Opinion
Gun Violence: Our Turn to Say ‘No More’
T
his is an important conver-
sation for our children, for
our
communities,
for
Democrats and Republicans.
Speaking is difficult but I need to
say something important. Vio-
lence is a big problem. Too many
children are dying. Too many chil-
dren. We must do something. It
will be hard. But the time is now.
You must act. Be bold. Be coura-
geous. Americans are counting on
you.
Statement of former Rep.
Gabrielle Giffords to the Senate
Judiciary Committee on January
30, 2013
At the Jan. 30 Senate Judiciary
Committee hearing on gun vio-
lence, former Rep. Gabrielle Gif-
fords, the survivor of a gunshot to
the head, gave us our marching
orders. The United States stands
alone in the world in our tolerance
of gun violence but in the wake of
the devastating Newtown, Conn.
murders, a powerful outcry of
ordinary Americans across the
country is saying no more. This
time we want our collective heart-
break and outrage to be followed
by real change.
How have people in other coun-
tries responded after a gun mas-
sacre or mass shooting?
Australia and Great Britain pro-
vide two examples. In 1996, 35
people were killed and 23 others
were wounded by a gunman at the
Port Arthur tourist site in Tasma-
nia, Australia, in one of the largest
massacres ever committed by a
single shooter. Within 12 days of
the shooting, spurred by strong
public support, the Australian fed-
C HILD
W ATCH
Marian
Wright
Edelman
eral and state governments agreed
to the historic National Firearms
Agreement (NFA), which banned
semi-automatic and pump action
rifles and shotguns and required
registration of all firearms, strict
standards for gun licenses, and a
permit for each gun purchase sub-
ject to a 28-day waiting period.
The NFA also prohibited private
sales, regulated ammunition sales,
and required licensees to receive
firearm safety training and to store
firearms safely. To get banned
rifles and shotguns off the streets,
the federal government bought
back or accepted turn-ins of more
than 1 million guns which were
then destroyed.
The National Firearms Agree-
ment was supported by a coalition
of groups from across the political
spectrum, including women’s
organizations, seniors, religious
leaders, police, parents, human
rights organizations and schools,
all demanding stronger gun vio-
lence laws in Australia. In the 18
years before the NFA there were
13 mass shootings in Australia. In
the 16 years since, Australia has
not had a single mass shooting.
Rates of overall gun deaths, gun
homicides, and gun suicides,
which were declining prior to the
NFA, started declining twice as
fast after the reforms.
Just weeks before the Port
Arthur massacre in Australia, 16
5- and 6-year-olds and their
teacher were killed in a devastat-
ing school shooting in Dunblane,
Scotland. After those murders the
public outcry in Great Britain
was very similar to the one we
are seeing in the U.S. right now.
The shooter owned his guns legal-
ly and the outrage over his crime
started a public campaign for
tighter gun control culminating in
a petition being handed to the gov-
ernment with more than 700,000
signatures. A 1987 mass shooting
by a man who killed 16 people and
wounded 15 others had already led
Great Britain to ban semi-auto-
matic and pump action rifles and
shotguns. This time, 11 months
after the Dunblane murders, Great
Britain passed the Firearm
(Amendment) Act of 1997 institut-
ing tighter controls over hand-
guns. Soon after, the country went
a step further and prohibited all
handguns in civilian hands. The
government also instituted firearm
amnesties across the country
resulting in the surrender of thou-
sands of firearms and rounds of
ammunition.
After Great Britain acted, gun-
related crimes continued to rise for
a while, following a trend that
began earlier in the decade.
Experts said it was inevitable that
criminals were not going to sur-
render their illegal handguns and it
took time to reduce the pool of
illegal handguns after the ban and
see declines in gun-related crimes.
But after peaking in 2003 and
2004, the total number of firearm
offenses has fallen every year
since. In 2009, nearly 67 percent
of U.S. homicides were committed
with guns while in Great Britain
the number was only 6.6 percent.
In 2010, 27 people were killed by
gun homicide in the United King-
dom, which includes both Great
Britain and Northern Ireland and
has a population of more than 62
million people. In California and
Texas, with a similar combined
population of 62 million people,
there were 2,255 gun homicides.
What a difference guns make.
Some will argue that other fac-
tors contribute to the lower gun
violence rates in Australia, Great
Britain, and similar countries
beyond their strong gun control
legislation. Others note that the
United States is a very different
place, with entrenched attitudes
equating guns with personal free-
dom, tens of millions more people,
and tens of millions more guns,
and we may never be able to
expect the same success reducing
the number of gun murders to near
zero. These points may have some
merit but are not reasons to dis-
miss anything other countries may
be getting right in favor of contin-
uing to do nothing new here.
In both Australia and Great
Britain extraordinary tragedies
pushed a groundswell of citizens
to stand up and say no more and
elected officials to follow through
with significant action. If Ameri-
cans had said no more after
Columbine, there may never have
been a Virginia Tech. If we had
said no more after Virginia Tech,
there may never have been a Tuc-
son. If we had said no more after
Tucson, there may never have
been an Aurora. If we had said no
more after Aurora, there may
never have been a Newtown, and
maybe some of the more than
31,000 other American gun deaths
that occur each year could have
been prevented.
