The news defeats surprise or shock. A gun massacre in the United States. It is unexceptional news. There’s been another one, we say. What a country, we shrug.
This isn’t how one should react. It is sandpaper against the soul. But this is the equation when civilian slaughter is multiplied upon itself year on year. It is a calculus now of the humdrum of daily murder. Horror does not issue automatically, there is no gasp, no drawing in of breath for now, though horror still rises, it is weighed down by being too familiar. We feel for the victims, of course, but in that feeling runs the dismal knowledge that it is just another in a long line, seemingly without end.
The sheer weight of numbers, not so much of death, but of incidents, has negated its impact when it reaches our shores. We are, if not comfortably numb to the news such as that from Maine recently where 18 died at the hands of a shooter who then killed himself, but anaesthetised numb.
This year alone gun-related deaths in the US total 35,400 (this figure will have risen from the time of typing), of which 15,617 are homicide and 19,000 are suicide. The number injured is 30,000. The number of mass shootings (classified as four or more dead) is 567. The number of children killed is 248, injured 549 (that is up to 11 years of age), and teenagers 1166 killed, injured 3285. That there is a classification for a mass shooting is damning enough.
The degree of horror then is calibrated by factors other than the number itself, such as the site of the violence. A sliding scale comes into effect, first a school (kindergarten, primary or high school or university), a church, a shopping mall or a workplace, for instance.
These are just some of the massacres of children in the US:
Virginia Tech 32 dead
Sandy Hook Elementary 27 dead
Robb Elementary 22 dead
University of Texas 18 dead
Parkland High 17 dead
Columbine High 15 dead.
The worst gun massacre was in Las Vegas in 2017 when 58 died from a lone sniper and more than 500 were injured, followed by the Orlando nightclub slaughter when 49 died the year before.
Of course, gun massacres have occurred in other parts of the world, Christchurch, Port Arthur, Dunblane, Norway. But in this murderous category, America is without peer. Their population of 331 million is only 4 per cent of the world’s, yet they own nearly half the globe’s supply of civilian arms. There are more guns than people, indeed the per capita ratio is 120 guns per 100 people.
'The Washington Post has reported that last school year, more than 1150 guns were brought to school, but seized before anyone fired them. The website Everytown for Gun Safety has noted that between August 2021 and June 2022 there had been 193 shootings in school grounds. And here is one of the most damning statistic: guns are the leading cause of death among American children and teens.'
Heart disease and cancer may be the overwhelming causes of death in America, at more than a million fatalities annually, but neither are delivered with malice or murderous intent or even mere random evil.
On the Maine massacre, the new Speaker of the House, Republican Mike Johnson, reacted this way: ‘At the end of the day, the problem is the human heart. It’s not guns, it’s not the weapons. At the end of the day, we have to protect the right of the citizens to protect themselves, and that’s the Second Amendment. That’s why our party stands so strongly for that.’
This is in line with the pro-gun advocates’ argument that it is a mental health problem not a gun problem besieging America. There is a perverse logic at work here. Of course, anyone who shoots to kill another human has a mental health problem. The counterargument — that without a gun, innocent lives would be spared — seems not to occur to them. Or if it does, it is secondary.
The argument also that carrying a gun in self-defence negates the likelihood of being shot is not proven from recent studies. Shoot-outs of civilian against civilian to stop a slaughter don’t occur. And yet it is almost open season for citizens being allowed what is called ‘open carry’. Going to the shops, to work, for a walk, sure we can just strap on a firearm. It’s no wonder schools now have drills on what to do if a shooter enters the playground.
The Washington Post has reported that last school year, more than 1150 guns were brought to school, but seized before anyone fired them. The website Everytown for Gun Safety has noted that between August 2021 and June 2022 there had been 193 shootings in school grounds. And here is one of the most damning statistics: guns are the leading cause of death among American children and teens.
Childhood’s end, indeed. It should be by becoming an adult, not another gun statistic.
The Governor of Maine, Janet Mills, in announcing the murderer was dead, said, ‘Like many people, I am breathing a sigh of relief tonight, knowing that Robert Card is no longer a threat to anyone. Now is the time to heal.’
Until the next time, which surely will come.
Warwick McFadyen is an award-winning journalist. He has won two Walkley Awards and four Quill Awards. He has published several books of poetry. The latest is 21+4 Poems. His prose and poems have also appeared in Quadrant, Overland and Dissent.
Main image: Law enforcement officials gather in the road leading to the home of the suspect being sought in connection with two mass shootings on October 26, 2023 in Bowdoin, Maine. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)