I don't trust the statistics that are given by US press, who can tell me whether or not those researches haven't been funded or sponsored by the NRA?
Here's a recent video from Dutch press, you can enable English subtitles:
it's titled
The bloodbond between Americans and their weapons
and here's an older video, less serious but still accurate, titled
Nonsensical Rifle Addiction
And here's a Google translation of the Dutch article titled This year 40 people were killed every day by firearm violence in the US
Not sure if that link will work so I'll just quote the complete text:
Quote:
This year 40 people were killed every day by firearm violence in the US
Sun August 4, 8:57 PM Abroad
Written by
Paulus Houthuijs editor Online
In the space of 24 hours there were two attacks in the United States with a total of 29 dead and 46 wounded. In Texas a shooter opened fire on people shopping in a mall, in Ohio someone shot around in downtown Dayton.
Meanwhile, there were 26 other shooting incidents with at least one dead in the same time frame, according to figures from the Gun Violence Archive .
The statistics of firearm violence in the US are extreme compared to Europe. This year there have been an average of 152 shooting incidents per day so far. On average, 40 people die in America every day due to firearm violence.
According to the database, 8740 people were killed this year by gun violence Gun Violence Archive
The number of fatal victims of firearm violence per 100,000 inhabitants is almost ten times higher than in the EU. And in the Netherlands about 0.6 in every 100,000 residents were killed by firearms in 2016. In the US there were about 10.6 in the same year, according to figures from the American medical journal JAMA .
In the constitution
The statistics are actually incomparable, says correspondent Marieke de Vries. "Because gun ownership is legal here in the US. It is also deeply rooted in American culture and even in the constitution: you have the right to carry firearms to defend yourself."
The philosophy behind it stems from the pioneering days of the US. The newcomers had to be able to protect themselves while they built a new life. Protection against everything that could be dangerous, including politicians. Indeed, the Second Amendment even gives armed civilians the opportunity to overthrow a tyrannical government under certain conditions.
Mass shootings in the US and in Europe
The attacks in Texas and Ohio this weekend were according to the Gun Violence Archive the 250th and 251rd mass shooting of 2019. The following definition was used: at least four people were shot, excluding the shooter.
Another independent database, the Mass Shooting Tracker , reports that Ohio was even the 293rd mass shooting .
This type of firearm violence is much more common in the US than in Europe. That conclusion can be drawn from two reports for the period 2009 - 2016.- In Europe there were 19 shooting incidents with at least four fatalities in 2009 up to and including 2015.
- In the US there were 156 shooting incidents - which meet the same criteria - with the caveat that 2016 was also counted.
The research on Europe was done by the Flemish Peace Institute . Of the 19 firearms attacks, 319 were killed. This high number is mainly due to the attacks in Paris in November 2015 and the attacks on the Norwegian island of Utøya in July 2011.
Everytown for Gun Safety released the report on mass shootings in the US. This is a non-profit organization that is committed to stricter arms laws. 848 people died in these 156 cases of firearm violence.
Even after this weekend's attacks, American arms legislation will not change quickly, says correspondent De Vries. "The position of the Republicans is and remains: it is not the weapons, but the people. The Democrats are carefully trying to do something about it by betting on background checks."
There is a bill at the Senate to check the buyers of weapons for mental health from now on. That proposal was submitted by the House of Representatives (in the hands of the Democrats). But the chance of approval by the Senate seems small, because it is in the hands of the Republicans.
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