It is three o’clock in the morning on January 7, 2022 in the US capital Washington DC. 13-year-old Karon was shot dead by an unknown gunman on the corner of Quincy Street and Michigan Avenue. The exact background has not yet been clarified.
Karon is one of many: several minors die every day in the United States from gun violence. According to the non-governmental organization Gun Violence Archive, 229 children and young people have been shot dead since the beginning of the year, and more than twice as many have been injured.
Gun violence as sad everyday life
The ORF correspondents Inka Pieh and Christophe Kohl report from Washington on the gun violence in the USA and the reasons for it.
Gun purchases soared during the pandemic
It is difficult for scientists to determine why the number of gun deaths has risen so dramatically. However, the availability of weapons should play a major role. With the onset of the pandemic, the number of gun sales in the United States skyrocketed, as health scientist Matt Miller evaluated in a study by Northeastern University.
Between January 2020 and April 2021, 5.4 million Americans acquired a firearm for the first time, including a disproportionate number of women and African Americans. “The health consequences of the recent surge in privately owned firearms will be felt not only by new gun owners, but also by the millions of people who live with them, including some five million children who are now exposed to firearms in their homes,” Miller writes in his study.
Gun custody not uniformly regulated
There are no uniform rules as to how these weapons must be stored. That is a matter for the states, there is no national law. 34 of the 50 US states have laws that require guns to be kept safe from children. Only 14 states require guns to be locked away in safes.
Many children and young people therefore have relatively easy access to weapons, which repeatedly leads to tragic accidents. In 2022 there were 1,625 unintentional shootings across the country. Four times more people die from accidental gunfire in the United States than in other industrialized nations.
Less police presence in problem areas
The pandemic fueled the trend towards guns, while at the same time the presence of the police decreased significantly, especially in the first few months of the pandemic – a dangerous combination that led to more shootings, especially in areas of the big cities that were already suffering from high crime rates. The crime-ridden neighborhoods are now more dangerous for young Americans than some war zones.
In Chicago’s notorious South Side, and also in some parts of Philadelphia, the risk of dying from firearms is several times higher than among soldiers at war, according to an epidemiological comparison published in December.
The number of deaths has doubled within a few years
The number of deaths from firearms has been increasing for several years. In 2022, more than 20,000 people were shot dead across the country, including 44,299 suicides. In 2014, the number was even lower, at around 12,400 firearm victims. In 2016, there were more than 10 deaths per 100,000 people in the United States. For comparison: In Austria it was 2.1 in the same period.
According to the health authority CDC, there are also strong regional differences within the USA. Especially in the conservative southern states like Mississippi or rural areas in the Midwest, many people die from guns.
Semi-automatic weapons remain available
Another reason gun deaths are rising is that mass shootings are becoming more common. According to the Gun Violence Archive, the number of these rampages, with more than four deaths and/or injuries, has more than doubled since 2014. Last year there were 647 such shootings, that is almost two a day. The perpetrators often use semi-automatic machine guns with which they can kill countless people within a very short time.
Always after such massacres, the call for a ban on these guns is loud. But the Republicans and some Democrats categorically block such a tightening of the law. In many states, such rifles can be obtained even faster than a handgun.
Biden doesn’t have a majority for tougher laws
During the election campaign, US President Joe Biden spoke of a veritable “weapons epidemic” plaguing the country. Since the beginning of his tenure, he has promised a significant tightening of gun laws. But given the majority in Congress, his room for maneuver is limited. The President could only order minor tightening by means of decrees.
However, these are not sustainable measures, as they can be lifted at any time by Biden’s successor. A trend reversal is not in sight. Protests and memorial services like those for 13-year-old Karon will continue to be the order of the day in the United States.
