Vox Sentences - America's enduring gun problem

Much of America's gun problem is caused by too many guns. 

Tonight's Sentences was written by Jariel Arvin.

Why the US has so much gun violence

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

An 18-year-old gunman killed at least 19 children and two adults — and wounded many more — in a mass shooting at a school in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday. It’s the worst school shooting in the US since Sandy Hook in 2012, and the second mass shooting with a double-digit death toll in two weeks.

It is the latest sign of the United States’ enduring gun problem. And it asks the question: How did the country get here?

Vox writers have tried to answer that question repeatedly over the past few years. They've tackled related questions, such as, "What are the solutions to America’s gun problem?" and, "Why haven’t laws been passed to prevent shooting tragedies?"

Below is a selection of that work that, hopefully, helps to shed some light on those questions.

• The US has a far higher rate of gun killings than its peers in part because its citizens have so many guns: More than 400 million.[German Lopez / Vox]
• Outside of mass shootings, the presence of guns increases the risk that situations escalate into violence. [Zack Beauchamp / Vox]
• The best way to bring down gun violence is to take away guns. Australia instituted a mandatory gun buyback following a 1996 mass shooting and saw a decline in gun suicides. [Zack Beauchamp / Vox]
• That same year, the National Rifle Association successfully lobbied Congress to freeze federal funding for gun research. [German Lopez / Vox]
• Despite that, research on the effects of mass shooting trauma on brain development is forthcoming. But, it has been linked to conditions like PTSD and anxiety in young people. [Marin Cogan / Vox]
• To process that fear, some school shooting survivors have begun to publish online their fictional stories about school shootings. [Aja Romano / Vox]
• Some states do have laws limiting access to guns, but they aren’t perfect: New York’s “red flag law” failed to prevent a man from obtaining the gun he recently used to kill 10 Black people in a Buffalo supermarket. [Nicole Narea / Vox]
• Until access to guns is more strictly restricted — or eliminated — shootings will continue to happen. The shooting in Uvalde is the 27th school shooting this year. [Nicole Narea / Vox]

Ex-president Trump is scheduled to speak at a National Rifle Association meeting on Friday. Guns aren’t allowed. [National Public Radio / Joe Hernandez]

• The US deficit will fall to $1 trillion this year before skyrocketing in 2024, the Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday. [Politico / Jennifer Scholtes and Kate Davidson]
• Arizona police arrested two women Wednesday after finding 500,000 fentanyl pills during a traffic stop. [Associated Press]
• On Tuesday, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger defeated Donald Trump-backed US Rep. Jody Hice. [Washington Post / Amy Gardner]

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“The time to stop the next shooting is right now, and you are doing nothing.”

[Texas Democratic gubernatorial nominee Beto O’Rourke addressed Gov. Abbott at a press conference / CNN]

How to not give up on guns

Vox’s Marin Cogan, who lived through a school shooting herself, explains why she hasn’t given up on a solution to our gun problem yet.

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