Surprise, surprise

More horror out of Texas. This time, there are “only” 7 dead, which I guess is some comfort, unless you’re one of the 7 dead, their friends and family, or one of the 21 who were “just” wounded (including a 17-month-old).

Just another day in the good old US of A.

After all, part of our exceptionalism is the prevalence of these sorts of mass killings. And we’re getting better at it.

According to one recent analysis by The Washington Post, a mass shooting event has claimed the lives of four or more people every 47 days since June 2015. In the mid-’90s, such attacks happened just twice a year, on average. (Source: Wired)

And that doesn’t factor in El Paso, Dayton, and Odessa/Midland.

As with so many characteristics – good, bad, and indifferent – that aren’t evenly distributed across the 50 states, mass murder by gun statistics favor the states that don’t like gun laws.

And that would include “Don’t Mess with Texas.”

After all, a few years ago, their Governor, Greg Abbott tweeted this gem:

I'm EMBARRASSED: Texas #2 in nation for new gun purchases, behind CALIFORNIA. Let's pick up the pace Texans.

The tweet included a shoutout to the NRA, and I’m not going to @ those repellent a-holes.

This isn’t all Texas attitude. One might reasonably expect that the two largest states (California – with a population of 39M, Texas at 29M) would lead the country in gun purchases. And California has had plenty of mass murders over the years.

But when it comes to overall death by shoot ‘em up, California doesn’t hold a candle to Texas.

California averages 7.9 gun fatalities (homicide, suicide, accidental deaths) per 100,000 people. They rank 43rd. Texas, with 12.1 gun deaths per 100,000 ranks 28th. By no means the worst state, but not great either. If you don’t want death by gun, stay out of Alaska, which ranks #1 has 23.4 per 100,000. This is one area where I’m delighted to see that Massachusetts comes in 50th, with a rate of 3.4 gun deaths per 100,000. (Source: USA Today)

And there’s a correlation between mass shootings and gun laws. In a recent study, researchers found this:

When they compared those scores to mass shootings per million residents, they found that for every 10-point relaxation in a state’s gun laws, the rates of mass shootings in that state increased by 11.5 percent. This trend showed up even after the models were adjusted for population demographics like household income, unemployment, poverty, education, incarceration rates, and race. (Source: back to Wired)

Again, Texas isn’t the worse. But Massachusetts is among the small group of states with tight gun laws – and as a result, lower rates of mass shootings.

The only mass murder by gun we’ve had since forever was a workplace spree occurred right after Christmas in 2000, when a disgruntled employee at a small technology company killed 7 fellow-workers. Before that, it was the Blackfriars massacre of 1978. But that doesn’t really count, as it was an organized crime situation. (At that time, before Boston became all gussied up, Blackfriars was one of many dumpy bars in downtown Boston. And it was one that I went to on occasion with colleagues – including my future husband – as it was near the bank where we all worked. It was pretty creepy when the hits took place there.)

Texas, meanwhile, is gaining on Nevada in the mass murder sweeps:

With Saturday’s mass murder in the West Texas city of Odessa, Texas has now had more casualties from major mass shootings than any state except Nevada. (Source: NY Times)

And Nevada, of course, looms large because it was the site of the Las Vegas concert massacre of 2017, when 58 were killed and 422 were wounded.

Texas appears to be working on the record. After all, Greg Abbott loves him some guns. (Coincidentally, on the day after Odessa, a number of new laws went into effect making already lax gun laws even laxer. Way to go, Texas!)

Then there was this fundraising missive that Abbott sent out the day before El Paso:

Dated the day before a white supremacist gunman opened fire at an El Paso, Texas Walmart — known to be frequented by people in Mexican and Latino communities — killing 22 people, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sent a fundraising letter imploring Republicans to “take matters into our own hands” and “DEFEND” the state from immigrants. (Source: Buzzfeed)

Well, Abbott sure got what he asked for.

(A fundraising letter from our Republican governor, anywhere even vaguely along these lines, is 100% unimaginable.)

Meanwhile, I’m delighted to live in the state that trails the pack when it comes to gun deaths. We’re Number 50! Let’s keep it that way.