Gun violence
has become a public health epidemic. Despite
countless deaths in mass shootings over the last 2 decades, the Dickey
Amendment—a provision inserted into the 1996 spending bill which blocked
federal funding for research on gun violence—remains on the books. While every politician, media pundit, and
policy expert “know” the solution, the answers are not that simple.
In reality,
the factors which have fueled the rise in gun violence across America are
largely unknown. And if the deep-pocketed gun lobby continues pouring millions
into politicians’ war chests to stifle critical gun research, we may never
know. Science must be part of the mass
shooting debate. Congress must “stop
dicking around and repeal the Dickey Amendment,” to fund federal research.
What if the
premise that more guns cause more mass shootings—a contentious debate that has
the left and the right locked in battle—is entirely wrong?
A 2018 study
published in Frontiers in Public Health shows that income inequality in
communities with higher than average household incomes have a statistically
significant relationship with the incidence of mass shootings.
This
association is far stronger than the now-debunked theory that untreated mental
health disorders are responsible for mass shooting events. And while more research like the aforementioned
study is necessary, it is highly likely that economic inequality increases the
risk of mass shooting to a greater extent than even firearm access.
For
instance, the community of Littleton, CO—where Columbine High School is
located—is among the 15% highest income neighborhoods in America. Newtown,
Connecticut—a once-idyllic community where a 20-year old murdered twenty
children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School—is located in Fairfield
County, the wealthiest metropolitan area in the country, according to the Labor
Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis, yet it is also among the most unequal
in terms in income distribution.
Gun violence
is not a new phenomenon, the number of deaths in children ages 12-17 by
shooting increased 95% between 1980 and 1994.
Once considered a problem exclusive to poverty-stricken inner cities,
today, gun violence has become pervasive in middle to upper class
neighborhoods, which are no longer exempt from the unjustified carnage.
According to the Economic Policy Institute, the three states
with the highest income inequality are New York, Connecticut, and Florida. Ironically, those same states have seen some
of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history. Thirteen people were killed at an immigration
center in Binghamton, New York in 2009. On
June 12, 2016, In Orlando, Florida, 49 people were killed and 53 were wounded
in a shooting at Pulse, a gay nightclub. Then, on Valentine’s Day 2018, a
former student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School—in Parkland,
Florida—killed 17 and wounded 17 more.
While it is
not well understood how economic disparity is related to the incidence of mass
shootings, research indicates a perspective of ‘relative depravation,’ fuels
anger, frustration, and resentment especially in young men between the ages of
15-34. Those young men living in highly income variable areas tend to view
themselves as “superior,” feel more entitled, and are less willing to share
resources they perceive as scarce.
The touchstone
of social mobility, income opportunity, and social justice have given way to a
harsh new reality in America where radically different trajectories are
determined by the circumstances into which one is born. The opportunity gap,
known as the “Great Gatsby Curve”, has widened dramatically over the last 40
years. While household income for the
lower half of Americans has barely grown, those in the top 20% of earners has
soared, increasing by 75%. Those earning
in the top 5 percent of Americans have seen earning growth of 95 percent. An
increasing proportion of society is watching the American dream slip away.
The
deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history took place in Las Vegas, Nevada on
October 1, 2017. A man on a high floor of a hotel opened fire on a country
music festival crowd, killing 58 and wounding 422 others. Does the fact Nevada is ranked 4th highest
in income inequality in the U.S. have any bearing? Don’t you want to know if it does? I certainly do.
Economic
inequality may have an even greater impact on the incidence of mass shootings
than firearm access. While the rampages
in Gilroy, California, El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio dominate the national
narrative, with all due respect, America is having the wrong conversation. Congress has a golden opportunity to right
this wrong: Repealing the Dickey Amendment would - finally - fund critical
research on gun violence and foster healthy conversations between policymakers,
physicians, and patients.
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