Wednesday, June 19, 2024

Sid Salter: Mississippi Burdened w/Nation's Highest Rate of Gun Deaths, Gun Violence

In the rural South, we are conditioned to a self-image of small communities like fictional Mayberry where crime and violence are almost non-existent and the real dangers from gun violence lurk on the streets and back alleys of Chicago, New York, Detroit, and Los Angeles.

However, the mean streets are not limited to the big cities. Rural Mississippians now live squarely in locales prone to gun violence. We don’t live in Mayberry in the rural South. We live in a region and a state with a dangerous rate of gun death and gun violence, and we are as a state among the nation’s leaders in household gun ownership.

The adage in television news is that “if it bleeds, it leads.” In Mississippi, the first 10 minutes of virtually every newscast recount shootings that occur with such frequency as to become commonplace.

In Mississippi, we consistently and strongly support the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms for hunting and self-protection. Mississippi does little to interfere with the right to gun ownership, possession, use or acquisition of firearms.

We are an open carry state, a Castle Doctrine state, a “stand your ground” state, and one with what are considered by the National Rifle Association and other pro-gun entities as some of the most Second Amendment-friendly gun laws in the country.

At the same time, liberal or “progressive” entities supporting limits on Second Amendment rights label Mississippi as having the worst gun laws in the country. The Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence – named for gun violence victim former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona – describes Mississippi’s gun laws as follows: “Mississippi has the weakest gun laws in the country and the highest gun death rate…(the state) passed a dangerous permitless carry law in 2016 which allows almost anyone to carry hidden, loaded guns in public without a background check or law enforcement oversight.”

From across the political spectrum in the gun law debate, there is ample hyperbole and alarmist rhetoric. But the fact is that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has ranked Mississippi as having the highest rate of gun deaths in the country at 29.6 per 100,000 residents. That’s just over double the national rate of 14.2 gun deaths per 100,000 residents.

Mississippi was an early milepost in the nation’s litany of school shootings when student Luke Woodham killed his mother at their home, then drove to Pearl High School and fatally shot two students and wounded seven others on Oct. 1, 1997. That shooting was a little more than a year after Jackson firefighter Kenneth Tornes killed his wife at home, then drove to Jackson’s Central Fire Station and killed four of his supervisors.

That was a quarter-century ago. Now, the scourge of gun violence has become more commonplace and pedestrian. Young people are settling what seems to be insanely inconsequential differences and disputes with deadly force using guns.

Last year, a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association’s Surgery found that firearm deaths are more likely in small rural towns than in major urban centers. Data from the CDC showed that politically red states had the highest firearm mortality rates while the politically blue states had lower firearm mortality rates.

In Mississippi, 2020 research showed that of gun deaths, 47% were suicides and 47% were homicides. That compared with 61% suicides and 36% homicides nationally that year.

From a practical political standpoint, legislation restricting Second Amendment rights is a non-starter at the Mississippi State Capitol. But Mississippi’s increasingly consistent rank as the state with the highest rate of gun deaths should concern conservatives and liberals alike.

The National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities reports that the greatest impact of rising gun death rates is on Black youth. The group cited that “the rate of gun-related deaths for Black youth has increased every year since 2013, with a 108.3% increase from 2013 to 2020 compared to a 47.8% increase for white youth during the same time.”

The state with the highest percentage population of Black youth? Mississippi at 42.9%.

Sid Salter is a syndicated columnist. Contact him at sidsalter@sidsalter.com.

41 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sid, could you give me the firearm death rate in the city of Madison versus the city of Jackson? They are very near each other. Thanks. I will anxiously await your answer. And to be clear, one is predominately a red area, and the other is a predominately blue area.

The Truth Hurts, as it Should said...

The Second Amendment was written to protect us from the government.

Guns don't kill people; people kill people.

Sid, you didn't mention how many of those 42.9% black youths live in fatherless homes.

Anonymous said...

