http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/04/true-cost-of-gun-violence-in-america
Guns are bad, m’kay?
But giving that kind of message over and over again isn’t going to gain much progress. We know this. We know that some people will hold firm on beliefs—whether they’re heavily in favor of policing the unsafe freedoms of gun ownership in this country or strongly supporting the Second Amendment as the guiding legislation to our protection—no matter what information they’re presented. However, a lot can change if you can put a research-backed price tag on the problem.
The necessity for more research on what gun-related violence is costing America is clear, because what we don’t know (or rather, what we are just getting data on) is seriously hurting us. Mother Jones published an extensive, three chapter story on the numbers compiled pertaining to just how much is lost in a year.
And $229 billion is not a sum to be ignored.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/04/charts-show-cost-price-gun-violence-america
The indirect, hidden costs that span over a lifetime, long after the bullets were fired, are unprecedentedly astronomical. We have the emergency services and the police enforcement that need to be paid for their work at the scene of a crime, but that money does not even get under the skin of the long-term issue. Then, the legal proceedings for the crime, the criminal trial, the measures to put guilty defendants in prison, the medical bills for surviving victims, the funeral costs for those who lost their lives, the rehabilitation programs, the mental health treatment for the victims’ families, and the overall loss in quality of life are the additional expenditures. We’re looking at an average of $6 million for every death, $583,000 for every serious injury.
No average, everyday citizen can afford that level of damage. The true stories shared on Mother Jones are grim in just how quickly their expenses spiraled out of control and their lives unraveled. In the case of Jennifer Longdon, she lost her fiancé, her mobility, her money, and her ability to work and live as she once had.
Watch >>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL7FWr6whNWmjh-c2hCsK5XcNtR9eL2gkJ&v=CcxeVBPH-1w
So is there anything more we can do to remediate the issue, or at least a way for an organization like the CDC to give the same kind of data and attention to the public as, say, the health effects of automobile pollution? The NRA doesn’t make obtaining that sort of information easy.
Unlike those in pursuing the costs behind different diseases afflicting the population, the infection of gun violence is left open in part due to the strength of lobbyists with the National Rifle Association. High and mighty members of the business world to representatives in our government have had their finger on the trigger, preventing investigations into gun mortality rates. The CDC had begun releasing reports on the matter prior to 1996, seeing that increased prevalence of guns lead to increased acts of violence. Then Republican Representative Jay Dickey helped in a removal of $2.6 million in the CDC budget, the same amount of money formerly allocated to the gun research. After eventually reinstating that portion of the budget, the amount of funds has continued to increase each year, to the point where the CDC has stated the government research at work has gone done by 96% since the 1990s. What little money left has been put towards studying traumatic brain injuries, because studying that is not causing officials to reduce their budget.
Today, much of the research is composed of FBI statistics on homicides and suicides, while other portions come from medical reports. However, stakeholders like the NRA and the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence (which focuses more on removing “bad apple” dealers than restricting or reducing gun availability) release their own statistics as well.
It hasn’t been a fight composed of subliminal messages, but rather a direct shove by the NRA. The CDC has released statements in the past claiming that they have no intention of “eliminat[ing] guns.” It’s one thing to promote gun freedoms, but it is another to exercise negligence and antagonize groups that do not benefit one’s mission.
The lack of proper research may be leading to lack of understanding. Pew Research Center revealed that 52% of Americans are most concerned with defending gun rights or loosening restrictions, while 46% say gun strictness is a more important priority. We are perceiving that crime rates are worse than ever and that gun ownership is the true answer. Our perception of crime is not as dependent on fact as it is on media exposure, as the public has misidentified high crime rates in the past when rates were at their lowest in a 20 year span of time. From the sounds of things, the efforts by the NRA are swaying public opinion. Being informed is our greatest ally for making the best decisions. Let’s find a way to be informed.
Tim, I loved the message at the end. It frustrates me how much influence the gun lobby has. We went a full year, including the ebola crisis, without a Surgeon General, because the candidate (Vivek Murthy) was the first to view gun violence as a public health issue. As a result, the gun lobby threatened to cut campaign funding for politicians that would vote to confirm him. Instead, the Senate voted to push back his confirmation until after the next elections, effectively saving their butts and endangering ours. It really all does come down to the money.