Red Flags Fly With the Announcement of Malcolm Gladwell’s Upcoming Book on ‘Gun Violence’

Malcolm Gladwell American Way of Killing

There are some red flag warnings [with the announcement of Malcolm Gladwell’s upcoming book] — we are talking about discussions of American gun violence, after all. I certainly can’t criticize a book I haven’t read, but here the framing of the book raises a couple of questions for me.

First, the epidemic/endemic distinction.

I don’t particularly like the rhetoric of “epidemic” that Pushkin Industries’ PR uses to promote the book. If they mean it’s “bad” or “too much,” fine. I agree. But suggesting it is “epidemic” unnecessarily inflames the issue, fostering misunderstanding and division.

I’m not an epidemiologist, but a basic understanding of diseases suggests that epidemics are about dramatic change in, and especially acceleration of, a problem. Think COVID-19 or a measles outbreak. This certainly does not apply to gun violence in the United States generally, particularly since 2021, when the overall rate of non-fatal shootings and gun deaths has been decreasing.

Source: Jeff-alytics Substack, 2 February 2026.

Rather than “epidemic,” I’ve argued that gun violence in America is better understood as “endemic.” It is consistently present but concentrated in particular regions, demographic groups, and behaviors. It’s a health disparity, not a spreading contagion.

As I wrote in “Understanding and Misunderstanding American Gun Culture and Violence,”

Rather than using the emotionally charged language of “epidemic,” it is more accurate and helpful to view gun violence in America as “endemic.” This means the problem “is consistently present but limited to a particular region.” If we add limited to particular demographic groups and behaviors to this definition, we can begin to understand how gun violence – like the violence that “has been ubiquitous in human history” – is socially organized and unequally distributed. It is a health disparity.

This isn’t just semantic. The framing shapes what interventions seem appropriate and how we understand the problem’s nature. Andrew Papachristos has documented the social networks of high-risk individuals where gun violence concentrates. Criminologists study “micro-geographic places”: particular street segments in particular neighborhoods, often called “hot spots.” Even suicide affects certain demographic groups dramatically more than others. According to the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions, white men over 70 years of age have dramatically higher suicide rates.

I’m curious whether Gladwell will engage with this endemic nature of gun violence in his analysis, the marketing language notwithstanding.

 

— David Yamane in The Elephant in Gladwell’s Room

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18 thoughts on “Red Flags Fly With the Announcement of Malcolm Gladwell’s Upcoming Book on ‘Gun Violence’”

  1. So the Left has finally found a PHd. That can go up against John Lott. Also a PHd.
    Okay.

    With the internet everyone has access to information. And the ability to fact check it.

  2. Left wing trans violence – again: Rhode Island Hockey Game Shooter Identified as ‘Transgender’. [the trans killers name is Robert Dorgan, went by the name ‘Roberta Esposito’]

    “The utterly despicable and mentally ill shooter who murdered his wife and children during a mass shooting event in Rhode Island identified as transgender.

    ‘Greg Price
    @greg_price11
    BREAKING: The suspect in the Rhode Island shooting has indeed been confirmed as a man who went through gender reassignment surgery– which his ex-wife cited in their divorce papers along with ‘narcissistic+personality disorder traits.’

    His ex-Father in Law was also arrested a few years ago for threatening to have him murdered by an Asian street gang for not moving out of their house, telling him ‘no goddamn tranny is going to stay here.

    🚨: BREAKING: The daughter of the Rhode Island ice rink shooter says her father was “very sick” He was reportedly dressed in women’s clothing when the shooting took place.

    Transgenderism is a sickness that is spreading rapidly.

    Dorgan was apparently going by the name of Roberta Esposito. Dorgan killed himself after murdering two people and injuring three more, according to the latest reports.
    …”

    ht* tps://pjmedia.com/catherinesalgado/2026/02/16/breaking-hockey-game-shooter-identified-as-transgender-n4949590

    1. Police Confirm Reports That Rhode Island Shooter Was Transgender.

      ht* tps://townhall.com/tipsheet/josephchalfant/2026/02/16/police-confirm-reports-that-rhode-island-shooter-was-transgender-n2671408

    2. ‘Do Not Wonder Why We Go BERSERK’ [said the trans killer a couple of days before he went berserk and murdered people – he knew, the inherent mental illness in trans]: More on the Transgender Hockey Shooter’s Background.

      ht* tps://twitchy.com/aaronwalker/2026/02/17/more-on-robert-dorganroberta-espositos-background-and-did-he-write-this-ominous-tweet-n2425104

  3. New York City is no longer an America city or even part of America: New Yorkers Wake to the Islamic Call to Prayer.

    “We all saw this coming.

