America's Undeclared National Emergency

Our one-sided, deadly love affair with guns.

On Saturday, a White Supremacist shot and killed three Black people in a racially motivated shooting in a Dollar General store in Jacksonville, Florida.

Two days later, a doctoral student killed a faculty member at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.

Whether it is a mass shooting like in Jacksonville or a single shooting like the one in North Carolina, America is experiencing an unprecedented outbreak of gun violence.

It is a constant subject of debate and heated discussion.

But facts are facts.

The facts remain that car, motorcycle, and boat ownership are more regulated than weapons that kill more people than all of these conveyances combined.

Gun violence is the leading cause of death for kids and teens.

In 2020, people under 30 were almost ten times more likely to die by firearm than from COVID.

More people die from gun violence in America than automobile accidents, even though only a third of our country’s households own guns.

Black women are increasingly dying more often as a result of gun violence. The homicide rate for them increased almost 50% between 2019 and 2020.

Many try to blame violence in media and video games, mental illness, or other convenient scapegoats.

The problem always has been and always will be the guns.

There is no credible argument for private citizens owning assault weapons.

Non-military, non-law enforcement gun owners do not need to possess AR-15s.

How many People of Color must die to convince the nation to act?

How many more school shootings must take place, how many children’s bodies must be rendered unrecognizable before Congress takes action?

Enough of the “a good guy with a gun” mythology.

Enough of the misplaced weapon worship that self-promotes gun ownership and has grown into a cult that values steel over souls.

Enough of the National Rifle Association’s incestuous, illicit relationships with bought and sold politicians.

America must decide if will add to the inestimable blood on its hands, or if it will pass sensible, permanent gun control laws.

If we fail to act, one day the country’s epitaph may read:

Killed by Rugged Individualism.