The Pandemic of Gun Violence in the United States has lasted longer than Covid-19.
The resignation of Wayne LaPierre, the long-term leader of the National Rifle Association, is the latest in the problems of the association. The NRA filed for bankruptcy in 2021 after the departure of its chief lobbyist Chris Cox in 2019 that led to a leadership fight. Since 2018, the organization has lost a million members and half of its revenue.
Rather than cite the history of the rise and fall of the most significant gun-rights organization, I will focus on the costs of their success. Through their lobbying efforts and donations over 40 years, they stalled any effort to regulate guns or gun ownership by the Congress. Since then, 126 people in the US are killed by guns every day. The cost is estimated to be $229 billion per year. This data includes suicides, homicides, school shootings, and mass shootings. Mass shootings get all the media attention, but the daily violence produces the most numbers.
It is a complex issue that includes the easy access to guns, people with untreated mental health issues, criminals, and poverty. Guns are everywhere and are particularly dangerous in the home where many guns are not safely secured. Those who live in desperate poverty with few options for good jobs often turn to murder, mugging, drugs, and theft to get money for basic needs.
The first federal effort to control guns was the legislation following the injury of Tom Brady following the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan. More recent organizations include Everytown for Gun Safety, and perhaps one of the most successful organizations, March For Our Lives, a student-led organization formed in 2018. They took on the NRA directly and got lots of media attention.
It’s too soon to say how much the weakened status of the NRA may affect gun violence, or if the Congress may become active in dealing with the issue. That seems unlikely since the GOP has taken up the standard as an issue protected by the 2nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. They tend publicly to ignore the political pressure of the gun manufacturers. Of course, there is a lot of debate about what constitutes a militia versus individual gun rights and responsibilities. It is ironic that the NRA started as a volunteer gun safety organization to provide training in safe handling and storage of guns.
The issue literally exploded beginning in 1994 when the federal ban on the sale of assault rifles expired and the toll started to climb. Many municipalities have enacted ordinances and regulations about guns, as well as a few states. Others have formed task forces to study means to deter gun violence in communities. It will take a full-scale national effort to even begin to deal with the problem.
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