Take a look at gun deaths, school shootings, public opinion and the Senate vote on gun control in the wake of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., that killed 26 people, including 20 children.
The Victims
As Slate editors note in the introduction to their crowdsourced map that attempts to visualize gun deaths in the US (pictured below), determining the actual number of gun deaths each year is “surprisingly hard.” That’s because as many as 60 percent of gun deaths are suicides that usually go unreported by the press.
Number of people killed by guns, including homicide, suicide and accidental death since Newton (that have been reported by the media): 11,437
Estimated real number of people killed by guns, including homicide, suicide and accidental death since Newton (using most recent CDC estimates for yearly data): 33,173
Total gun deaths in 2010 (the latest year for which there are CDC records): 31,672
number of those who were children or teens: 2,694
Number of school shootings since Newtown: 26
| Jan. 7, 2013 – | Apostolic Revival Center Christian School, Fort Myers, FL – Kristopher Smith, 27, a student’s parent, was killed. |
| Jan. 10, 2013 – | Taft Union High School, Taft, CA – one injured. |
| Jan. 11, 2013 – | Osborn High School, Detroit, MI – one injured. |
| Jan. 15, 2013 – | Stevens Institute of Business and Arts, St. Louis, MO – two injured. |
| Jan. 15, 2013 – | Hazard Community and Technical College, Hazard, KY – Taylor Jade Cornett, 12, Caitlin Cornett, 20, and Jackie Cornett, 53, were killed. |
| Jan. 16, 2013 – | Chicago State University, Chicago, IL – Tyrone Lawson, 17, was killed. |
| Jan. 22, 2013 – | Lone Star College, Houston, TX – three injured. |
| Jan. 31, 2013 – | Price Middle School, Atlanta, GA – one injured. |
| March 18, 2013 – | University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL – The gunman, James Oliver Seevakumaran, 30, killed himself. |
| March 21, 2013 – | Davidson Middle School, Southgate, MI – Tyler Nichols, 13, killed himself. |
| April 18, 2013 – | MIT, Cambridge, MA – MIT police officer Sean Collier, 27, was killed. |
| April 29, 2013 – | La Salle High School, Cincinnati, OH – one injured. |
| June 7, 2013 – | Santa Monica College, Santa Monica, CA – several were injured and six people were killed: Marcela Dia Franco, 26, Carlos Navarro Franco, 68, Margarita Gomez, 68, John Zawahri (the shooter), 23, Samir Zawahri (the shooter’s father), 55, and Christopher Zawahri (the shooter’s brother), 24. |
| June 20, 2013 – | Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts, West Palm Beach, FL – Christopher Marhsall, 48, and Ted Orama, 56, both custodians, were killed. |
| Aug. 20, 2013 – | Ronald E. McNair Discovery Learning Academy, Decatur, GA – a gunman fired shots and barricaded himself in an elementary school; no one was injured. |
| Aug. 23, 2013 – | North Panola High School, Sardis, MS – two were injured and Roderick Bobo, 15, was killed. |
| Aug. 30, 2013 – | Carver High School, Winston-Salem, NC – one injured. |
| Sept. 28, 2013 – | Gray-New Gloucester High School, Gray, ME – Gaige McGue killed himself. |
| Oct. 4, 2013 – | Agape Christian Academy, Pine Hills, FL – two injured. |
| Oct. 15, 2013 – | Lanier High School, Austin, TX – Adrian Alvaresz, 16, killed himself. |
| Oct. 21, 2013 – | Sparks Middle School, Sparks, NV – two were injured and Mike Landsberry, a teacher and Afghanistan veteran, was killed. The shooter, 12-year-old Jose Reyes, killed himself. |
| Nov. 2, 2013 – | North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro, NC – one injured. |
| Nov. 3, 2013 – | Stephenson High School, Lithonia, GA – one injured. |
| Nov. 13, 2013 – | Brashear High School, Pittsburgh, PA – three injured. |
| Nov. 21, 2013 – | South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, Rapid City, SD – a professor, Alberto Lemut, 37, killed himself. |
| Dec. 4, 2013 – | West Orange High School, Winter Garden, FL – one injured. |
(Mother Jones collected portraits and analyzed information on close to 200 children who have died from guns since Newtown) »
The Guns
Number of guns in the US: 310,000,000
Number of guns per person: About one gun for every American
Countries with more guns per person: None
Runner up: Yemen, with about 11 guns for every 20 Yemenis
Percentage of Americans with a gun in their home: 42
State with the highest rate of gun ownership: Wyoming, 61 percent
State with the lowest rate of gun ownership: New Jersey, 10 percent
Number of licensed firearms dealers in the US: 134,997
Number of grocery stores in the US: 37,053
The Money
Total spent by the NRA (2011): $231,071,589
Total spent by the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, the largest gun control organization (2011):$2,844,489
The Polls
Percentage of Americans that in March 2013 supported an assault weapons ban: 57
and in December 2013: 48
Percentage of Americans that in March 2013 supported background checks for all gun purchases: 91
and in December 2013: 77
The Vote
On April 17th, 2013, the Senate defeated several gun control measures, including the overwhelmingly popular proposal to expand background checks for firearms purchases. Here’s how each senator voted on the bipartisan proposal by Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Patrick J. Toomey (R-PA) that would have expanded background checks to online sales and sales at gun shows. The measure needed 60 votes to pass.