How do you know Sid is a hack? There wasn't a single mention of the long time liberal controlled/80+% African American population City of Jackson driving that high gun violence rate.

Gun violence is very sadly ingrained into the culture of inner city liberal bastions like the City of Jackson.

Anonymous said...

Sidney regrets black youth succumbing to gun wounds but doesn't mention black youth are inflicting those wounds with guns stolen by black youth. Will Sid let cops use road blocks and stop and frisk to take illegally possessed and stolen guns away from Black youth to save the lives of Black youth?

No: Sidney prefers to take all guns from everybody.

Jeff in MS said...

There is no such thing as "gun violence." That is a perjorative term made up by the gun ban lobby. Anyone who uses such language is at best ignorant and suspect.

Ain't Buying It, Sid said...

Ha! A typical opinion piece by a progressive liberal...yep, that's Sid Salter.

Nobody believes that Mississippi outguns New York, Chicago or Detroit...nobody. While Mississippi may rank high as to gun deaths, there's no way it leads in gun deaths.

Everyone knows that gun deaths in these States and Cities listed above are NOT accurately reported. CATCH & RELEASE are the "kings for the days" there.

Anonymous said...

It’s not that hard to sell a gun to a felon.

FYI

Anonymous said...

Sid, how about a report of the cities with the highest gun violence broken down by red and blue?

Let me help you get started: Blue: Jackson, Chicago, Memphis, Detroit, WDC, New Orleans, Baltimore...

Red: Crickets

I'll wait.

Smith Wesson said...

How many of those kids committing gun crimes (murder, car jacking, armed robbery, etc) grew up playing hours and hours of Grand Theft Auto and other violent video games created in Silicon Valley and China. How many have been listening to gangsta rap blaring in their ears since they were toddlers in the back of mamma’s houpti.

As 8:35 stated, people kill people. Most gun violence comes out of an ethnic culture that celebrates gun thugginess and have been told that they are hopeless victims of systemic discrimination. Why is the Democrat solution gun restrictions instead of sociocultural change? Because they don’t want change, they want power and control. They want disorder and chaos. Death and destruction

Anonymous said...

Does Democrat controlled “state capital” “one of the deadliest US cities” Jackson, MS have anything to do with “Mississippi as having the highest rate of gun deaths in the country?”

Asking for a friend that wonders if all of the entertainment violence we watch and hear in song lyrics, the catch and release we see regularly from leftist judges, etc., etc., etc., could be a part of the conversation.

P.S. And Sid, where were you when the two innocent children were killed via stray bullets within ten days of each other in Jackson, MS? In a safe red county? And/or behind safe gates?

Anonymous said...

Mississippi does not have a gun problem and it does not have a law enforcement problem. Mississippi has a judicial problem. The justice system in Mississippi does not hold people accountable from the small municipalities all the way to the larger circuit courts throughout the state. Drug courts are a joke and prosecutors will do anything to get a plea deal as long as it doesn't take much effort their main concern is getting that time in for PERS.

Anonymous said...

Just think how high gun violence would have been if we didn't have the right to carry guns. It would have been open season on all honest citizens. At least know we have some chance to protect ourselves from the thugs. We know we cannot depend on the law to protect us.

Anonymous said...

We should all seriously listen to Democrats Gabrielle Giffords and Sid Salter so we can have the tremendous success their Democrat controlled cities like (“ranked from highest to lowest 2023 homicide rates” per rit.edu):

New Orleans, LA - Democrat Mayor LaToya Cantrell
St. Louis, Missouri - Democrat Mayor Tishaura Jones
Detroit, Michigan - Democrat Mayor Mike Duggan
Washington, DC - Democrat Mayor Muriel Bowser
Oakland, CA - Democrat Mayor Sheng Thao
Rochester, NY - Democrat Mayor Malik Evans
Atlanta, GA – Democrat Mayor Andre Dickens
Richmond, VA – Democrat Mayor Levar Stoney
Indianapolis, IN – Joe Hogsett
Greensboro, NC – Nancy B. Vaughan

You really can not make this up…is there anybody really dumb enough to fall for Sid’s biased propaganda? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

P.S. the idiot Democrat Mayor Sheng Thao is facing a recall election right now due to anger over “State of Emergency to deal with crime wave crippling the city” “causing longstanding businesses to close and generational families to leave.”

