Gun Deaths in the US: Analyzing At-Risk Demographics in 2024
Until we begin having solution-oriented conversations, public policy, advocacy, and political outrage will continue to fail the most at-risk Americans.
Cassandra McBride is the youngest of four girls, her father’s last hope for a boy; she became her father’s shadow, his hunting buddy, and his fishing friend. With both parents enlisted in the U.S. Navy, she was fortunate enough to spend her youth camping in the Appalachians, hiking the Olympics, and exploring beaches on the East and West coasts. At the age of ten, she took up archery but never once recovered an arrow released from her bow. Her father, in an attempt to keep the family from going poor replacing poorly-shot arrows, took her to the gun range for the first time. His .410 in hand, she began hitting target after target. She excelled with the small shotgun, and it grew into a passion. After passing her hunting certifications at 13, she was gifted her first firearm, an antiquated 16 gauge shotgun. It was weathered, held together only by aging electrical tape, but with it, she began shooting competitively. Over the years, she has enjoyed growing as a marksman and expanding her knowledge of firearms and ammunition. She developed a new passion for writing as a Criminology major in college. She enjoyed researching and analyzing complex data sets and implementing them in real-world applications. After getting married and having children, she fell into published writing as a hobby and has since made it a career. She spends her free time reading classic literature, kayaking, fishing, and spending time on the range with her husband and four children. She continues to grow her knowledge of firearms and ammunition while taking immense pride in educating others on a passion sparked in childhood and maintained in adulthood.
Until we begin having solution-oriented conversations, public policy, advocacy, and political outrage will continue to fail the most at-risk Americans.
The answer lies in enforcing existing laws and implementing tough crime policies, which have proven effective, while restrictive legislation has shown adverse effects.
There is no correlation between firearm-related deaths (including homicide, suicide, unintentional, and law enforcement) and gun lobbying (for or against gun control). Essentially, feel-good legislation is ineffective but quite profitable.
Different calibers have varying degrees of terminal ballistics, but this does not mean they are used more frequently in crimes.
Understanding firearm safety principles and identifying high-risk individuals are essential steps in reducing firearm-related deaths in America.
There are exceptions; while policing tends to be a common factor in high-crime populations, New York County often appears near the top of the list and has six times the number of full-time officers as the other top counties.
“Gun violence” is a polarizing term because it often includes incidents where no individual was threatened or harmed. Nonetheless, the fluctuation of gun violence statistics remains a concern for many Americans.
The stolen gun issue is further compounded by low clearance rates and too few officers to combat growing crime problems in urban areas.
Despite concerns from various groups, concealed carry laws do not increase crime rates.
Hawaii is the #1 worst state for gun owners due to strict purchasing and carry laws, as well as defying the Supreme Court on the individual’s right to carry.