Visualizing The Impacts of Gun Violence

July 27, 2022 12:11 PM

The NRA Children's Museum is a one mile long convoy of 52 school buses representing the lives of 4368 children that have been lost to gun violence.

The lead bus will contain photos, videos, and other mementos commemorating the lives cut short. The convoy is headed to Senator Ted Cruz's office.

posted by brookeb (26 comments total)

Heartbreakingly brilliant
posted by TedW at 12:15 PM on July 27, 2022 [6 favorites]

I'm staying out of these NRA threads, but maybe not this one. Please, help fix humans. If tweeting at some politician helps, do it.
posted by flamewise at 12:53 PM on July 27, 2022 [4 favorites]

Beta O'Rourke in a very courageous move has begun describing the effects of an AR-15 on human bodies, including children. It's difficult to hear, as this caravan is difficult to envision, but maybe it's what gun advocates need to hear.
posted by bluesky43 at 1:03 PM on July 27, 2022 [14 favorites]

Holy shit, that is brilliant. Any chance we can get it to make a trip to Joni Ernst's office? As an Iowan, I'd be willing to contribute.
posted by Big Al 8000 at 1:20 PM on July 27, 2022 [3 favorites]

It's Beto O'Rourke, not Beta.
posted by Spike Glee at 1:57 PM on July 27, 2022

Since 2020, firearms have overtaken car accidents to become the leading cause of death in children, taking over 4368 lives.

I think I'm jaded and then I see a fact like this and holy shit that's a lot of death.
posted by kittensofthenight at 1:58 PM on July 27, 2022 [9 favorites]

Thanks, I know, it was a typo.
posted by bluesky43 at 1:58 PM on July 27, 2022 [2 favorites]

That site says 4368 lives lost since 2020, which isn't right.
posted by nushustu at 2:20 PM on July 27, 2022

Reminds me a bit of the AIDS Quilt which made a tremendous impact in humanizing the victims of the AIDS crisis even in what would now be considered deep red territory. Here's hoping this can make a similar one. Insane that we had to talk about humanizing victims of a terrible disease back then, insane that we're talking about needing to humanize child victims of gun violence now but here we are
posted by treepour at 2:56 PM on July 27, 2022 [10 favorites]

That site says 4368 lives lost since 2020, which isn't right.

It seems a lot (and it fucking is!), yet statistically those numbers sound accurate.
posted by Thella at 3:00 PM on July 27, 2022 [9 favorites]

It's a lot if you're thinking of mass shootings. Mass shootings are widely publicized but are not doing most of the major damage caused by gun violence. It's the hundreds, then thousands, of fairly anonymous murders, accidental shootings, suicides and other deaths each year that trickle by the news, below the threshold of awareness and quietly filling our cemeteries.

Push back on anyone who equates gun violence with school shootings, because a lot of the pain of gun violence comes from pretty pedestrian things that can be addressed: trigger locks and gun safes to keep kids from playing around with parents' handguns, red flag laws to disarm people in distress, raised ages and increased background checks that really can keep guns out of the hands of angry kids. Remember the first anti-smoking laws passed were only on flights over two hours long. First traction, then progress, and it doesn't take all that long to move the line further. But we gotta get started because changing a culture doesn't happen all at once.
posted by Cris E at 3:27 PM on July 27, 2022 [37 favorites]

[Beto describing the effects of automatic weapons is] difficult to hear, as this caravan is difficult to envision, but maybe it's what gun advocates need to hear.

Mamie Till, mother of Emmet Till, insisted on an open-casket funeral for Emmet and also encouraged reporters to take pictures of his body "so everyone can see what those people did to him". It didn't launch the Civil Rights movement, but those pictures gave things an enormous shot in the arm.

It's still 100% up to each of the parents, but when Uvalde happened I found myself wondering if maybe one of the parents of those kids did the same thing, what might happen.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 3:55 PM on July 27, 2022 [9 favorites]

Manuel Oliver is such a brilliant artist. I’m so sorry that this is his subject matter now. All of the pieces and installations he’s done since he lost his son in the Parkland shooting have been so powerful and so heartbreaking.
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 4:56 PM on July 27, 2022 [3 favorites]

That site says 4368 lives lost since 2020, which isn't right.

What do you mean, nushusto? Obviously it’s “not right” in a colloquial sense, but it seems to correct on a factual level.
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 5:28 PM on July 27, 2022 [1 favorite]

The logistics on this are impressive (the number of buses and drivers needed etc), not to mention the heartbreaking attention to the collection of items and videos etc from the deceased. Well done.