Yes Votes (54)
| Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) Michael Bennet (D-CO) Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) Barbara Boxer (D-CA) Sherrod Brown (D-OH) Maria Cantwell (D-WA) Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD) Thomas R. Carper (D-DE) Bob Casey (D-PA) Susan Collins (R-ME) Christopher A. Coons (D-DE) William Cowan (D-MA) Joe Donnelly (D-IN) Richard J. Durbin (D-IL) Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) Al Franken (D-MN) Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) Kay Hagan (D-NC) |
Tom Harkin (D-IA) Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) Martin Heinrich (D-NM) Tim Johnson (D-SD) Tim Kaine (D-VA) Angus King (I-ME) Mark Steven Kirk (R-IL) Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) Mary L. Landrieu (D-LA) Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT) Carl Levin (D-MI) Joe Manchin III (D-WV) John McCain (R-AZ) Claire McCaskill (D-MO) Robert Menendez (D-NJ) Jeff Merkley (D-OR) Barbara A. Mikulski (D-MD) |
Christopher S. Murphy (D-CT) Patty Murray (D-WA) Jack Reed (D-RI) Bill Nelson (D-FL) John D. Rockefeller IV (D-WV) Bernard Sanders (I-VT) Brian Schatz (D-HI) Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) Jon Tester (D-MT) Patrick J. Toomey (R-PA) Mark Udall (D-CO) Tom Udall (D-NM) Mark Warner (D-VA) Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) Ron Wyden (D-OR) |
No Votes (46)
| Lamar Alexander (R-TN) Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) John Barrasso (R-WY) Max Baucus (D-MT) Mark Begich (D-AK) Roy Blunt (R-MO) John Boozman (R-AR) Richard M. Burr (R-NC) Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) Daniel Coats (R-IN) Tom Coburn (R-OK) Thad Cochran (R-MS) Bob Corker (R-TN) John Cornyn (R-TX) Michael D. Crapo (R-ID) Ted Cruz (R-TX) |
Michael B. Enzi (R-WY) Deb Fischer (R-NE) Jeff Flake (R-AZ) Lindsey Graham (R-SC) Charles E. Grassley (R-IA) Orrin G. Hatch (R-UT) Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) Dean Heller (R-NV) John Hoeven (R-ND) James M. Inhofe (R-OK) Johnny Isakson (R-GA) Mike Johanns (R-NE) Ron Johnson (R-WI) Mike Lee (R-UT) Mitch McConnell (R-KY) Jerry Moran (R-KS) |
Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) Rand Paul (R-KY) Rob Portman (R-OH) Mark Pryor (D-AR) Harry Reid (D-NV)* Jim Risch (R-ID) Pat Roberts (R-KS) Marco Rubio (R-FL) Tim Scott (R-SC) Jeff Sessions (R-AL) Richard C. Shelby (R-AL) John Thune (R-SD) David Vitter (R-LA) Roger Wicker (R-MS) |
*Reid voted no for procedural reasons.
The State Laws
Since Newtown, no fewer than 114 bills were signed into law at the state level, according to an article inMother Jones. In 22 states, new laws were created to curb gun violence. In 29 states, new laws were enacted making it easier for people to own guns, carry guns in public places and make it more difficult for the government to track guns. See an analysis of gun laws in your state and how it compares to others.
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