Epidemic of Violence

Valentine’s Day 2024: 22 shots ring out during the Super Bowl Victory Parade in Kansas City, Missouri, killing Elizabeth Galvan, a beloved radio host, and injuring twenty-two others. If you saw this event on Instagram, TikTok, or in your inbox, you probably kept scrolling, thinking it was just another mass shooting. But this cannot be our mentality. We cannot simply express condolences; we need national policy change. 

According to the Gun Violence Archives, a non-profit corporation that records every instance of gun-violence in the United States, the Kansas City shooting was not the first mass shooting of the year; there have been 25 since January 23, and in 2023 there were more mass shootings than days in the year. The number of mass shootings has been on the rise since 2014, and is projected to continue increasing, taking the lives of more innocent people every year. 

Just after the shooting, Quinton Lucas, the Kansas City mayor, called it “absolutely devastating” and said it has made him “vastly more concerned as a parent.” In a study done in early January 2024 by Everytown for Gun Safety, the largest gun violence prevention organization in America, Kansas currently ranks number 37 out of 50 for gun law strength, which means it is easier for people to have access to guns and carry them in public compared to other states. Kansas’ weak gun laws allow people to carry firearms without a permit, making it harder to create gun free spaces and in turn creating Lucas’ concern. While the shooting was indeed “absolutely devastating,” words are not enough. Words do not end gun violence or assure there are adequate safety measures for people purchasing guns. Lucas should use his concern to enact policy changes in Kansas City, like New York State did after the Buffalo mass shooting in 2022. 

Right now, gun laws, including background checks, purchase permitting, and permitless carry laws, are controlled by individual state governments. However, the strength of a state’s gun laws does not directly correlate to decreased rates of gun violence. In Everytown’s study, California ranks number one for gun law strength, yet they still have a gun violence rate of 8.7 percent. Meanwhile, Rhode Island is ranked number 13 for gun law strength but has the lowest rate of gun violence at 3.1 percent. Nevertheless, states with the highest rates of gun violence, which includes mass shootings, also have relatively weak gun laws. Mississippi, for instance, has the second weakest laws for gun violence and the highest gun violence rate at 29.7 percent. Because especially weak gun laws increase rates of gun violence, gun laws are necessary and effective.

While strong state gun laws minimize the problem of shootings, they do not completely solve the issue either. Even though states with strong gun laws are more likely to have lower rates of gun violence, they are still susceptible to the “iron pipeline.” The iron pipeline describes the flow of illegal guns from states with weaker gun prohibition laws to states with stronger laws. In states with strong gun laws that border states with weaker gun laws, about 80 percent of all the guns found on crime scenes come from states without good background checks. State borders are permeable, so the weakness of one state’s gun laws weakens every state’s gun control. In order to decrease gun violence in every state, we need national gun laws, which would make every state safer by decreasing the amount of firearms smuggled between states. 

While six out of 10 Americans believe gun violence is a major problem, the increase in gun violence, mass shootings, and school shootings, has made Americans feel they need to own guns for their own protection. The Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan social science research institute, found that of the 32 percent of Americans that own guns, 72 percent own one for their own protection. This feeds an endless cycle because as gun violence and mass shootings increase so does the number of guns available to commit such violence. One cannot be truly protected if a third of the country keeps guns in their home. As long as gun laws are inconsistent and a substantial number of Americans own firearms, Congress cannot ensure life and liberty for all.