While the world's Muslims celebrate the Eid al-Adha holiday, which prohibited humans sacrificing each other, Americans are discussing the deadly gun violence that claims about 36,000 lives a year. The recent attacks by White Supremacists have killed more than 30 people, fueling the debate about restricting access to guns. The Republicans, allies of the arms lobby, have again opted to make themselves scarce. On the other hand, Democrats seem to have taken the moral high ground in the struggle against gun violence.
While the arms lobby makes billions of dollars, the bill for violence is footed by everyday Americans. Firearms attacks indirectly cost the U.S. economy $229 billion a year. Medical care and judicial expenses make up a significant portion of this amount.
Most of the weapons used in the massacres that took place in many countries across the world are also American-made weapons-- minus U.S. weapons used in civil wars in Syria, Yemen, Libya and various other countries. The share of the United States in human tragedies in these type of attacks is quite high. The U.S. Congress approved draft laws restricting the use of American weapons in Yemen. Of course, Trump vetoed these plans.
Mexico stands out in the murders committed with American weapons. Seventy percent of the crimes committed in Mexico are done so using American weapons. More than 30,000 people are killed by firearms in Mexico every year. About half of these murders are carried out using U.S.-made weapons.
According to the San Francisco-based Giffords Law Center, which advocates against gun violence, 1.3 million Americans have been shot in the last decade. Every day in the U.S., there is an attack that targets four or more people. With 40,000 deaths in 2017, gun deaths reached their highest level in 40 years. The number of Americans who are wounded with guns every year has hit 100,000. Sixty percent of deaths by firearms are “suicide” and 35 percent are “murder”. The U.S.’s share of global suicide and murder rates is 35 percent and 9 percent respectively. Fifty-one percent of suicide deaths are carried out with guns. More than 70 percent of all murders use firearms.
The likelihood of unarmed black civilians being shot and killed by the police in the U.S. is five times more likely than that of unarmed whites. Black men account for less than 7 percent of the U.S. population, but 52 percent of them are the victims of armed murders. Black Americans are 10 times more likely to be gunned down than whites.
Every year, 3 million American children are directly exposed to gun violence. Every year, 1500 children are shot dead. Black children are the number one victims of gun violence. Black children are 10 times more likely to be killed by guns than white children.
Approximately 1 million women currently living in the U.S. were shot by their husbands or boyfriends. The number of women threatened by guns in the same category exceeds millions. Black women are twice as likely to be killed by a spouse than white women.
Americans of all ages are extremely afraid of attacks in shopping malls, concerts, movie theaters and religious venues. Firearms are increasingly causing hatred and prejudice. The data shared by the Giffords Law Center reveals how frightening the sociological, psychological and economic toll of gun violence on humanity really is.
Is it possible for the U.S., which is unable to establish order at home and lives in fear and anxiety of its citizens, to establish a global order that encompasses all humanity? On the contrary, the United States is a country that spreads evil within. Is this a model that will bring any good to humanity?
