Gun violence is not new in the United States.

We have been a gun-loving, gun-toting nation since our inception. The right to bear arms is enshrined in our Constitution, although scholars debate to whom that actually applies.

In 1994, Congress passed a ban on civilian ownership of military grade assault weapons. That ban expired 10 years later, and ever since we have been beset with a flood of such weapons and an accompanying wave of mass shootings.

The mayor of Louisville lost a close friend in the recent mass shooting at a bank there earlier this month, an event now so routine this one feels like months ago. The mayor himself had been the victim of an assassination attempt a year ago. He escaped with only a bullet hole in his sweater, unlike so many other Americans permanently felled by gun violence.

Mr. Mayor is hardly alone. Millions of Americans have personal experience with gun violence, and some like the mayor, more than once. A recent poll by the University of Chicago and the Associated Press found that 1 in 5 Americans report they or someone close to them have experienced gun violence of some sort from threats to murder. University of Chicago Professor Jens Ludwig dubs that a “strikingly high number.”

And, ponder this for a moment. The leading cause of death of Americans between 0 and 18 years old is, in fact, gun violence. Let that sink in. Several decades ago, even after the advent of seat belt and baby seat regulations, the leading cause of childhood deaths was vehicle accidents. No more. We are now literally shooting our children dead. The rate of childhood gun deaths has soared from 10% in 2000 to 19% in 2023.

The ban on civilian ownership of military assault weapons expired in 2004 … hmmmm.

Most gun violence does not involve mass shootings, of course.

Most incidents are personal, some accidental and some intentional. Many are suicides. What they all have in common are guns, and the reality that — accidental or intentional — without the gun present, many of those people, including children, would not have died.

Mass shootings, generally defined as shootings in which 4 or more people are killed, garner national attention, as they should. There have been at least 160 of them so far this year, and we have 8 more months to go. They are changing our daily routines. Many people, including this writer, sometimes avoid large gatherings of people unknown to us and evaluate escape routes when we do go out. Many of us have sought out weapons to protect ourselves and those we love and many have tried to learn how to handle and shoot a gun.

More and more, public safety experts are giving advice on what to do if we do find ourselves in an active shooter situation. This advice usually includes several components.
Always be aware of your surroundings and quickly determine how you would leave the area or the building if you need to go.

If there is an active shooter, run if you can. Hide if you cannot, and fight if you have no other option. If you hide, try to barricade yourself with furniture or whatever is around. Be quiet.
After you ponder the fact that guns kill more children than any other cause, ponder this. While several southern American nations have higher gun death rates than the United States, we have set ourselves far apart from our international peer nations in terms of both gun ownership and gun deaths. According to U.S. News & World Report, American civilians own 120.5 firearms per 100 citizens, making us the only nation on earth with more guns than people.

Political arguments aside, all I can think is hmmmm.