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So, we're comparing ourselves with Jamaica? A poor, corrupt country?
Canada, Australia, and most of Europe all have strict gun laws, too. And their gun violence rates are small fractions of ours. Seems more logical that those are the countries we should measure ourselves against.
Removing guns does not remove violence. Removing guns does not remove mass homicides. Even in Canada, Australia and most of Europe.
Those are facts. I encourage you to research it for yourself.
Removing guns does not remove violence. Removing guns does not remove mass homicides. Even in Canada, Australia and most of Europe.
Those are facts. I encourage you to research it for yourself.
What I posted is facts. I grew up in Canada with European parents. I'm familiar with crime rates in other Western countries.
20 little 6-year-olds and their teachers wouldn't have been so easily murdered if the teenage killer had had a knife instead of a powerful firearm. 60 people wouldn't have been mowed down at a concert in Las Vegas if the killer had had a knife. He shot about 1,000 rounds in 10 minutes.
Anyway, I know I'm not going to change anyone's mind. All this violence is just part of living in America. Period. And the victims get nothing more than "thoughts and prayers."
If the murders of 20 gorgeous little kids doesn't change anything -- and it didn't -- nothing will. Most of the time, I pay little attention to shootings now. Another shooting; another day in America.
What I posted is facts. I grew up in Canada with European parents. I'm familiar with crime rates in other Western countries.
20 little 6-year-olds and their teachers wouldn't have been so easily murdered if the teenage killer had had a knife instead of a powerful firearm. 60 people wouldn't have been mowed down at a concert in Las Vegas if the killer had had a knife. He shot about 1,000 rounds in 10 minutes.
Anyway, I know I'm not going to change anyone's mind. All this violence is just part of living in America. Period. And the victims get nothing more than "thoughts and prayers."
If the murders of 20 gorgeous little kids doesn't change anything -- and it didn't -- nothing will. Most of the time, I pay little attention to shootings now. Another shooting: another day in America.
Thoughts and prayers.
Apparently you are NOT familiar with crime rates in other countries.
“The Osaka school massacre was a mass murder that occurred at Ikeda Elementary School in Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture, Japan on 8 June 2001, in which Mamoru Takuma, a 37-year-old ex-convict with a history of mentally disturbed and anti-social behavior, stabbed eight students to death and seriously wounded fifteen others in a knife attack that lasted several minutes.”
And lest you think the US has the worst gun related attacks, you are incorrect about that as well:
“The Beslan school siege (also referred to as the Beslan school hostage crisis or Beslan massacre)[3][4][5] started on 1 September 2004, lasted three days, involved the imprisonment of more than 1,100 people as hostages (including 777 children)[6] and ended with the deaths of either 331 or 334 people, over half of whom were children. It is thought to be the deadliest school shooting in modern history.”
“When Anders Breivik opened fire on youngsters attending a summer camp on the Norwegian island of Utoya, he carried out a massacre that to this day remains the deadliest mass shooting by a single gunman anywhere in the world.” . (77 people died).
Apparently you are NOT familiar with crime rates in other countries.
“The Osaka school massacre was a mass murder that occurred at Ikeda Elementary School in Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture, Japan on 8 June 2001, in which Mamoru Takuma, a 37-year-old ex-convict with a history of mentally disturbed and anti-social behavior, stabbed eight students to death and seriously wounded fifteen others in a knife attack that lasted several minutes.”
And lest you think the US has the worst gun related attacks, you are incorrect about that as well:
“The Beslan school siege (also referred to as the Beslan school hostage crisis or Beslan massacre)[3][4][5] started on 1 September 2004, lasted three days, involved the imprisonment of more than 1,100 people as hostages (including 777 children)[6] and ended with the deaths of either 331 or 334 people, over half of whom were children. It is thought to be the deadliest school shooting in modern history.”
“When Anders Breivik opened fire on youngsters attending a summer camp on the Norwegian island of Utoya, he carried out a massacre that to this day remains the deadliest mass shooting by a single gunman anywhere in the world.” . (77 people died).
I’m rather puzzled as to how that happened since Norway has gun restrictions.
Yes, there are people who lives in earthquake zone, where an earthquake that happens once a century can wipe out a lot of people.
And there are people who lives in poisonous snake pits. They may not get a big one that kills a lot of people all at once, but they live in a place where every day, a few people get bitten and die.
