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On Guns, We Are Not Wise*
I recently represented someone who was charged with crimes arising from shootings in quiet, rural, white Utah in which four people died and another survived. My client was 16 at the time and charged as an adult.
I realize every situation has its own set of circumstances. Of late, however, I have wondered how the thought of using a firearm as a solution, or the solution, to one’s problems even enters a child’s or young teen’s mind, let alone germinates into gun violence, injuries, death, and incarceration up to the remainder of a young person’s life. I’ve wondered why we allow such ready availability and access of firearms to children and teens, including those who might think of using one to solve his problems or satiate some emotion or need.
The United States is on track to exceed 700 mass shootings in 2023, with 380 as of this posting. While writing this post, my newsfeed revealed the day’s inevitable mass shooting happened in Hampton, Georgia. A uniquely American problem among wealthy countries, mass shootings are defined as four or more persons injured or killed in an incident of gun violence, not including the shooter. The numbers are headed in the wrong direction, with 336 mass shootings in 2018, 417 in 2019, 610 in 2020, 690 in 2021 and 647 in 2022. Gun Violence Archive.