the pbs news weekend.
Geoff: Gun violence is surging
across the U.S.
So far this year, there have
already been 154 mass shootings,
and new data shows the leading
cause of death among children in
2020 was gun-related injuries.
For more on what's behind these
numbers, I spoke with Jennifer
Mascia, she is a reporter for
"The trace," a nonpartisan,
nonprofit newsroom focused on
America's gun violence crisis.
Jennifer Mascia, thanks so much
for being with us.
And three mass shootings last
weekend alone underscored what
has been a month-long spate of
gun violence across this
country.
Based on your research, your
data analysis, what accounts for
it?
Jennifer: Well, we have seen a
surge in gun sales that
accelerated greatly during the
pandemic.
A lot of Americans, their ideas
of security and safety are
wrapped up in firearm ownership.
We actually had 12 mass
shootings last weekend, the
three that made the news, and
there were nine others where
four or more people were shot in
a single incident.
This is happening earlier than
we usually see it.
Two years ago, right at the
onset of the pandemic, there
were 88 mass shootings at this
time.
January through April.
2021, last year there were 155.
That is a big leap.
This year so far, we have had
147.
So it seems that 2020 was
something of a turning point and
the violence is happening
earlier and earlier in the year
now.
Geoff: So gun violence is going
up, but the crime rate is going
down.
That, to me, seems
counterintuitive. How do you
account for those two trends?
Jennifer: Yes.
All types of crime actually are
going down, but gun violence is
going up, probably because there
are 400 million guns in civilian
hands in this country.
It is simple math.
The more guns that are around,
the more people are going to use
them.
Geoff: Last week, as you know,
Georgia became the 25th state to
eliminate the need for a
concealed care permit.
So that means in half of the
country now have you can carry a
concealed gun with no permit and
no training.
How does that compound the
issue?
Jennifer: If there are no
permits, they can't really check
to see if that person is legally
carrying.
So you have people going out
with guns in public who are not
trained and don't have that
extra layer of vetting, and
we've seen law enforcement
across the country come out
against these bills.
And it just doesn't seem to
matter to the lawmakers, and
they're the ones who have to
deal with it on the ground.
Geoff: I want to ask you about
this new study by the university
of Michigan.
Researchers there who found that
the leading cause dofeath among
kids in 2020 was gun-related
injuries.
Kids obviously can't buy
firearms, but they're still
getting access to them.
Jennifer: They're getting access
because in most of the country,
there are no laws that
criminalize leaving guns
accessible to children.
So you have a situation where
there are millions of guns in
households and there is no
safety training that goes with
that.
There's no mandatory class about
how to keep a gun secure and
safe, and there's no laws,
really.
In 2020, gun-related injuries
became the leading cause of
death among kids.
That's actually in line with the
huge jump we saw in gun deaths
between 2019 and 2020.
It put us above 45,000 gun
deaths in a single year.
Now we have never even breached
40,000 before that.
It was a huge jump and it was
driven largely by homicides.
Geoff: So gun control is not
moving really anywhere.
It is entirely stalled.
The Biden administration has
talked about providing more
funding for community
intervention.
The president signed a bill
regulating so-called ghost guns.
What needs to happen to sort of
move the needle here?
Jennifer the most successful gun
: Violence prevention strategy
would be controlling access to
firearms.
Unfortunately, federal
background checks only cover 78
percent of gun sales, and that's
written into our federal law. So
you have almost a quarter of gun
sales happening legally with no
background check.
States who are taking it upon
themselves to craft laws.
But the problem is if the state
next door has weak gun laws, you
can just go get a gun there.
Geoff: Jennifer, thanks for your