It seems to have become conventional wisdom that there were no mass shootings over the past year of COVID. The return of gun violence appeared to begin with the attack on the Atlanta area spas in March that killed six women of Asian descent. Except that is not true.
Gun violence and mass shootings have been here throughout the past year and in fact have been hitting deadly, historic highs. Sure, the pandemic’s toll has stolen most of the spotlight, but there is another reason we haven’t really heard about how awful gun violence has been.
The Congressional Research Service and most media outlets count mass shootings in a way that leaves out hundreds (yes, hundreds) of mass shootings. And just like police killings disproportionately impact Black communities, so do mass shootings.
2020 has been anything but a quiet year when it comes to gun violence. In addition to mass shootings, “regular” gun violence jumped at a rate unheard of since records started being kept.
Thanks for following my cartoons, and thanks for considering supporting my work if you haven’t already!