National Public Radio is an American non-profit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C. Last Saturday, it published an article—The US is uniquely terrible at protecting children from gun violence—saying guns are now the leading cause of death among young people in the US.
NPR said: “The killing of 19 fourth-graders and two adults at Robb Elementary School has unleashed an outpouring of grief and sadness across the nation. It has also, once again, spurred many to ask why the United States has failed to make any significant changes to its gun laws following the horrendous mass shootings that now happen with regularity.”
Five years ago, less than 4,000 children and teens up to the age of 17 were killed or injured by gun violence, according to the Gun Violence Archive. By the end of last year, that number was up 43 percent to 5,692. Some 1,560 of these children and teenagers died. So far in 2022, at least 653 children and teens in the US have been killed by guns. Another 1,609 children and teens have been injured by firearms, the Gun Violence Archive said.
Warriors Coach Steve Kerr, whose team was set to play the Dallas Mavericks in game four of the NBA’s Western Conference Finals on May 24, refused to talk about basketball in his pre-game press conference. Instead, a visibly angry Kerr, whose father was killed by gunmen, condemned senators for failing to act on gun legislation, hours after a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in the west Texas town of Uvalde, some 300 miles from Dallas.
“When are we going to do something?” Kerr shouted at the press conference. “I ask you, Mitch McConnell, I ask all of you senators who refuse to do anything about the violence and school shootings and supermarket shootings—I ask you, are you going to put your own desire for power ahead of the lives of our children and our elderly and our churchgoers? Because that’s what it looks like.”
Pro-gun lobbyists said the percentage of US households with at least one gun at home has not significantly changed over the past 50 years. But the number of assault-type rifles, like the one used in the Uvalde school shooting and dozens of other school shootings, has skyrocketed since legislators let a 1994 ban on such weapons expire in 2004. Since the ban was lifted, the rifles—called “modern sporting rifles” by the gun industry—have surged in popularity. The National Shooting Sports Foundation estimated there were nearly 20 million in circulation in 2020.
From The Onion, an American digital media company that publishes satirical articles: “It’s a shame, but what can we do? There really wasn’t anything that was going to keep this individual from snapping and killing a lot of people if that’s what they really wanted.” At press time, residents of the only economically advanced nation in the world where roughly two mass shootings have occurred every month for the past eight years were referring to themselves and their situation as “helpless.”
In its latest “News Alert”—Entire US Police Force Flees Country After Hearing Gunman Inside Nation—The Onion said: “Throwing their arms up into the air and screaming while frantically sprinting toward every single American border, the entire US police force reportedly fled the country Thursday after hearing that there was a gunman somewhere inside the nation. “Oh my God, run, run for your lives, someone in the United States has a gun,” said Phoenix Police Sgt. Aaron Philbank, appearing panicked as he urged more than 900,000 sworn law enforcement officers in all 50 states to drop whatever they were doing and escape via foot, car, plane, or boat into either Canada, Mexico, or the Pacific or Atlantic Ocean. “Jesus Christ. This guy could potentially be violent and, at this point, might be anywhere from California to New York. All I know is that I’m getting the hell out of here, and these fuckers are on their own. I didn’t sign up for this shit.” At press time, Philbank could not be reached for comment, as the nation’s police force was busy barricading every US border crossing and threatening to tase anyone who tried to stop the gunman.”
In the land of the free, articles that mock the police are not unusual, especially if peace officers drag their feet in responding to emergency situations, like the carnage in Texas. But beneath the scorn is a deeper concern: The US has a worsening gun violence problem, and Americans, unfortunately, remain helpless.