Anonymous said...

I do not understand those who criticize Mr. Salter for his article which is a mere restatement of facts and statistics illuminating a genuine problem. I did not see anywhere in his writing a call for gun seizures or curtailment of the 2nd amendment. Some people react so negatively to anyone suggesting an open-minded examination of measures which might reduce death by firearms, you would think they were in a gun-cult. With or without Jackson, Red or Blue, Mississippi is still a rural state and our gun violence rate is worth concern.

Anonymous said...

Thank you, 10:18 AM! I have said a million times, its the judges. Look at some of the rap sheets. Arrested multiple times, still not put in jail.

Anonymous said...

does somebody or something actually pay this guy to write this drivel?

Anonymous said...

Out of the abundance of real problems we have in this state, Mr. Salter decides to tilt at windmills.

To the one poster that has tried to defend this nonsense by saying Mr. Salter is using facts, and statistics, the information he uses is intentionally flawed on the federal level.

What are rational people to think when the liberals are continually trying to take away the most effective way of self-defense, and defund, law enforcement on the local level.

The citizens of this country are under attack by its own government.

Molon Labe said...

When guns are outlawed only outlaws will have guns.

Anonymous said...

How do those other countries who severely restrict firearms survive? Don't the criminls murder them like lambs to the slaughter? What do they do?

Anonymous said...

Yawn. Sid is nothing if not Captain Obvious.

Anonymous said...

The big question is: What happens to the WORLD, once America's populace has been disarmed?

Once there's no significant population capable of fighting-back, we will see an unfolding of horrors - worldwide - unprecedented in both scope and cruelty. After that, ours will truly be, 'A World in Chains'.

That's the End Goal, toward which people like Salter (perhaps unwittingly) have been recruited.

Anonymous said...

Oftentimes I have a response to such opinion pieces as these but then stop myself, thinking, “Don’t spend ten, 15, 20 minutes of your time pointing out inconvenient truths to a blog in this great country with its free press; it’ll hurt some peoples’ feelings and so will never appear but instead be deleted into the æther by the blog owner.

Anonymous said...

8:08am Jackson vs Madison is apples to oranges starting with the population and average income per household. It's suburbs vs urban.

If you add Canton to Madison, we can have a discussion.

The city of Madison was a tiny town and expanded it's limits without adding lower income areas.

The FBI has done a lot of research on crime and gun violence. You might bother to educate yourself on the subject.

Anonymous said...

We have the highest per capita percentage, 3 times the national average in fact, of the demographic that is disproportionately both the offender and the victim in gun violence. If you don’t mention that, it’s not a serious conversation

Anonymous said...

12:56 PM is correct; “Jackson vs Madison is apples to oranges”
(well, more like chicken s__t to chicken salad).

Jackson has been run by Democrats for decades, Madison has not been run by Democrats for decades.

Jackson had ridiculously high crime, Madison does not have ridiculously high crime.

Pretty simple math but fools will “educate” themselves into thinking the same group, Democrats, that created all of these messes, have the answers for fixing them…and it almost always happens to involve taking away the rights of those Democrats disagree with, and of course, $$$.

Anonymous said...

Most of you racist, Fourth Amendment loving gunslingers use different words, but it is clear that you blame gun violence in Jackson on blacks. If that is true, you got what you deserved by discriminating against black for decades and pushing them into a cycle of ignorance and lawlessness. You reap what you sow.

Anonymous said...

Appreciate a summary of the facts, or some statistics anyway. It is a very important issue, costs us all in some way. My role is foremost not let a firearm under my control be stolen and used in crime or settling street disputes.

Anonymous said...

