Misogyny is fueling gun violence in the USA

In a country where there are more firearms than people, mass shootings have become increasingly frequent — and gun violence in general is on the rise. More Americans died from gun violence in 2020, the most recent year for which there is data, than any other year on record, and gun violence was the No. 1 cause of death for children in 2020.

Amidst this terror, experts are grappling with why this is happening. The answer to that is layered: There’s the fact that guns are ubiquitous in the United States. Other factors are state gun laws vary dramatically, the financial and cultural power that the National Rifle Association wields and primarily Republican lawmakers have for decades resisted gun restrictions meant to curb violence.

But there’s a large piece missing to many of the conversations around gun violence, some academics, lawmakers and other experts said. We are not sufficiently talking about the role that misogyny  — and, often, its collision with white supremacy — plays in gun violence.

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