Facts as we know them today:
A 20 year-old white man opened fire with a semi-automatic AR-15-style rifle from a roof top 164 yards away from Trump at a rally  A few days before the rally the assailant bought 50 rounds of ammunition for the rifle that this father had purchased previously. The assailant has no criminal record, has little presence on social media platforms, did not leave a readily available statement about his plans, actions, or motives, worked as a dietary aide in a nursing home, and was described as intelligent and low key.

More facts:

“In 2000, one year after the Columbine massacre, Smith and Wesson agreed to take action to upgrade its products and practices to help reduce the harms caused by its guns (allegedly “to reduce its exposure to litigation”). The firearms industry immediately began boycotting the company, and its CEO was forced to retire.”  (NEJM 390;15, April 18, 2024)

“In 2005 Congress passed the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLACC) giving the firearms industry new and unusual protection from tort liability and lawsuits by reducing firearms industry accountability for negligence.” (Ibid)

“The annual number of U.S. gun deaths rose from 28,000+ in 1999 to 50,000 in 2021.”

“The U.S. firearm homicide rate rose 70% during that same period. More than 80% of the homicides involved the use of guns.”

“In 2008 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Second Amendment was not about a well-regulated militia but was about individual self-defense in the home.”

“In 2022 the Supreme Court ruled that the constitutional rights for gun ownership under the Second Amendment was not based on a balance of individual rights between public safety, but upon “historical tradition of firearm regulations.”

“Per capita gun death rates among rural Black youths between 1999 and 2022 quadrupled, primarily due to increased homicides, and now exceed the per capita gun death rates of urban Black youths.” (NEJM 390:20 May 30, 2024)

“From 2011 to 2020 U.S. gun death rates in both urban and rural counties increased significantly. In rural counties gun death suicide rates exceeded many urban counties. Contrary to popular belief, firearm deaths are statistically more likely in small towns, not major cities.” (JAMA Surg July 2023: 158 (2) )

“High household gun-ownership levels, the prevalence of handguns, the availability of military weapons, and weak gun laws are associated with high rates of suicides, homicide, and mass shootings.” (NEJM 390:15, April 18, 2024 citing studies from 2013 and 2020)

Feel free to hang a copy of this blog on your wall, or better yet next to your TV or computer screen, as the conspiracy theories continue to blossom in full bloom as they challenge us all.

“New Conspiracy Theory Links Wide Availability of Guns to People Getting Shot”  (borowitzreport@substack.com)