Gun Homicides And Their Drivers - A Cultural Exploration

As we know, the rate of homicides committed with guns has experienced a significant rise over the past few years. (see Gun Homicides:  The Numbers for all the charts and data)  

There are a few trains of thoughts as to why this is happening.  Before I get into those theories, I'd like to address the racial component of gun homicides.  I've seen right wing idiot memes that claim 95% of gun homicides are black on black; those are patently false.  The truth is that homicides are evenly split between black on black and white on white, with a bit of cross racial activity thrown in.

(Source:  FBI Expanded Homicide Data Table 6, 2019)

Also worth mentioning is an article I read recently that provides a unique perspective on why gun violence is higher in some areas of the country than others.  It essentially lays out how present day violence in any given area depends on who and how that area was settled.  These various "nations" don't fit into state boundaries.  Below is a map from the article that shows how these various pieces are laid out.  

Continuing to pick on the South, here's an excerpt from the article that describes their culture:

"Much of the South, he wrote, was settled by “swashbuckling Cavaliers of noble or landed gentry status, who took their values . . . from the knightly, medieval standards of manly honor and virtue” (by which he meant Tidewater and the Deep South) or by Scots and Scots-Irish borderlanders (the Greater Appalachian colonists) who hailed from one of the most lawless parts of Europe and relied on “an economy based on herding,” where one’s wealth is tied up in livestock, which are far more vulnerable to theft than grain crops.

These southern cultures developed what anthropologists call a “culture of honor tradition” in which males treasure their honor and believed it can be diminished if an insult, slight or wrong were ignored. “In an honor culture you have to be vigilant about people impugning your reputation and part of that is to show that you can’t be pushed around,” says University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign psychologist Dov Cohen, who conducted a series of experiments with Nisbett demonstrating the persistence of these quick-to-insult characteristics in university students. White male students from the southern regions lashed out in anger at insults and slights that those from northern ones ignored or laughed off. “Arguments over pocket change or popsicles in these Southern cultures can result in people getting killed, but what’s at stake isn’t the popsicle, it’s personal honor.”

This article also explains the anomalies I mentioned in "It's the Guns - The Finale", where states in the Far West have lax gun laws, high gun ownership, but low murder rates.  

Don't forget the South has the lowest average education level in the country.  

Rather than continue to plagiarize celebrate the article, I'll recommend you read it for yourself.  I found it fascinating.  

The Surprising Geography of Gun Violence

As to why people are killing other people more frequently, I think there are a number of factors at play.

Certainly, the pandemic put people on edge and the follow up civil unrest didn't help either.  At one point, it seemed just as likely as not that civility could break down.  The number of folks in the shooting community who were building SHTF (shit hits the fan) rifles was astounding during that time.  But emotions were clearly set to 11 and let's be honest, the GQP / MAGA asshats didn't help by dehumanizing / demonizing anyone who wasn't sympathetic to their movement.  It's a lot easier to justify shooting someone you see as a traitor to your country.  The vast majority of homicides spawn from disagreements and again, I haven't seen anything to either validate or refute any of the above theories.  

Despite the stats saying otherwise, there were definitely more people buying guns during the pandemic; the number of background checks bears this out.  I know of at least three colleagues that bought their first guns during that period.

Carrying a gun requires a certain temperament the young or dumb (both) frequently lack.  Too many gun owners have fantasies of using their guns to be heroes or worse, exact revenge.  I've been carrying concealed for close to 30 years and am ashamed to admit I was young and dumb and thought I was a major badass when I got my first permit. Age has brought some wisdom and I've learned to work even harder to avoid conflict and deescalate, because when you conduct yourself in the opposite manner, you go to jail if you shoot someone, self-defense or not.  

I've read that the more intelligent a person is, the more cautious they'll be about pulling the trigger, because they understand the finality of the act.  The young and the dumb frequently don't grasp consequences for their actions; both that there will be and how severe they'll be.  Even if you have done everything right, using your gun in a perfect self-defense shooting, you WILL be charged and may face trial.  Pulling the trigger will cost you $100k on average in legal fees even when your actions were justified.  

But who the hell can say for certain?  The gun homicide rate dropped precipitously (>50%) starting in 1994 and stayed low, yet no definitive, widely accepted explanation exists as to why.   Freakonomics has a pretty compelling argument that ties the drop to legalization of abortion.  (article)  

One item I'm missing is solid recent data on gun homicide by state, which would shed some light on whether homicides are rising across the board (in line with the "nations") or are certain states driving more than their traditional share?  I'll save that for another day.

This entry is part of my "Gun Series" that focuses on providing insight into the gun debate and gun violence.  You can find the other entries in the series HERE.  

About the author: Sean R is a recovering conservative who owns a consulting firm specializing in strategic marketing.  He's been a competitive shooter since the early 90's and holds a High Master classification in PPC and a Master classification in USPSA.  Additionally, he's served as an instructor for gun safety and competition courses.  He lives in Raleigh, North Carolina with his overly vocal white dog, Sadie.