Wilson Urban Super Sniper

 

JEFFREY ST. CLAIR

 

+ In 2022, there were more than 48,000 firearm-related deaths in the United States – that’s about 132 people dying from a firearm-related injury each day. Guns were the leading cause of death for children and teens (ages 1-19) for the fifth straight year–a total of 4,590 deaths in 2022. In the past decade (2013-2022), the gun death rate among children and teens has increased 87%. In 2022, Black children and teens were 20 times more likely to die by firearm homicide than white kids. There are about 80,000 gun-related injuries in the US every year that require medical treatment, costing well over a billion dollars a year, Medicaid and other public health coverage accounts for more than 60% of the costs for this care.

+ One of the justifications for the gross violations of civil liberties in post-911 America was that “the Constitution is not a suicide pact.” In fact, it is. Last year, 26,993 people died by gun suicide, a 2% increase over the previous year’s all-time record. Since 9/11, there have been more than 430,000 gun-related suicides in the US.

+ Yet, here’s Ted Cruz denying that gun violence is a public health crisis: ”They call it a public health crisis because they want to put supposed experts in charge of disarming you. The Second Amendment and the Bill of Rights is not a public health crisis.”

+ Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA): “Why do you think that Chicago has become America’s largest outdoor shooting range?”

+ Dr. Megan Ranney of the Yale School of Public Health: “Mississippi, Louisiana, and Missouri actually have higher firearm death rates.”

+ Ryan Busse, a former executive at Kimber America, a major gun manufacturer, in an interview with Pro Publica: “Now we have a gun called the Wilson Urban Super Sniper. I mean, what are you supposed to do with that? We now have a gun called the Ultimate Arms Warmonger. What are you supposed to do with that?”