Six people were wounded Saturday night in a shooting outside an Indianapolis mall, the Chicago Tribune reports.
Two of those wounded are said to be in critical condition, while the rest suffered less serious injuries. Three of the victims were minors, according to the Tribune.
Gunshots in Indianapolis
Police say the incident took place near the Circle Centre Mall around 11 p.m. on Saturday. The shooting apparently arose from a fight between two groups.
While police haven’t yet named a suspect in the shooting, authorities are looking for a “person of interest” who is alleged to have fled the scene following the incident.
Authorities don’t believe it was a “randomly targeted shooting,” according to the Tribune.
But while the event may not have been random, unfortunately, it’s not the only one. Malls across the U.S. have become battlegrounds in recent years, with Circle Centre Mall seeing three shootings within minutes of each other as recent as 2010.
The Indianapolis Recorder reports that nine people were shot in that incident, none fatally. The victims ranged in age from 10 to 18.
Violence across the nation
Sadly, events like this are far from rare. But while gun violence is a problem in America, people who carry weapons legally are rarely responsible for it.
The state of Texas publishes an annual report on crimes committed by those with concealed handgun permits, and out of over a 1.3 million license holders, only one was convicted of murder in 2018. (Another three were convicted of manslaughter.)
Indeed, if legal gun owners formed their own state, it would have a per capita murder rate of about 0.29 per 100,000 residents — far lower than the country as a whole. In 2017, the last year for which statistics are available, the national average murder rate was 5.3, according to FBI data.
So while incidents like the recent shooting in Indianapolis can be heartbreaking, it’s misguided for lawmakers to point to guns as the problem. Concealed guns can deter crimes, and there are many examples of people who carry defending themselves and others.
This isn’t a gun problem — it’s a people problem. The only question is: when will Washington come up with an actual solution to it?
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