Killin’: The American Way

Another day, another multiple mass shootings, at the very least in Fort Worth and Philadelphia. Of course, nothing new under the sun here in this exceptionally violent nation.

Six months into the year, more than 21,000 people have died because of gun-related injuries in the United States.

Doctors and public health officials have a word to describe the rising number of people killed or hurt by guns in recent years: epidemic.

“I would certainly consider the problem of firearm injuries and firearm violence as an epidemic in the United States,” said Patrick Carter, director of the University of Michigan Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention, whose research is partly funded by the National Institutes of Health.

“When we think about what the term epidemic means, it means a sudden increase in the numbers, or incidents, of an event over what would be considered a baseline level,” Carter told Morning Edition.

Since the mid-2000s, the United States has seen year-after-year increases in the number of deaths and injuries from guns “that would mirror what we would consider to be a sudden increase consistent with an epidemic,” Carter said.

I’m not particularly interested in the definition of an “epidemic” here, but it worth noting that while debates over American exceptionalism are quite unhelpful in general, on the issue of gun violence, the exceptionalism in unquestionable. We just like to murder each other.