The Kansas Metropolis capturing underscores a grim actuality in regards to the US and weapons

In remarks following a mass capturing on the Chiefs Tremendous Bowl parade, Kansas Metropolis Mayor Quinton Lucas made a pointed assertion about how the tragedy was capable of happen even with greater than 800 cops stationed on the parade to safe the world.

“That’s what occurs with weapons,” he mentioned plainly.

At the least one individual was killed within the violence and 21 individuals — together with 11 kids — had been injured. As of Thursday, police had detained three individuals and confiscated a number of firearms in reference to the capturing, which they attributed to an interpersonal dispute.

“Parades, rallies, faculties, motion pictures, it looks as if virtually nothing is secure,” Lucas added.

In keeping with stories, the violence started as an argument and escalated. It was not a single-shooter focused assault like the sort that always receives extra media consideration. That makes it extra in step with the overwhelming majority of capturing incidents within the US.

Lucas’s statements spotlight the truth that the proliferation of weapons and weak gun management insurance policies have fueled the USA’s mass capturing disaster, together with the most recent occasion of violence in Kansas Metropolis. Additionally they explicitly acknowledge the fallacy of the “good man with a gun” argument: the concept that including armed safety — relatively than limiting entry to weapons — can hold individuals secure.

The US has issues with gun violence as a result of it has lots of weapons

The US is exclusive amongst industrialized nations in the case of the frequency of deadly gun violence.

In keeping with CNN, which referenced the Institute for Well being Metrics and Analysis (IHME), a College of Washington world well being analysis group, the proportion of homicides brought on by gun violence within the US was 18 instances that of the common of different developed nations in 2019.

Equally, the variety of firearms individuals personal within the US far surpasses that of every other developed nation. The US has about 120 firearms per 100 residents, a lot increased than Yemen, the following closest nation, which has about 53 firearms per 100 residents, based on a 2018 examine by the Swiss-based gun analysis challenge the Small Arms Survey.

As Vox has defined, a number of research have instantly linked the nation’s variety of firearms with the frequency of gun violence. “One 2013 Boston College-led examine, as an example, discovered that for every share level enhance in gun possession on the family stage, the state firearm murder charge elevated by 0.9 p.c,” my colleagues Nicole Narea, Ian Millhiser, and I wrote. “And states with weaker gun legal guidelines have increased charges of gun-related homicides and suicides, based on a examine by the gun management advocacy group Everytown for Gun Security.”

The affect of gun violence has already been evident this yr. Within the first month and a half of 2024, 1,639 People have been killed by firearms and a pair of,223 have been injured, based on knowledge collected by the Gun Violence Archive, a not-for-profit group that tracks US shootings.

In response to shootings, gun advocates usually argue that extra weapons are the reply, that having a so-called “good man with a gun” helps as they’ll cease a “dangerous man with a gun.” That argument was superior by gun advocates following a current church capturing in Houston, wherein off-duty officers shot and killed the suspected shooter.

And it’s a fantasy instantly peddled by the gun foyer: “The one factor that stops a foul man with a gun is an effective man with a gun,” former Nationwide Rifle Affiliation CEO Wayne LaPierre beforehand mentioned. As Lucas famous, nonetheless, regardless of the sturdy presence of armed safety and legislation enforcement on the Chiefs parade, the capturing nonetheless occurred and resulted in accidents and a fatality.

“We had over 800 officers there, staffed, located throughout Union Station right this moment. We had safety in any variety of locations, eyes on prime of buildings and past — and there nonetheless is a threat to individuals,” Lucas mentioned. That’s to not say legislation enforcement and civilians didn’t assist forestall the scenario from being worse: Bystanders assisted in subduing one suspect, per stories, and police arrested no less than one particular person as properly.

Analysis has proven that rising the presence of “good guys with weapons” is just not a completely efficient option to scale back gun violence. It is because police usually aren’t capable of reply in time and the assault has already occurred after they’re capable of react. Per a Texas State College examine, police had been capable of cease lower than a 3rd of energetic assaults — together with shootings — between 2000 and 2022.

Lucas’s statements and the circumstances in Kansas Metropolis in the end underscore a grim actuality: A central drawback in these shootings is the weapons themselves.