And then there was Amy Bishop, the UAH professor, in 2010:
So, three.
The vast majority of mass shootings are committed by men under the age of 30. Most men under 30 who buy guns are either criminals, hicks or freaks, precisely the people who should not own guns. We need to raise the minimum age for gun purchase to 30 in every state. The background checks are like putting lipstick on a pig. Our politicians are completely worthless, only thinking about themselves and their own jobs, rather than the country or the people. The Republicans are completely bought and paid for by the NRA, and the Democrats are too afraid to do anything for fear of losing the next election. The ones who try to do something found themselves voted off by the gun nuts and their NRA backers, like the two Democratic representatives in CO. American politics is run by the NRA.
Australia and the UK both instituted gun bans and buy back programs after one mass shooting incident in each country some 20 years ago. Neither country has ever had a mass shooting since. We need to come to our senses on guns. Those with common sense who feel strongly that we need stricter gun control should join organizations like “Everytown for gun safety”, show our strength in numbers and stand up against the tyranny of the NRA.
Like another poster alluded to some pages back, I find it odd that a country that allows unborn children to be killed at a whim gets so up in arms about innocent people dying by gunshot for no reason whatsoever. Why should the government protect the walking and talking citizens if it won’t even protect the ones that are too young to do that? The victims of Sandy Hook were only 5 or 6 years different than unborn children that are killed every day. I bet that there’s been more than 45 or 145 of those “surgeries” performed every day.
Hypothetically, imagine if politicians would try to make that a deal - confiscate all America’s guns, but also shut down all abortion clinics. Or raise restrictions on guns, but also raise restrictions on abortions. That would be interesting. And with redneck Republicans (who are stereotyped by the whole “NRA, guns, and Bible” mantra) being so anti women’s personal freedom (specifically abortions) and the liberals being so progressive and “every other country than us has better gun restrictions, etc” it seems to be a good compromise.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the residents of Roseburg don’t seem to want gun control. I am tired of this black and white discussion where people think that leaders in a certain party are going to come door to door and take your guns. That line of reasoning is pushed so it’s very hard to do anything. With all the guns and meth heads there, remind me not to spend any time in Roseburg. I can’t imagine being willing to sacrifice my child at that altar. The same thing happened with our local Marysville-Pilchuck HS shooting. The dad was prosecuted for giving the shooter access to the guns but there was no real outcry on a micro-local level because of the population base where the attack took place. It still stuns me.
The facebook posts that think the response is for everyone to be armed have been deleted from my page. Simply repulsive notion.
A friend just sent me this. I couldn’t agree more. http://media.smh.com.au/video-news/video-world-news/we-are-not-the-usa-6896300.html
As a country we are beyond pathetic.
Both countries have had mass shootings in the last 20 years. Your source for that statement, or your conclusion, is wrong.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Hectorville_siege
The local sheriff of Roseberg is quite a gun nut himself. He had posted things to fb about the Sandy Hook killings being a “false flag” hoax and that the parents mourning at the funerals were paid actors.
And this is who was leading the investigation yesterday? I wonder what he believes now. Whatever it is, it probably won’t be good.
Of course, greenwitch! I expect statements like, "If everyone else in the school packed a gun or two in their bags, this would not have happened! "
Words fail me. The sheriff thinks the mourners of the Sandy Hook shooting were paid actors? Someone stopped taking his Haldol.
Have those countries had mass shootings in the last 20 days? We have.
The problem isn’t that these shootings happen every decade or so, it’s that they are happening so very frequently.
He had 6 guns with him and 7 more at home but guns had nothing to do with it.
I don’t quite get why GladGradDad is so insistent that a few isolated incidents in other countries are analogous to the situation we are faced with here. Yes, there have been a few mass shootings in those countries. No place is immune. But most of can only hope that someday we have as few mass murders as those counties.
There Is no other industrial country which comes close to the numbers of gun violence incidents here in the good ol’ US of A. We are #1!!! GO US!!!
^^ That’s because the gun nuts have no other argument or defense.
What are the new gun control measures people would like to see in place across the country? Would these new gun control regulations have impacted any of the mass shootings?
Excellent piece, eb. If I were just starting out in life, I’d think very seriously about becoming an Australian or Canadian citizen. As the piece says, “Australia is not like the United States. We decided not to be. We decided to grow up instead and become a more reasonable, rational society that explicitly values human life and prefers to think the best of people, rather than the worst.”
@tom1944, have you read the whole thread? There have been proposals you can comment on.
Hey, what are you gonna do? Stuff happens. (The wisdom a certain famous person offered today.)
Meanwhile, the local sheriff is a complete lunatic. Apparently he’s been removing all that stuff about Sandy Hook being a fake and a government “false flag” operation from his Facebook page today. I hope somebody asks him if he thinks what just happened was a false flag operation too.
There have been several accounts today that the shooter asked people what their religion was. Of course, the professor he killed (before anyone else) was Jewish, so he sounds like an equal opportunity hater.
No I was at work all day and did not have time to read the thread…
Is there 3 or 4 main ideas.