Maybe this time will be different.
I doubt it.
In December 2012, the slaughter of 26 school children and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School barely moved the needle on common sense restrictions for the possession of firearms.
Last week's slaughter of two television journalists in Virginia, which was captured on video from both the perspective of the killed and the killer, is about as close as we can get to rubbing America's collective nose in the country's gun violence problem.
Before most Americans return to sticking their collective heads in the sand, I hope at least some of them see the eye-popping U.S. gun violence statistics compiled by German Lopez for Vox:
- There have been at least 885 mass shootings since Sandy Hook.
- So far in 2015, there has been an average of nearly one mass shooting every day.
- States with more guns have more police officers who are killed in the line of duty. Every 10 percent increase in gun ownership correlates to 10 more police officers dying in homicides.
- Firearms suicides outpace firearms homicides by a wide margin. In 2013, there were 21,175 firearms suicides and 11,208 firearms suicides.
- Based on homicides by firearms per 1 million people, America is a colossal outlier among developed nations. In 2012, the American rate of homicides by firearms per 1 million people was 29.7. Switzerland posted the next-highest rate at 7.7. Australia posted the lowest rate at 1.4.
Simply put, America's love affair with guns is a cruel joke. On this issue, we are the laughingstock of the world.
