Who is to blame for the mass shooting epidemic in the United States?

Today, yesterday, and every single day before that, I guarantee that something related to gun violence popped up on your phone. Why so frequently you might wonder. Well, to state it simply, there have been 319 mass shootings this year, and only 186 days into 2022. This means that on any given day, there will almost certainly be more than one mass shooting.

This appalling number of mass shootings has been toned down in our media quite frankly because there are just too many to cover. But this is specific to the US. Looking at data from other developed countries there is a recurring pattern, and that pattern is the lack of mass shootings. So who is to blame for this epidemic?

While there is no one person at fault for this epidemic, there are groups who have played a large role in the increase of gun violence in the US.

The first big player in the increase of mass shootings is, of course, the National Rifle Association, also known as The N.R.A. This association says it is "freedoms safest place" whilst funding millions of dollars into the pockets of members of congress. This ensures that any bill restricting the sale of guns will not pass through the Senate. The NRA lobbyist spends around five million US dollars each year just in this specific regard. Though the NRA is not the sole reason for gun violence they play a large factor in the uncontrolled, unsupervised market of deadly weapons.

Another group closely connected to the National Rifle Association is the current Republican Party, or more specifically the far right end of the party. This wing of the GOP is fixated on ensuring the second amendment, and Americans so called "right to bear arms". The GOP makes this message clear by displaying their own guns at congressional meetings as Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) did. The GOP is also in charge of blocking most gun reform bills that even touch foot in Congress, which makes sense with the costly NRA lobby in place. To add to this, in recent years Republicans have deepened their support for guns, which is why nothing near The monumental Assult Rifle Ban would pass congress anytime in the near future. "The US government is prioritizing gun ownership over basic human rights. Despite the huge number of guns in circulation and the sheer numbers of people killed by guns each year, there is a shocking lack of federal regulations that could save thousands." Margaret Huang, Executive Director of Amnesty International USA

The Last group of people this article will examine is none other than The Supreme Court of The United States. Because The Supreme Courts' rulings fluctuate based on who are currently justices, I will be looking at rulings in the past two decades or so. In 2008 The Supreme Court sided with Heller in District of Columbia v. Heller, 552 U.S. 1229 (2008). This case sided with gun rights advocates in affirming that people were allowed to carry around guns even if they had no real purpose for them. Even though this case only applied to the district of Colombia, it sent a message to the whole nation.

Soon after District of Columbia v. Heller, McDonald v. Chicago, 561 U.S. 742 (2010) was ruled by The Supreme Court. In this ruling, the court made it so the right to carry arms outside of your own private property that they had recently given to the citizens of D.C. now applied to all fifty states. This ruling was perceived as one of the most detrimental to the already ongoing problem the U.S. had with gun violence.

The most recent ruling that The Supreme Court has handed out that related to gun ownership and use was New York State Rifle & Pistol v. Bruen on June 23, 2022. In this ruling, the Supreme Court stated that everyone should be able to carry a firearm on them, and contrary to the law in the state of New York, you do not need a reason to be carrying a weapon. This ruling gutted similar laws in the states of California, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, and New Jersey. This ruling now made it certain that carrying a firearm is something anyone can do. With this, many people believe that the amount of accidental and purposeful killings with guns will rise.

With these three specific groups outlined it is clear their impact on the gun violence problem in the U.S. The N.R.A. funneling money into congress to keep guns easy to get, the GOP blocked most bills that would restrict the sales of certain guns, and most importantly The Supreme Court swift reversal of any gun laws created by state and local governments. So when you see another one of those headlines, just know who made it possible.