Hotel Bar Sessions, Episode 25 Guns

The HBS hosts try to figure out why there are 150 guns for every 100 Americans. 

In the midst of a pandemic, as COVID-related deaths creep close towards 1 million, it’s easy to forget to the other public health epidemic plaguing the United States, namely, gun violence. Nearly 10,000 people have already been killed by gun violence by June of 2021, with no sign of slowing numbers. Schoolchildren regularly practice “active shooter” drills and, in states like Tennessee, gun-control laws have been relaxed so much that they are practically non-existent. A study published earlier this year shows that gun suicides are rising steeply in 2021, including among teenagers and children.

Between January 1-August 31 of 2021, there were 242 days. A mass shooting occurred in the United States on all but 44 of those days.  

How did we get here and who have we become? Who is suffering the most from gun violence in the United States, and who is most guilty for gun deaths? Is the Second Amendment’s gurantee that “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed” been interpreted too loosely? Should the Second Amendment be repealed? In this episode, we take a look look at all of those questions, as well as Carol Anderson’s new book The Second: Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America.

You can listen to the episode below. Full episode notes at this link.