As Chicago Fan has pointed out, the information on gun violence in the USA is not as strong as it should be because the NRA has been conducting a war on the facts. But just a little research on the matter by Slate and @GunDeaths has revealed the unbelievable size of the monster we face everyday in this country. An interactive map posted on Slate’s site names 2,282 individuals who have been killed by guns since the Newtown massacre. This is just staggering. It’s half of all American deaths during the entire Iraq War. That war lasted 8 years. Newtown happened two months ago. It’s just boggles the mind like nothing else.

Charles Mudede—who writes about film, books, music, and his life in Rhodesia, Zimbabwe, the USA, and the UK for The Stranger—was born near a steel plant in Kwe Kwe, Zimbabwe. He has no memory...