Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Pulse nightclub in Orlando. First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas. Just-In-Time Recreation bowling alley in Lewiston, Maine. An outdoor concert on the Las Vegas Strip. Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. A Walmart in El Paso. The Century 16 movie theater in Aurora, Colorado. The Kroger in Jeffersontown, Kentucky and the Old National Bank branch in downtown Louisville.
These are just some of the locations of unspeakable shootings in our country and our own community in the time I’ve served as Jefferson County attorney. While some of these events involved perpetrators with mental illness or targeted hate, the one throughline in all is America’s virtually unfettered access to guns.
Clearly, no corner of our society is immune from this deluge of guns. The United States is the only country in the world where the number of civilian-held guns outnumbers its population. There are more than 120 firearms for every 100 people in the U.S., a figure more than double the next closest country (Yemen at 53 per 100). Think hard about that…