OPINION

With all the recent mass killings in parts of the United States it would be instructive to examine the statistical difference between the number of people killed when President Obama was in office and compare those numbers to those of President Trump to see if we can learn anything.

A pretty good source for this comparison is to examine the data within the study conducted by Mother Jones. It is called US Mass Shootings, 1982-2019.

To properly make a honest comparison, we need to only look at the same number of years both presidents were/are in office. Because President Trump is currently serving his third year in office, this analysis will only compare Obama’s first three years even though he served eight years in office because he was elected to two terms.

When comparing the administration of Barack Obama to that of Donald Trump, with regard to the number of mass shootings in the United States, we can see a huge number of deaths during Trump’s time in office.

• Obama’s first year in office = 88
• Obama’s second year in office = 11
• Obama’s third year in office = 40
• TOTAL = 139

 

• Trump’s first year in office = 704
• Trump’s second year in office = 152
• Trump’s current year in office = 135
• TOTAL = 991

 

Obviously, the president of the United States is not normally, directly, responsible for mass shooting deaths.  But, President Donald Trump shows huge number increases for every year he is in office.  So why the huge numbers? Is this just a national trend that he carries no responsibility?  Is the United States just getting more violent?

The answer for some of these deaths increases appears to be President Trump and the Republican Party.   Let’s list some possible factors:

• LA Times: “the reality is his (Trump) administration has sought to redirect resources away from countering anti-government, far-right and white supremacist groups.”
• Former President Obama’s recent statement seemed to point a finger at Trump:
  “We should soundly reject language coming out of the mouths of any of our leaders that feeds a climate of fear and hatred or normalizes racist sentiments…”
• LA Times: “The country’s cowardly Republican leaders are failing to address” gun control.

As a result of the latest two mass shootings just one day apart, El Paso Texas and Dayton Ohio, the news media have put the blame on Donald Trump for his lack of clamping down upon white supremacy groups and his racist remarks to embolden white extremist individuals. The leadership of this country, Donald Trump and the Republican Party, just might be responsible for some of our citizens dying.

 

Recommended web sites:   Annual Gun Law Scorecard