To all of you closet racists, it is ok to say blacks when you mean blacks. There is no need to say Democrats when you mean blacks.

Anonymous said...

"Most of you racist, Fourth Amendment loving gunslingers use different words,"

Would you please explain this?

Anonymous said...

Sid, you know it's bad when 100 black men office gets robbed.
Sid, you know it's bad when the police can't put up roadblocks to check for stolen hand guns.

"Because it single out black neighbors". This is where the majority of gun violence happens so its make perfect sense to set up road blocks to get illegal guns off the street. But the liberal democratic leader shot it down.
Chickaway Lubammba can't allow this because he could care less for black lives or any lives except this rise in the democratic party.

Anonymous said...

You wonder why you have to beg for money Kingfish! You will not print anything that says Trump is a Convict which is just as factual or even more so ! Live in your MaGa Mississippi world and continue to lay the path to the bottom.

Anonymous said...

Running to Madison and Rankin will not solve the problems of gum violence. You would have to move out of the range of the gum fired . I suggest you keep running because of all the high powered rifles on the streets.

Anonymous said...

Miami, Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Jacksonville, Fresno

all Republican cities with high crime and big issues

It isn’t a D or an R issue. It’s far deeper than two little letters..

Anonymous said...

Just yesterday I heard Mike Hurst, current GOP head honcho in the Sip, state on Supersquawk that Mississippi leads the nation in child trafficking. And that has been child trafficking in all of out 82 counties. WHAT!?

Who the hell would have thought that? There's got to be a flaw in that ranking.

Meanwhile, Tate and Delbert both say we are going to compete with both Texas and Florida once we eliminate income tax. And our third-graders can almost read. The 'flag' gave us a leg up, according to Gallo. Y'll watch out! Here we come.

Anonymous said...

@5:16 PM. It is a JUDICIAL problem. Arrest, go before the judge, get let out to commit more crimes. Repeat. Look at the rap sheets on the ones arrested. Catch and release does not work. Its not black, white, R or D. If the Judges would actually sentence someone AND send them to jail, then the criminals couldn't commit more crimes.

Anonymous said...

As usual, Sid’s overly verbose diatribes show no knowledge of causation versus correlation. “Here is a bunch of facts.” Then overlook the many issues that play into that such as:

Broken homes, fatherless children, lax policing, Jackson’s anti police Mayah, a culture of violence by sports figures and rap stars, and many, many other factors that play into those statistics that Sid glosses over…

Excellent job at keeping your word count up, Sid. To bad it is an empty narrative.

Anonymous said...

Was in Knoxville for a few days recently and their nightly news lead off with a rock slide in a quarry and local fairs, pets of the week, etc. When I got home and turned on WLBT the whole broadcast was murder on this street, murder on that road, etc. Let's be honest the issue Mississippi has is the last two sentences of this article. You can't fix a broken culture but you can arm yourself against one.

Anonymous said...

5:31 AM many say this while living behind gates or in counties not controlled by their party, a phenomenal example of hypocrisy (being chicken s__t).

It’s a tired story hearing from both sides this is a culture issue while watching white Dems and their propaganda writers steer clear of criticizing the so-called leaders of cities like Jackson. Dead children will not even get them to dare criticize leaders like Chokwe due to the fear of losing their votes in state and federal elections.

A crying shame both sides can’t agree out of control crime needs to be addressed. The mafia was pretty much been wiped out for decades so anybody blame shifting and making excuses for catch & release, etc., is part of the problem.

Anonymous said...

We could hold judges accountable for repeat offenses after letting a criminal go. Say, $5 million per incident? I wonder if they would still want to release them?

Anonymous said...

June 19, 2024 at 5:16 PM, wait a minute, hold on just a cotton picking minute. The majority of gun violence in Jackson, Mississippi, is black on black violence.

Are you saying the black on black gun violence is because of past discrimination by whites? Would you care to go deeper into this?

Anonymous said...

I reckon' 9:26 lives at RFD Pelahatchie and has never heard of "Per Capita".


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