Nine people were slaughtered in a Charleston church on June 17 and everyone’s talking about it. What no one’s talking about are the 22 other people who were shot dead with a gun on June 17, or the 62 other people who were accidentally shot that same day or killed themselves with a gun, or the 230 people who were shot and survived. So in one day across America, 323 people were shot — some died, some didn’t — but the common denominator here is simple: guns.
Similar countries also have racist people, violent people, angry people, drunk people, depressed people, and mentally ill people. What they don’t have are easily obtainable guns.
States with the strictest gun ownership laws have the lowest rate of gun deaths. And a gun in the home substantially increases the risk for suicide and becoming a victim of homicide. It’s simple: Higher gun ownership rates equal higher firearms-related deaths.
High-profile shootings like Charleston, Sandy Hook and Columbine sadden us all and spur debate. But if we want it to change, we need thoughtful, pragmatic laws, like universal background checks, which we know work, in order to curb the daily slaughter of Americans by gun violence.
