Armed and Angry

 

(4 minute read)

Violent questions

How violent a nation are we?  Do we have a culture of violence?  Is violence encouraged? 

First, a few numbers.

There are over 400 million guns in the United States and over 70 million gun owners.[1]  The year 2020 was record-breaking year in gun sales.  Twenty-two percent of Democrats own guns, 44% of Republicans.  A lot of people like guns.  The Republican threat of the Dems coming for people’s guns is just laughable. 

There were 45,000 deaths from gun related injuries in 2020.[2]  Fifty four percent of gun deaths were by suicide, 43% were murders.  State with the most guns per capita?  Wyoming.  Number 3 on gun deaths per capita?  Wyoming.

Among industrialized nations the United States is considered to be one of the most violent in terms of homicide but when it comes to assault, we’re around the middle of the pack.[3]  In the world there are a whole lot of countries that are way more violent than America.[4]  Frankly with Russia we’ll just never know what their violence rates are. 

Obviously, we can’t let the third world nations outdo us!  We need more guns to commit more violence so that we can be ‘numero uno’ when it comes to violence.  One mass murder at a time. (satirical comment)

I could go on and on but this piece isn’t about statistics.  It’s about violence.  Firearms are just one source of violence.  Physical assault is real popular.  In 2019 we had over one million violent crimes committed in the United States.[5] 

That’s a whole lot of violence.

Can we all get along?

            Remember when Rodney King said, "People, I just want to say, you know, can we all get along? Can we get along?"[6]  I think to answer that is kind of like dealing with addiction.  People wanting to deal with their addiction (admitting they have a problem) is the first step.  As a people we would have to want to get along.  Most of the time we do.  It’s in settling our differences, sometimes in the heat of an argument, when violence can step in as being THE solution. 

            People fear being set upon by strangers, whether it’s civil unrest or a mugging.  People are afraid for their children because of all the school shootings.  Near constant shootings are reported in the media and I’m not just talking national media but local media as well.  There’s war in Ukraine.  Our language is violent.  We’re going to fight back!  We’re going to stand our ground!

            I’m going to share an excerpt from a paper written by British therapist Annabelle Hird in 2018:[7]

The questions we should be asking ourselves should perhaps not be ‘Why is there so much violence today?’ but rather ‘Why are we not more violent?’. We live in fearful times. There is a lot to be afraid of, those of us that are privileged are kept awake at night with political concerns and worries about the environment, those less so are worrying about how to feed their children or themselves, how to make payment for a loan they can’t afford, or avoid being beaten up because of the colour of their skin or how they identify. We are bombarded with information as and when it occurs, and we experience in real time via media (social and mainstream) terrorist attacks and atrocities both man made and natural. It could be true to say we are all frightened, all the time. Danger may not be more likely than it has been at other point in history but we are certainly living with more awareness of the potential for it than ever before.

            The awareness of the potential for violence affects us,

We’re conditioned to accept violence as a part of life.

Violence encouraged.

            What has changed dramatically in the last few years is that the language and encouragement of politicians for people to not only arm themselves but be ready to commit violence and rebel against our form of government.  They’re showing up at government buildings and meetings all across the country armed and threatening.  Treasonous Ex-President Trump already headed up a rebellion against the peaceful transfer of power in our country for the first time in our history and is openly encouraging and threatening civil war along with other Trump Republican Party members.  Think they’re done?  If at first you don’t succeed try, try again is the old adage.  These people are crazy and they need to be stopped through peaceful means.

While it’s still possible.

---

[1] https://www.marineapproved.com/gun-ownership-statistics-in-america/

[2] https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/02/03/what-the-data-says-about-gun-deaths-in-the-u-s/

[3] https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-oped-is-the-united-states-unusually-violent-20190920-aeb3i3risbg3voaboy52unhglu-story.html

[4] https://www.atlasandboots.com/travel-blog/most-dangerous-countries-in-the-world/

[5] https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2019/crime-in-the-u.s.-2019/topic-pages/violent-crime

[6] https://www.huffpost.com/entry/cant-we-all-just-get-alon_b_10150704

[7] https://welldoing.org/article/how-are-fear-and-violence-connected