Most people would much prefer the former to the later. Actually, it's a no-brainer.
Your argument is akin to people living in snake pits say,ing "Look at those people. 100 years ago an earthquake killed a lot of them. We are so much better off than they are!!! We only have a few people die every single day."
Unfortunately, there are plenty of stabbing events instead.
This is a bit old, but:
“Gun-related homicide dropped to a historic low of 13 per cent but the frequency of people dying from stab wounds jumped from 30 per cent to 41 per cent over the previous decade.”
(Snip)
''Since the [study] began in 1989-90, homicides resulting from the use of a firearm have decreased,'' the study found. ''Conversely the proportion of homicides involving knives has increased.''
I think we (Americans) should start thinking outside the box of fixed political narratives when it comes to these events. The gun is a tool, it's the actor that is committing the crime. A person who crosses that mental boundary and decides to kill is not going to have an 'aw shucks' moment and decide otherwise because they don't have a firearm available that is capable of doing maximum damage, their plan will evolve but their intent will stay the same. I am not a gun owner and I don't know if I ever will be, so this is not coming from a place of bias or self-interest.
The largest burden lies on the mental illness that the actors of these events are suffering. Unfortunately there are no easy answers. We tried asylums and mental hospitals, but many of them closed and my understanding is that they were completely dysfunctional. Of course the paradigm at the time was probably more 'med and bed' than treatment, but it seems to me that they became places of little care and much abuse and neglect.
There is still a massive social stigma of being mentally ill. Physical illness is met with understanding and compassion, but mental illness is usually met with tepid sympathy and subsequent ostracizing. So people who are feeling effects (if they recognize them at all) are unlikely to volunteer themselves for help. Resources in high schools for school students are not always functional, and once students graduate and move on they are largely on their own. There are way too many privacy concerns for any sort of mental health tracking, and someone can typically only be referred for help in extreme situations such as if they are a danger to themselves or others (and often intervention includes police).
There seem to be no easy answers.
I wouldn't want to be a politician with a heart or a conscience in this day and age, because they must suffer if they truly want to help people and find their hands tied at every turn.
If I could wish for one thing, I do wish that people would start getting more assertive with our politicians that they cool off some of the social narratives and divisiveness that we're experiencing. Lots of folks must be feeling at this point that those who don't look, think and vote like them are their enemy, and even if this isn't the cause of a person acting out violently, it doesn't help with the events leading up to it, or the aftermath.
Unfortunately, there are plenty of stabbing events instead.
This is a bit old, but:
“Gun-related homicide dropped to a historic low of 13 per cent but the frequency of people dying from stab wounds jumped from 30 per cent to 41 per cent over the previous decade.”
(Snip)
''Since the [study] began in 1989-90, homicides resulting from the use of a firearm have decreased,'' the study found. ''Conversely the proportion of homicides involving knives has increased.''
Right. That's the mass shooting I referred to. In 2019, almost two years ago.
Their last mass shooting was two years ago. Before that, their last one was in 1996.
We, on the other hand, has a mass shooting every day; before Covid. Literally, every day there was a mass shooting in 2019. There is no comparison. If the result of banning guns is to have one mass shooting every two years instead of every day, that's a no-brainer.
So what if knifes attack is up. If an autistic kid weighting 100 pounds want to mass murder a school.... with a knife. That's the kind of odds I am sure most parents would take over that same kid with an AR-15.
Yes, there are people who lives in earthquake zone, where an earthquake that happens once a century can wipe out a lot of people.
And there are people who lives in poisonous snake pits. They may not get a big one that kills a lot of people all at once, but they live in a place where every other day, a few people get bitten and die.
Most people would much prefer the former to the later. Actually, it's a no-brainer.
Your argument is akin to people living in snake pits say,ing "Look at those people. 100 years ago an earthquake killed a lot of them. We are so much better off than they are!!! We only have a few people die every single day."
.
Wow.
You REALLY don’t get it.
There is a problem with violence WORLDWIDE. No one is immune to it. No one is safe from it.
We need to help people with mental illnesses, and those with addiction problems, and those in poverty, and pour resources into fixing people.
Weapons are not the problem in and of themselves.
There are hundreds of examples of cars being used to kill people, either by driving over people, or with car bombs. Do you want to ban cars?
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