    Not because we hate our neighbors. Not because we fear prayer. But because we understand history. We understand symbolism. And we understand that culture never collapses all at once. It erodes. Quietly at first. Then loudly.

    A tweet making the rounds this week shows video of the Islamic call to prayer, the Adhan, echoing through New York City streets at dawn. Five in the morning. Amplified. Projected over neighborhoods that still carry the scars of September 11, 2001. That date is not ancient history. It is living memory.

    Amy Mek
    @AmyMek
    🚨 ANOTHER ADHAN BLASTS THROUGH NYC STREETS….

    This is the sound of conquest echoing in New York City RIGHT NOW.

    The Islamic call to prayer (Adhan) is being amplified louder and more aggressively – starting as early as 5 AM – invading homes, neighborhoods, and the once-proud skyline where thousands were murdered on 9/11 in Islam’s name.

    Listen to this new video I just received: The blaring Adhan dominates the streets, forcing every resident – Christian, Jewish, atheist – to hear the declaration of Islamic supremacy multiple times a day.

    Under leaders like Eric Adams (who greenlit loud broadcasts for Fridays & Ramadan) and now the push under jihadi Zohran Mamdani’s influence – this isn’t ‘religious freedom.’ It’s dawah from City Hall.

    It’s submission. It’s the next stage.

    They don’t need planes anymore. They’re conquering with sound, policy, and silence from those who should defend our values. New York is falling – one amplified ‘Allahu Akbar’ at a time.
    [video]”

    ht* tps://redstate.com/eli-shepherd/2026/02/17/new-yorkers-wake-to-the-islamic-call-to-prayer-n2199208

  4. El Salvador president Nayib Bukele wants to play too and takes the fight to the enemy: El Salvador Makes History… Again.



    Bukele announced on X on Monday that ‘Our National Navy has carried out the largest drug seizure in the history of El Salvador.’

    At 380 nautical miles (703.7 kilometers) southwest of our coasts, the Multi-Purpose Support Vessel (supply vessel/tug) FMS EAGLE was intercepted. The vessel is 180 feet long (54 meters), registered under the flag of Tanzania, Africa, and was carrying in hidden compartments 330 packages equivalent to 6.6 tons of cocaine, with an approximate value of $165 million dollars.

    To locate the drug, which was concealed in ballast tanks, divers from our National Navy were deployed. They conducted the inspection that confirmed the concealment and proceeded with its seizure.

    Bukele said there were 10 drug traffickers on board, including four Colombians, three Nicaraguans, two Panamanians, and one Ecuadorian. He called it another ‘major blow to drug trafficking’ and added: ‘By the way, thanks for the new boat.’

    Here’s the post. It’s in Spanish, but it’s got some cool pictures and video.
    …”

    ht* tps://pjmedia.com/sarah-anderson/2026/02/17/el-salvador-makes-history-again-n4949585

  5. Maryland democrat Gov. Wes Moore state was so full of democrat sh!t even their sewer system could not contain it and it overflowed into the Potomac 😂

    Trump Orders Federal Takeover After Potomac Sewage Spill Hits Wes Moore.

    ht* tps://redstate.com/ben-smith/2026/02/16/trump-orders-federal-takeover-after-potomac-sewage-spill-hits-wes-moore-n2199234

  6. Lets get something straight Malcolm Gladwell – you are an idiot.

    You fail to connect the dots on almost everything you do, instead, you go for the ‘low hanging’ fruit of BS and flawed logic and wrong information from others to turn around and spew it in your books and on podcasts and in interviews without the barest hint of having an objective reasoning look at it.

    The simple fact at its very basics is this: There is no such thing as ‘gun violence’ – its people violence. Yeah that seems sort of ‘basic’ and one could argue ‘but but but look at the stats we want to use and believe us…’ but the fact still remains in any stat or study or research the only common thing is actions of the individual-comitting-the-act.

    lawful self defense, defense of family and home and others, is a natural and inherent right and it is a constitutional right. This is not ‘gun violence’, its lawful natural exercise of natural and constitutional right even though it may or may not be violent in its execution, yet the anti-gun include it as ‘gun violence’ and sometimes in their so called ‘studies and ‘research’ they say its ‘gun violence’ when in fact there was no gun used, for example, right now in the GVA there are more than 300 instances of ‘gun violence’ where there was no gun used or even present (some claimed to have been mass or school shootings that never happened).

