Cause of skyrocketing gun violence is more simple than you think
Feb 2, 2017, 6:47 AM | Updated: 11:39 am
The cause of all the gun violence in the United States is likely more simple than what some people believe.
Max Kapustin, research director at the University of Chicago’s Crime Lab, told Seattle’s Morning News that there was nothing extraordinary that occurred in 2016 that caused the number of homicides to skyrocket. It was simply easy access to firearms.
Mukilteo shooter: ‘I wish they never sold me a firearm’
“There are a number of explanations … but [they] don’t explain why 2016 was so dramatically different,” he said.
Those explanations range from weather to poverty and segregation. None of it though, explains the increase in violence in a city that saw more than 290 people shot and more than 50 people in January alone.
“I think it’s important to not lose sight of what made 2016 different was there wasn’t a general outbreak of crime and violence in the city,” he told Seattle’s Morning News. “The homicide crisis is almost entirely gun violence.”
The fact that Chicago has some of the most strict gun laws in the country is irrelevant, Kapustin says.
“That narrative is popular but misinformed,” he said. “Chicago is not an island.”
Chicago is part of Cook County and sites next to Indiana. Outside the city, and in Indiana, it’s relatively easy to purchase a gun, he says.
“Those guns are trafficked every day into Chicago,” Kapustin added.
The violence in Chicago has been so bad that President Donald Trump reacted recently — via Twitter.
If Chicago doesn't fix the horrible "carnage" going on, 228 shootings in 2017 with 42 killings (up 24% from 2016), I will send in the Feds!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 25, 2017
Listen to the entire conversation.
Local fix to gun violence
The number of mass shootings rose in Washington in 2016. The Seattle Times reported eight, under the technical definition.
The number of shots fired in Seattle between Jan. 1 and Dec. 19 dropped in 2016, compared to 2015. The Seattle Police Department says there were 376 reports of shots fired in 2015 and 238 in 2016. The number of fatal shootings dropped from 16 to 11.
In King County, between 2006-2010, an average of 130 people died from guns each year. It should be noted that 68 percent of those are suicides.
In Seattle, a gun tax and ordinance requiring mandatory reporting of lost and stolen firearms was passed in 2015. It’s part of an effort to reduce gun violence while also providing revenue for prevention.
On a broader level politicians have struggled with how to reduce gun violence. Recently, however, a bill proposed by Attorney General Bob Ferguson will attempt to ban the sale of “assault-style” weapons and high-capacity magazines in the state.
Additionally, a state representative sponsored a bill that would extend background checks to private sales of firearms and approve “extreme risk protection orders.” Of course, some were quick to criticize the bill, which raises the question over how far gun legislation in the state and beyond will actually go.
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