I do think more of this highly visual activism will be required to move more people incrementally into being ok with more gun control. I do like the Led by Donkeys efforts in the UK to visualize their message (albeit totally different country/issues - but still very powerful).
posted by inflatablekiwi at 5:48 PM on July 27, 2022 [1 favorite]

From the Brady site linked above:

DAILY GUN VIOLENCE IMPACTING CHILDREN AND TEENS (1-17)

Every day, 22 children and teens (1-17) are shot in the United States. Among those:

• 5 die from gun violence
• 3 are murdered
• 17 children and teens survive gunshot injuries
• 8 are intentionally shot by someone else and survive
• 2 children and teens either die from gun suicide or survive an attempted gun suicide
• 8 children and teens are unintentionally shot in instances of family fire — a shooting involving an improperly stored or misused gun found in the home resulting in injury or death

5 kids a day, 938 days since the beginning of 2020, gets you 4690 kids who died from gun violence.
posted by rockindata at 6:36 PM on July 27, 2022 [4 favorites]

It is impossible to be anti pro-choice 'to save lives' while being pro-gun rights, without being a dumb hypocritical liar at the very best, or more likely a sociopath.
posted by Thella at 10:15 PM on July 27, 2022 [4 favorites]

I'm sorry but there aren't enough busses there.

Thurston High School. Columbine High School. Heritage High School. Deming Middle School. Fort Gibson Middle School. Buell Elementary School. Lake Worth Middle School. University of Arkansas. Junipero Serra High School. Santana High School. Bishop Neumann High School. Pacific Lutheran University. Granite Hills High School. Lew Wallace High School. Martin Luther King, Jr. High School. Appalachian School of Law. Washington High School. Conception Abbey. Benjamin Tasker Middle School. University of Arizona. Lincoln High School. John McDonogh High School. Red Lion Area Junior High School. Case Western Reserve University. Rocori High School. Ballou High School. Randallstown High School. Bowen High School. Red Lake Senior High School. Harlan Community Academy High School. Campbell County High School. Milwee Middle School. Roseburg High School. Pine Middle School. Essex Elementary School. Duquesne University. Platte Canyon High School. Weston High School. West Nickel Mines School. Joplin Memorial Middle School. Henry Foss High School. Compton Centennial High School. Virginia Tech. Success Tech Academy. Miami Carol City Senior High School. Hamilton High School. Louisiana Technical College. Mitchell High School. E.O. Green Junior High School. Northern Illinois University. Lakota Middle School. Knoxville Central High School. Willoughby South High School. Henry Ford High School. University of Central Arkansas. Dillard High School. Dunbar High School. Hampton University. Harvard College. Larose-Cut Off Middle School. International Studies Academy. Skyline College. Discovery Middle School. University of Alabama. DeKalb School. Deer Creek Middle School. Ohio State University. Mumford High School. University of Texas. Kelly Elementary School. Marinette High School. Aurora Central High School. Millard South High School. Martinsville West Middle School. Worthing High School. Millard South High School. Highlands Intermediate School. Cape Fear High School. Chardon High School. Episcopal School of Jacksonville. Oikos University. Hamilton High School. Perry Hall School. Normal Community High School. University of South Alabama. Banner Academy South. University of Southern California. Sandy Hook Elementary School. Apostolic Revival Center Christian School. Taft Union High School. Osborn High School. Stevens Institute of Business and Arts. Hazard Community and Technical College. Chicago State University. Lone Star College-North. Cesar Chavez High School. Price Middle School. University of Central Florida. New River Community College. Grambling State University. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Ossie Ware Mitchell Middle School. Ronald E. McNair Discovery Academy. North Panola High School. Carver High School. Agape Christian Academy. Sparks Middle School. North Carolina A&T State University. Stephenson High School. Brashear High School. West Orange High School. Arapahoe High School. Edison High School. Liberty Technology Magnet High School. Hillhouse High School. Berrendo Middle School. Purdue University. South Carolina State University. Los Angeles Valley College. Charles F. Brush High School. University of Southern California. Georgia Regents University. Academy of Knowledge Preschool. Benjamin Banneker High School. D. H. Conley High School. East English Village Preparatory Academy. Paine College. Georgia Gwinnett College. John F. Kennedy High School. Seattle Pacific University. Reynolds High School. Indiana State University. Albemarle High School. Fern Creek Traditional High School. Langston Hughes High School. Marysville Pilchuck High School. Florida State University. Miami Carol City High School. Rogers State University. Rosemary Anderson High School. Wisconsin Lutheran High School. Frederick High School. Tenaya Middle School. Bethune-Cookman University. Pershing Elementary School. Wayne Community College. J.B. Martin Middle School. Southwestern Classical Academy. Savannah State University. Harrisburg High School. Umpqua Community College. Northern Arizona University. Texas Southern University. Tennessee State University. Winston-Salem State University. Mojave High School. Lawrence Central High School. Franklin High School. Muskegon Heights High School. Independence High School. Madison High School. Antigo High School. University of California-Los Angeles. Jeremiah Burke High School. Alpine High School. Townville Elementary School. Vigor High School. Linden McKinley STEM Academy. June Jordan High School for Equity. Union Middle School. Mueller Park Junior High School. West Liberty-Salem High School. University of Washington. King City High School. North Park Elementary School. North Lake College. Freeman High School. Mattoon High School. Rancho Tehama Elementary School. Aztec High School. Wake Forest University. Italy High School. NET Charter High School. Marshall County High School. Sal Castro Middle School. Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Great Mills High School Central Michigan University Huffman High School Frederick Douglass High School Forest High School Highland High School Dixon High School Santa Fe High School Noblesville West Middle School University of North Carolina Charlotte STEM School Highlands Ranch Edgewood High School Palm Beach Central High School Providence Career & Technical Academy Fairley High School (school bus) Canyon Springs High School Dennis Intermediate School Florida International University Central Elementary School Cascade Middle School Davidson High School Prairie View A & M University Altascocita High School Central Academy of Excellence Cleveland High School Robert E. Lee High School Cheyenne South High School Grambling State University Blountsville Elementary School Holmes County, Mississippi (school bus) Prescott High School College of the Mainland Wynbrooke Elementary School UNC Charlotte Riverview Florida (school bus) Second Chance High School Carman-Ainsworth High School Williwaw Elementary School Monroe Clark Middle School Central Catholic High School Jeanette High School Eastern Hills High School DeAnza High School Ridgway High School Reginald F. Lewis High School Saugus High School Pleasantville High School Waukesha South High School Oshkosh High School Catholic Academy of New Haven Bellaire High School North Crowley High School McAuliffe Elementary School South Oak Cliff High School Texas A&M University-Commerce Sonora High School Western Illinois University Oxford High School Robb Elementary School
posted by adept256 at 11:37 PM on July 27, 2022 [14 favorites]