President Obama was correct
when he said at the interfaith
prayer vigil at Newtown High
School that “no single law—no set
of laws can eliminate evil from the
world, or prevent every senseless
act of violence in our society. But
that can’t be an excuse for inac-
tion. Surely, we can do better than
this. If there is even one step we
can take to save another child, or
another parent, or another town,
from the grief that has visited Tuc-
son, and Aurora, and Oak Creek,
and Newtown, and communities
from Columbine to Blacksburg
before that—then surely we have
an obligation to try.”
Let’s heed Gabby Giffords’
moving testimony to be bold, to be
courageous, and to act now for our
children’s sake.
Marian Wright Edelman is pres-
ident of the Children’s Defense
Fund whose Leave No Child
Behind® mission is to ensure
every child a Healthy Start, a
Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe
Start and a Moral Start in life and
successful passage to adulthood
with the help of caring families
and communities. For more infor-
mation go to www.childrensde-
fense.org.
Black History Month by the Numbers
T
he U.S. Census Bureau has
released the following fig-
ures about Black America
to coincide with African Ameri-
can History Month. I found them
interesting enough to share.
Population
43.9 million
The number of Blacks, either
alone or in combination with one
or more other races, on July 1,
2011, up 1.6 percent from the cen-
sus on April 1, 2010. Source: Pop-
ulation Estimates
77.4 million
The projected Black population
of the United States (including
those of more than one race) for
July 1, 2060. On that date, accord-
ing to the projection, Blacks
would constitute 18.4 percent of
the nation’s total population.
Source: Population projections
3.7 million
The Black population in New
York, which led all states as of
July 1, 2011. Texas had the largest
numeric increase since April 1,
2010 (84,000). The District of
Columbia had the highest percent-
age of Blacks (52.2 percent), fol-
lowed by Mississippi (38.0
percent). Source: Population Esti-
mates
1.3 million
The Black population in Cook,
Ill., which had the largest Black
population of any county in 2011.
Fulton, Ga., had the largest numer-
American Community Survey
T HE C URRY
R EPORT
George E.
Curry
ic increase since 2010 (13,000).
Holmes, Miss., was the county
with the highest percentage of
Blacks in the nation (82.9 per-
cent). Source: Population Esti-
mates
Serving Our Nation
2.3 million
Number of Black military veter-
ans in the United States in 2011.
Source: 2011 American Commu-
nity Survey
Education
82.5%
The percentage of Blacks 25 and
older with a high school diploma
or higher in 2011. Source: 2011
American Community Survey
18.4%
The percentage of Blacks 25 and
older who had a bachelor’s degree
or higher in 2011. Source: 2011
American Community Survey
1.6 million
Among Blacks 25 and older, the
number who had an advanced
degree in 2011. Source: 2011
3.1 million
Number of Blacks enrolled in
college in 2011, a 74.0 percent
increase since 2001. Source: 2011
Current Population Survey, Table
A1
Voting
11.1 million
The number of Blacks who
voted in the 2010 congressional
election, an increase from 10 per-
cent of the total electorate in 2006
to 12 percent in 2010. Source: Vot-
ing and Registration in the Elec-
tion of 2010
55%
Turnout rate in the 2008 presi-
dential election for the 18- to 24-
year-old citizen Black population,
an 8 percentage point increase
from 2004. Blacks had the highest
turnout rate in this age group.
Source: Voting and Registration in
the Election of 2008
65%
Turnout rate among Black citi-
zens regardless of age in the 2008
presidential election, up about 5
percentage points from 2004.
Looking at voter turnout by race
and Hispanic origin, non-Hispanic
whites and Blacks had the highest
turnout levels. Source: Voting and
Registration in the Election of
2008
Income, Poverty and Health
Insurance
$32,229
The annual median income of
Black households in 2011, a
decline of 2.7 percent from 2010.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau,
Income, Poverty and Health Insur-
ance Coverage in the United
States: 2011
27.6%
Poverty rate in 2011 for Blacks.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau,
Income, Poverty and Health Insur-
ance Coverage in the United
States: 2011
80.5%
Percentage of Blacks that were
covered by health insurance dur-
ing all or part of 2011. Source:
U.S. Census Bureau, Income,
Poverty and Health Insurance
Coverage in the United States :
2011
Families and Children
61.9%
Among households with a Black
householder, the percentage that
contained a family in 2012. There
were 9.7 million Black family
households. Source: 2012 Current
Population Survey, Families and
Living Arrangements, Table F1
and Table HH-2
45.2%
Among families with Black
householders, the percentage that
were married couples in 2012.
Source: 2012 Current Population
February 6. 2013
Survey, Families and Living
Arrangements, Table F1
1.2 million
Number of Black grandparents
who lived with their own grand-
children younger than 18 in 2011.
Of this number, 48.5 percent were
also responsible for their care.
Source: 2011 American Commu-
nity Survey
Homeownership
43.4%
Nationally, the percentage of
households with a householder
who was Black who lived in
owner-occupied homes in 2011.
Source: 2011 American Commu-
nity Survey
Jobs
28.2%
The percentage of Blacks 16 and
older who worked in management,
business, science and arts occupa-
tions. Source: 2011 American
Community Survey
Businesses
$135.7 billion
Receipts for Black-owned busi-
nesses in 2007, up 53.1 percent
from 2002. The number of Black-
owned businesses totaled 1.9 mil-
lion in 2007, up 60.5 percent.
Source: 2007 Survey of Business
Owners
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