US Shootings: every day in America, 12 children die from gunfire

A police officer leads two women and a child from Sandy Hook Elementary School. Shannon Hicks / AP Photo/Newtown Bee.

The latest attack comes less than two weeks before Christmas. It appeared to be the nation's second-deadliest school shooting, exceeded only by the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007. Alex von Kleydorff / AP

A woman weeps as she arrives to pick up her children. AP

A candlelight vigil in Times Square, for the victims. Carlo Allegri / Reuters

The families of victims grieve. Adrees Latif / Reuters

The latest attack comes less than two weeks before Christmas. It appeared to be the nation's second-deadliest school shooting, exceeded only by the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007. Andrew Gombert / AP

A woman waits to hear about her sister, a teacher. Jessica Hill / AP

This past week, we crossed the tenth anniversary of the day when an obviously deranged young man wielding a weapon of war massacred 20 little children and six of their teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. America has had mass shootings even before that day. But Sandy Hook felt different because the victims were so little and so many, and because then US President Barack Obama spoke so eloquently and tearfully to the nation, capturing our collective grief and the resolve that “our hearts had been broken” too many times and that something must be done to end such killings.

The powerful gun lobby went to work and a short time later the Senate voted down a modest gun reform bill by a vote of 60 to 40.

A sign outside the National Rifle Association Annual Meeting, in Houston, on May 27. AFP

The numbers since Sandy Hook are staggering – and increasing at an alarming rate. In the four decades before Sandy Hook, there were 1,094 school shootings. But during just the past decade, America has seen an almost doubled number with an additional 948 school shootings – more than 109 of them being mass shootings (defined as an incident in which four or more have been have shot by a gunman).

But school shootings are only a part of the story. Eighty-one million Americans now own 415,000,000 guns. And we use them with regularity on each other. In each of the past three years there have been more than 600 mass shootings – with last year’s 690 being the highest on record. These annual numbers more than double the numbers of mass shootings each year of the previous decade. And this year alone, there have already been 43,000 gun-related deaths, divided almost evenly between murders and suicides.

Every single day in America an average of 12 children die from gunfire. Another 32 are shot and wounded. In fact, guns are the leading cause of death among children and teenagers in the US.

In other words, guns are literally killing Americans, and the politicians are doing nothing about it. Mass shootings have become routine. It is only when the event is so horrific, like Sandy Hook, or Columbine, or Stoneman Douglas, or more recently, Uvalde, that we become shocked. But there is a difference. When the slaughter of children occurred a decade ago, there was still a belief that real change would occur. Many people no longer believe that and have come to settle for minor reforms that amount to but a tweak in the murder machine.

It is as if the life has been sucked out of us and we no longer even dare to hope that assault weapons can be banned, that gun sales can be regulated and limited, or that communities can at least ban weapons of war from within their jurisdictions.

We know that in the face of an epidemic of gun violence such common sense measures should be implemented. But we also know that because conservatives in Congress and the courts have both a bizarre ideological interpretation of the Constitution and/or a pathological obsession with guns, saving our children is not a priority.

Last Christmas, a few “Christian” Republican members of Congress sent out Christmas cards featuring pictures of their families in front of their Christmas trees with each member (including their small children) proudly carrying assault weapons. One featured a note to Santa: “Please bring ammo.” This from the very crowd that rails against “godless liberals, who’ve taken Christ out of Christmas.”

As I have noted many times before, the problem of gun violence is deeply ingrained in American culture. From the mythic lore of the Old West, cowboys fighting Indians or cops chasing robbers, to the romanticisation of the mobsters of the 1920s to today’s video games featuring space invaders and fantasy futuristic weapons that enable our children to have the questionable pleasure of winning by shooting everything in sight – American society is suffering. And some Americans keep feeding its sickness with more guns and the misguided belief that they give us potency, making us strong and secure.

I remember after one monstrous mass murder in a Louisiana movie theatre, listening to a debate on CNN in which one panellist argued that if other patrons in the theatre had been armed, they could have stopped the shooter. I had heard much the same after a plane hijacking. The thought of multiple random shooters firing in a darkened theatre or in a plane at 30,000 feet is a nightmare, not a solution.

We should pass an assault weapon ban, require universal background checks, and certainly keep weapons out of the hands of children and those who are mentally ill. But we must also make a determined effort to address the root causes of our problem: our pathological obsession with weapons, the power of the gun lobby that blocks reform, and a popular culture that normalises killing with guns.

We need to constantly hold up before the gun lobby and those who support them the faces of the children who die, and name and shame those whose actions and inaction allow the slaughter to continue. They are as responsible as the shooters and should be made to feel responsible for forgetting the victims of Sandy Hook, Columbine, Stoneham Douglas, Uvalde and all the other massacres that have occurred on their watch.

The Sandy Hook Permanent Memorial in Newtown, Connecticut. AFP

December 14, 2022, marks the 10th anniversary of the school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary, where 26 people, including 20 children, were killed. AFP

A plaque welcomes visitors to the Sandy Hook Memorial. Inside the stone block are the incinerated remains of teddy bears, photos, flowers and letters that make up the 'sacred soil' of the memorial. Reuters

The granite basin surrounding the main water feature is marked with the 26 names of the victims. The National

The Sandy Hook Memorial opened to the public one month before the 10th anniversary of the tragedy. AFP

The names of the 20 children and six educators killed a short distance away at Sandy Hook Elementary School are engraved in concrete around the memorial pool with a sycamore tree in the middle. AP

A young sycamore tree in the water feature's central planter symbolises the young age of the victims. Most were between six and seven years old. The National

Water spirals anticlockwise towards the memorial's central planter. AFP

A pair of rocks are placed next to the name of Noah Pozner, one of the victims of the 2012 shooting. The National

Flowers are placed around the name of Grace McDonnell, one of the victims of the shooting. Reuters

Flowers at the Sandy Hook Permanent Memorial. Reuters

Flowers lie on the cobblestones at the foot of the memorial. The National

Flowers are placed under the name of one of the victims. AP

Visitors look at the names of the victims of the Sandy Hook shooting. The National

A visitor to the Sandy Hook Memorial sits on a bench at twilight. AP

The Sandy Hook Memorial is near the new school's campus. The National

Visitors walk along a winding path before reaching the main water fountain of the memorial. The National

Flowers are placed between the names of Emilie Parker and Anne Marie Murphy. Reuters