America's Gun Violence Epidemic: A Colossal, but Correctable, System Failure
![handle is hein.journals/annam77 and id is 207 raw text is: AMERICA'S GUN VIOLENCE EPIDEMIC:
A COLOSSAL, BUT CORRECTABLE,
SYSTEM FAILURE
JENNIFER KIM & CHRISTA NICOLS
I.
INTRODUCTION
On November 3, the United States Supreme Court heard over
two hours of oral arguments in New York State Rifle and Pistol Associa-
tion v. Bruen, the most significant Second Amendment case the
Court will decide in over a decade. Although the Court was consid-
ering the level of gun regulation to be permitted, there was little
discussion of the reason why that regulation was necessary. While
listening to the debate, it would have been difficult to discern that a
gun violence epidemic was raging outside of the courthouse doors,
one in which 300 people are shot every day in this country1 - and
nearly 40,000 women, men and children die each year.2 Little
would observers know that the United States' gun violence crisis is
an extreme outlier compared to its peer nations, a fact President
Biden acknowledged as a national embarrassment.3
But just outside the Supreme Court doors, Americans who
have experienced the gun violence epidemic firsthand were gath-
ered, sharing the horrors of watching their child die in their arms
because someone was upset about a parking space and carrying a
loaded firearm,4 or hiding under the lifeless body of a classmate in
the hopes of surviving yet another mass shooting at an American
1. See e.g., Brady United, Key Statistics, BRADY, https://www.bradyunited.org/
key-statistics (last visited Nov. 16, 2021)[ HTTPS://PERMA.CC/QT7W-NPSK]; Associ-
ated Press, 316 People Are Shot Every Day in America. Here are 5 Stories, USA TODAY
(Jul. 23, 2021) https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2021-07-23/
316-people-are-shot-every-day-in-america-here-are-5-stories.
2. U.C. Davis Health, Facts and Figures, U.C. DAvis HEALTH, https://
health.ucdavis.edu/what-you-can-do/facts.html (last visited Nov. 16, 2021)[
HTTPS://PERMA.cc/67A8-8R2G].
3. Trevor Hunnicutt & Andy Sullivan, Biden Calls U.S. Gun Deaths a 'National
Embarrassment' After Indianapolis Shooting, REUTERS, Apr. 16, 2021, https://
www.reuters.com/world/us/white-house-faces-increased-pressure-act-guns-after-in-
dianapolis-shooting-2021-04-16/.
4. Carolyn Dixon, Moments That Survive, EVERYTOwN, https://momentsthat-
survive.org/tribute/carolyn-dixon/ [https://perma.cc/47UY-Z2R7].
199
Imaged with the Permission of N.Y.U. Annual Survey of American Law](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/annam77&div=11&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
What Is HeinOnline?
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most
America's Gun Violence Epidemic: A Colossal, but Correctable, System Failure
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most