Vigils 5 and 12 July 2023
Guns should be Destroyed – not Re-used
Worldwide, a thousand people die every day from gunshots, and three times as many are severely injured. Spinal cords severed, bones shattered, families destroyed, hearts broken. There have been around 130 mass shootings in the US so far in 2023. In the UK, there were 8,299 offences involving firearms, resulting in 30 deaths and 1,635 injuries between 2020 – 2021
Almost all guns are bought and sold, owned and used by men, and guns kill and injure more men than women. But women suffer heavy consequences from the presence of guns in their homes, communities and countries.
- Guns exacerbate the threat to women of male sexual violence in war and peace;
- A gun in the house increases the chance of domestic violence being lethal;
- Guns do not have to be fired to cause harm, they can be used to threaten and intimidate;
- Women shoulder support and care when male relatives are killed or disabled by gun violence;
- Women suffer ‘indirect’ negative impacts from gun crime, eg: stress on social and public services;
- The USA, Mexico, Colombia and Guatemala and Belize have the highest numbers of gun deaths and crimes related to guns. In each case, the guns have been supplied by the USA.
- The failure to decommission guns after war impedes the transition to a secure everyday life;
- Widespread gun ownership by men and boys conditions society to mistakenly regard violence as a natural and necessary element of masculinity.