    So this leaves violence which is criminal (by law) and violence by mental illness – and even there, its still the common factor of the individuals actions. And the answer to this is only criminality and/or mental illness. Yet, you left wingers try your best to make sure these two factors, criminality and/or mental illness, remain on the streets, out in society, then you attack innocent gun owners trying to blame it on them with your BS and made up term ‘gun violence’.

    And guess what, this has been proven. Yep, it was proven when law & order was imposed by Trump and the violence rates fell in those areas where, for example, criminal illegal aliens were rounded up and removed from society.

  7. Utah Lawmaker Retooling Self-Defense Bill After Objections From 2A Advocates.

    ht* tps://bearingarms.com/camedwards/2026/02/16/utah-lawmaker-retooling-bill-after-objections-from-2a-advocates-n1231576

    ******************************************

    Note to Anti-ICE Crowd: You Don’t Get to Decide What We Are Willing to Die Over.

    ht* tps://bearingarms.com/tomknighton/2026/02/16/note-to-anti-ice-crowd-you-dont-get-to-decide-what-we-are-willing-to-die-over-n1231569

  8. The left wingers and their democrat politicians over time fired a lot of ‘Trump did it’ Epstein-Files-torpedoes trying to sink Trump. None of them ever hit the mark, and now with the release of the Epstein files we find out why they never hit the mark and that’s because the Epstein files do not contain anything it was claimed that Trump did. In fact the Epstein files have revealed that Trump tried to, and helped, put a stop to Epstein – Trump was the ‘good guy’ here and the left wingers can’t stand it and are having breakdowns over it, after all, they were so sure all these years they said ’cause Trumps name was simply in the Epstein files and they keep saying this as if its some new revelation ignoring that a lot of names are in the Epstein files simply because it was a weird thing with Epstein to note such people, plus, we had already known for many years that Trumps name was in the Epstein files because Trump years ago told us himself. But what about the names in the files where people did have some sort of actual suspicious or nefarious connections to Epstein? Well it turns out they ere either left wingers or democrat politicians at the time and some still are.

    Now, after the democrats demanding and getting release of the Epstein files, despite Biden admin having them for four years and not releasing them, we find out those Epstein-Files-torpedoes they fired are circling back and hitting the actual marks that did ‘something’ which are left wingers and democrat politicians – so I guess that’s why the Biden admin did not release them as there was nothing in them damaging to Trump but plenty in them damaging to left wingers and democrat politicians.

    I wonder how it feels to the left wingers that spent years of their lives claiming the Epstein files had information in them that was damaging to Trump, when in reality we know now its not there but instead its been left wingers implicated in wrong doing in the Epstein files all this time.

    NYT: The Epstein Light Grenade Hits Academia.

    ht* tps://hotair.com/ed-morrissey/2026/02/16/nyt-the-epstein-light-grenade-hits-academia-n3811940

  9. Left wing facilitated terrorism violence: 27 members of ‘Anti-Tren’ gang charged in double murder, sex trafficking, racketeering case in NY. [note: ‘Anti-Tren, is a splinter faction tied to the designated foreign terrorist organization Tren de Aragua (TdA)]

    “US Attorney Jay Clayton said the group is accused of bringing ‘murder, sex trafficking, and intimidation’ into New York, alleging that Anti-Tren members carried out gunpoint robberies and murders while exploiting ‘vulnerable young women’ through sex trafficking. Clayton said the defendants maintained control over victims through intimidation, violence, and threats against victims and their families, and vowed that SDNY prosecutors will continue targeting gangs that ‘prey on the vulnerable’ and use violence to control neighborhoods.
    …”

    ht* tps://thepostmillennial.com/27-members-of-anti-tren-gang-charged-in-double-murder-sex-trafficking-racketeering-case-in-ny?utm_campaign=64470

  10. The left wing plans: Anti-ICE group promotes jury nullification training for Minneapolis agitators.

    ht* tps://thepostmillennial.com/anti-ice-group-promotes-jury-nullification-training-for-minneapolis-agitators?utm_campaign=64470

  11. “The framing shapes what interventions seem appropriate and how we understand the problem’s nature”

    Oh, like when you used the media-term “gun violence” without using scare quotes of the prefatory phrase “so-called”?

    You lost a lot of your credibility using a term of the enemy’s.

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