with 3 people dead and the Santa Monica College shooting where 6 died (Yan & Bloom 2016).

References

Barone, E. (2016). One nation, up in arms. Time, 188(16), 64-64. Retrieved from http://mimas.calstatela.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=118831096&site=ehost-live

Quealy, K., & Sanger-Katz, M. (2016). The U.S. is a world apart in gun death rates. New York Times, 165(57263), A3-A3. Retrieved from http://mimas.calstatela.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=116126595&site=ehost-live

Willingham, A. (2016). A visual guide: Mass shootings in america. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/13/health/mass-shootings-in-america-in-charts-and-graphs-trnd/
Yan, H., & Bloom, D. (2016). UCLA shooting: Murder-suicide occurs on campus. Retrieved November 27, 2016, from http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/01/us/ucla-shooting-report/

Personal:

Being a college student today means I have to face the reality that there is a chance that there could be a mass shooting at my school. In public places in general. Every time I’m in very public places, such as the subway, there’s always that thought in the back of my mind as to what I would do if someone were to just come in and start shooting. I remember when the San Bernardino shooting was happening because I was in class. I still remember my professor telling the class that these events can become our reality. He then proceeded to tell the class that if that were to every happen and if a shooter were to barge in that we should all rush him in a group since that would be our best chance of taking them down. The San Bernardino and UCLA shooting really instilled that fear I had in me since both aren’t that far away. Everyone is vulnerable as most of these mass shootings occur in public places. 

I chose this issue because I know I'm not the only one who feels scared. With the news constantly talking about another shooting that took place I feel that this is an important issue to talk about. It affects my community both at school and at home. Being at school means we are at the highest risk of being caught up in a mass shooting. In my community while walking down the street we are also at risk. In today's world I feel like there is no place that is not vulnerable. It really scares me to think that this is the reality that we live in today.

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