Sunday January 26, 2025 | VICTORIA, BC
Socioeconomic commentary by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Just making an observation... there seem to have been no mass gun shootings in the US (so far as media we’ve heard in Canada) since Trump got elected as president of the world’s most powerful democracy.
He sucks up all the out-of-control anger in the room and sprays it out like gunfire.
But in fact, according to GunViolenceArchive.org there have been 16 mass shootings in the United States already this year… only 25 days into 2025. In those 16 shootings, 15 people were killed, including in California, Florida and Illinois. And no word about in the news (other than local, most likely — yet another reason to keep local journalism alive).
Numb to the gun culture:
American culture seems to have become numb to the sheer number of mass shootings — planned or spontaneous — let alone the carnage that they produce. And there’s a website devoted to documenting this sad theme in American culture.
In 2024 there were 1,421 deaths in the USA in children and youth under age 18 due to gun violence (i.e. nearly four child/teen deaths per day).
The young generation — including Gen-Z that stands for peace (an echo of the peace movement of the 1960s & early 1970s), having been raised in a violence culture.
They seem to deal with school lockdown drills like it’s practicing for the next sports team match. But it truly has to be making a deeper impact into the human psyche. (Oh yes, schools in Canada have lockdown drills too, but we’re polite in Canada — we don’t think this is a problem we truly have here, as it’s not rampant in this country).
Gun violence continues ‘as usual’ in the USA. Canadians eschew this but can this last if Trump continues his takeover attempt of our country?

Confusion and chaos:
Americans continue to seem confused by the mass shooting phenomenon. Gun culture has become the norm. Something Canadians instinctively want to avoid.
In America they mourn and ‘send thoughts and prayers’ after mass shootings, including at schools. As former US President Joe Biden put it last year, the rampant gun culture in America is “not normal” — shocking in itself that people need to be told that.
Trump embodies the chaos, anger and need for dominance that has built up in the American psyche for nearly 250 years (borne of the battle for independence in arriving as settlers on this continent in the first place). The 47th President has captured that angst as political momentum and is redistributing it across many sectors of society and economy.
One hopes his channeling of the anger into other things will lessen the gun violence. But this is likely wishful thinking and channeling is not the same as eliminating.
And Canada wants no part of the American way (oh, except that we strangely emulate and admire them economically, like poor cousins).
Turning disbelief into action:
And now Trump is coming after Canada. It’s shocking. Evidently there were gasps in the room at the World Economic Forum last week when Trump essentially pronounced an intended takeover of Canada. But people are still for the most part in a state of disbelief at Trump’s takeover intentions.
Do we want this anger and violence to spill over into Canada, or to give up our culture and economy and become ‘the 51st state’? No.
But are we adequately protecting ourselves politically and economically? Not yet.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau along with this cabinet and a council or business and policy leaders have been working on a response plan to economic tariffs that may come starting February 1. And Premiers across Canada have been readying their provinces for the pending economic tariff warfare.
Trump’s bluster may be entertaining or mesmerizing for some, but there’s no room for complacency.
Let’s hope our Canadian leaders build enough of a buttress to withstand the onslaught of American takeover — both economically and culturally, as well as politically.
Pushing back against Trump must be the Canadian way.
===== RELATED:
Tough talk about Trump & what Canadians need to do (January 25, 2025)
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