I thought that the devirginizing post on The Questions (ew, gross — and “deflowering” isn’t any better – nor are any of the three birthing metaphors I tried out) would have been about immigration. I’m sure it will show up in the coming weeks.

But given the prevalence of gun violence in current events, I’ve been wondering about guns in US culture. Why are they such a prominent feature of American life? What place do they hold in the collective unconscious of this culture? Why is the right to own a gun defended more than a human life, including the ones taken by people with guns?

Americans and guns — it’s like a baby you have to tell over and over “Don’t put that in your mouth. Don’t put that in your mouth. Don’t put that in your mouth.” So maybe the eighteenth time you let the baby put it in their mouth - they wrinkle their nose because licking the deodorant was a terrible idea and not at all what they imagined. You think they learned their lesson. But a few seconds later, they’re getting another taste of Degree 24-hour Sports Protection, because they’re idiot babies and that’s what babies do.

       Except it’s not at all like a baby with a deodorant, because it’s about people with guns shooting and killing others.  

These questions about gun violence stayed with me as last week happened: six mass shootings across the US. At least four shot in Alexandria, Virginia (1). At least four shot in Raleigh, North Carolina (2). Two killed and five injured at a casino in Eagle Pass, Texas (3). A mother celebrating her 33rd birthday was shot dead and her sister injured as bystanders in a shooting (4). A gunman carried out a premeditated attack on a packed North Carolina bar, killing three and wounding five (5). A gunman drives his truck into a Mormon church, opens fire, and then sets a fire that burns the church to the ground — four were killed and eight wounded (6). There is no joke to punctuate this section. Only tragedy. 

These six shootings over the weekend brought the total count of mass shootings to 324 this year (7). This year — let’s not glaze over that. This year. That’s more mass shootings than calendar days, which is consistent with the previous years: from 2020 through 2023 there were over 600 mass shooting each year, and there were 488 mass shootings in 2024 (8). Someone could suggest that the rate of shootings is going down – to which the obvious answer would be “324 mass shooting for 2025 seems like 324 too many.”

I happened to be writing this piece in Honduras, a country with its own issues around gun violence. The US/El Norte holds a special place in Honduran lore: it is supposed to be a bastion of opportunity that promises a better life, even if you are supposed to do some of the most labor-intensive work until you drop dead. But when a Honduran citizen asked what I was writing, I explained the questions I have and the evidence around mass shootings. They concluded, “It [the US] is a land of opportunity, but it is also a dangerous place. Why is that?”

Why indeed? Why can you go out to celebrate your birthday with your family and be shot dead? Why can you go eat and drink at a waterfront restaurant and be shot dead? Why can you go to church and be shot dead?

Reading more into the manufacturing of guns, I learned that there are more guns in the United States than there are people: 392 million guns are estimated to be in circulation domestically - that doesn’t include the small-arms that the US exports to other countries (and yes, the US is the biggest exporter of small-arms in the world (9)).

Let’s work through a thought experiment below:

If you, dear reader, were the government, let’s pretend I informed you about one of the most pressing public health issues: people were beating each other up with sticks. 

But not just hitting someone with a twig and running away while the bystanders giggle – I’m talking cause-of-death, head splitting swings. And they were all using the sticks made at the weapons factory, which by the way there was definitely no shortage of sticks, but the weapons factory keeps cranking them out. What would your solution be? I’ll give you some multiple choice options below:

A) Insist that the problem is not sticks, but the people swinging the sticks, completely ignoring that access to so many f***ing sticks is also part of the problem.

B) Point to the law and say we have a right to have sticks — especially intended-for-war sticks like the AR-stickteen with thirty rounds of death in the magazine.

C) Make and sell more sticks. Because who doesn’t love sticks?

D) Have the Secretary of Defense gather their generals so he can say stupid things like let people “fuck around and find out”(10) how good we are with sticks. Also, have the President say that there is a “war from within”(11) in places that are well known for being third world hotzones riddled with helmet-wearing-bike-riding bad hombres such as Portland.

Or E) All of the above.

Ah, I forgot option F:

F) Maybe… just maybe… get rid of sticks, because they’re not worth the problems they create.

Footnotes:

(1)KALB Digital Team, (2025). “RPSO: Multiple people shot on Hwy 71 on Saturday morning.” Accessed 4 Oct. 2025. https://www.kalb.com/2025/09/27/rpso-multiple-people-shot-hwy-71-saturday-morning/

(2) Watson, S. (2025). “Several people shot in business parking lot on East Millbrook Road, Raleigh police say.” Accessed 4 Oct. 2025. https://www.cbs17.com/news/local-news/wake-county-news/several-people- shot-outside-of-raleigh-parking-lot-on-millbrook-road-police-say/

(3) Associated Press, (2025). “2 killed, 5 wounded when man opened fire in casino parking lot in Texas, authorities say. Accessed 4 Oct. 2025. https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/2-killed-5-wounded-man- opened-fire-casino-126061331

(4) Welty, C. (2025). “Bourbon Street shooting victim’s mother describes vacation-turned-tragedy.” Accessed 4 Oct. 2025. https://www.fox8live.com/2025/10/01/bourbon-street-shooting-victims-mother- describes-vacation-turned-tragedy/

(5) Mahdani, D., Gilchrist, A., & Gallo, D. (2025). “‘Highly premeditated’ attack at North Carolina waterfront bar leaves 3 dead and 5 wounded.” Accessed 4 Oct. 2025. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/3- dead-8-injured-person-shot-boat-north-carolina-waterfront-bar-rcna234168.

(6)  Boyette, C., Yan, H., Gainor, D., & Wolfe, E. (2025). “September 20, 2025 - Michigan church attack.” Accessed 4 Oct. 2025. https://edition.cnn.com/us/live-news/church-shooting-fire-michigan-09-29-25

(7) Pilkington, E. (2025). “Nine people dead and scores injured over weekend of mass US shootings.” The Guardian. Accessed 4 Oct. 2025. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/29/weekend-mass- shootings-this-year.

(8)  BBC News, (2025). “How many US mass shootings have there been in 2024?” Accessed 4 Oct. 2025. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41488081

(9) Mascia, J., & Brownlee, C. (2025). “How Many Guns Are Circulating in the U.S.?” The Trace. Accessed 4 Oct. 2025. https://www.thetrace.org/2023/03/guns-america-data-atf-total/

(10) McLeary, P., Detsch, J. (2025). “Hegseth uses rare meeting of generals to announce new military standards.” Politico. Accessed 4 Oct. 2025. https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/30/hegseth-meeting -generals-standards-00586122.

(11) Stoddart, M., Murray, I., Travers, K., & Pereira, I. (2025). “Trump directs generals to defend from ‘war from within.’” Accessed 4 Oct. 2025. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-directs-generals-defend-us- war/story?id=126087035