I'm sorry but there aren't enough busses there.

No. They'd need more than ten times the number of busses for the 44,000* children killed by guns in the USA since 1998.
posted by Thella at 12:29 AM on July 28, 2022 [5 favorites]

It's only really now just hit me now... the magnitude of grief.
posted by Thella at 12:35 AM on July 28, 2022 [3 favorites]

Adept, they're only counting since 2020. Which is kind of their point - "we're only counting the past two years and we STILL ended up with this huge number...."
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:17 AM on July 28, 2022 [4 favorites]

It's only really now just hit me now... the magnitude of grief.

I've thought a lot about this over the last few major shootings.

Tops Friendly Markets, Uvalde, the Highland Park parade - those have all happened in the six months since our son was killed in a workplace accident. Plus so many 'smaller' shootings that we never hear about, but not remotely 'small' for those involved.

Six months later and I know how broken everyone still is here. Thinking about five children every day…
So much grief for so many family members, it is incomprehensible.
posted by bcd at 7:55 AM on July 28, 2022 [7 favorites]

bcd, my heart is with your family and all those who grieve the loss of their children.

I am "lucky", I think sometimes, that I grew up in the "safe" suburbs, before the era of Columbine, before active shooter drills were part of school like glue sticks and number 2 pencils, but I still grew up in a country of guns and I have friends dead of gun violence, self-inflicted.
posted by spamandkimchi at 10:27 AM on July 28, 2022 [1 favorite]

I know. Have you ever been to one of those big war memorials, where the names are all carved in stone? You get close to read the names, they're all familiar. Bill, Joe, Bob, Frank. You don't have to look far before you find the first name of someone you know. I know someone named Henry, they didn't die in 1917 or 1945, but maybe my Henry was just the same as them, their dice rolled different though. Poor Henry.

Such places have so many names, too many. You only see the individuals up close, Jake, Andy, Peter. I know a Peter. It's when you get some distance and see them as a whole. Do I know ten thousand Peters? Do I know a million Henrys?

I don't have religion, though I have profound respect for the solemnity of such places, and the dignity of those memorialized. This regard extends to this artwork. It's also how I feel towards the list of tragedies I posted. There are too many names, someone has to carve them all, and there aren't enough busses here.
posted by adept256 at 1:23 PM on July 28, 2022 [4 favorites]

This is devastating. I can't imagine a visualization of all this pain. I remember reading the book Columbine and just being blown away the horrific cavalier loss of life.
posted by I_count_crows at 6:09 PM on July 28, 2022

I think I had the same reaction as most when reading "since 2020".

The logistics of pulling together enough buses and people for "since 2000" or "post-Reagan" would be staggering.
posted by Harald74 at 7:58 AM on July 29, 2022