Another School Type Shooting

[right-then-petal]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-34419802

[fallen-archie]

Another fine mess 😟

[evoman3957]

The Second Amendment of the United States Constitution reads: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

What man creates, man abuses.

[023mjc]

If they are so determined to keep their guns then what do they expect. Whilst the majority are responsible there will always be people with "issues", who are not.

[jd.linklater]

I'm sure everyone remembers the events at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut when 20 year old Adam Lanza shot dead 20 children and 6 staff after previously killing his own mother. That was on 14th December 2012, by New Year's Eve there had been a further 108 gun fatalities in the US. To date since Sandy Hook there have been more than 82,000 gun deaths in the US as a whole. Shocking figures indeed yet hardly surprising when you consider that the US has 5% of the World's population who collectively own more than 50% of the World's privately owned weapons.

　

President Obama has done everything in his power to try and change American attitudes to gun control but has been defeated at every turn, not by public opinion but by the NRA and again by the US Senate. Following Sandy Hook nine out of ten Americans voted to support expanding background checks on all firearms purchases. This was backed up by legislation introduced to Congress via the Manchin-Toomey Amendment along with an Assault Weapons Ban, both were defeated in the Senate in April 2013. New York, Connecticut and Maryland are the only three states that have enacted new restrictions to their existing gun laws, most States made no changes and unbelievably ten States actually relaxed their gun ownership laws.

The NRA statement after the shootings that 'The only response to a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun' seems to be the opinion reflected in the Senate's actions. Is it any wonder nothing has changed?

[lightblueberet]

Yup...the entrenched belief in the States, and not only, that 'it is not the weapon that kills, but he/she who wields it', is near impossible to eradicate !  

[al**bear]

Check the US News channels, they are all in shock, questioning yet again the failure to have done something about this since the last time (think this is the 5th mass shooting this year)

Of course ALL does not include cable news network FOX, they are mostly attacking Obamas speech because He has the cheek to use this incident to again call for Gun control. In the rest of their report they're in full protect the right of citizens to have weapons mode. While all but ignoring the victims.

[bankhaunter]

If you have a situation where there are countless guns freely available with little in the way of restrictions, there will be disturbed people who use them and guns kill a lot easier than any other hand weapon.

It is an interesting comparison between the attack with guns at Sandy Hook school and, on the same day, a similar attack by a person with a knife in a school in China, much the same number of pupils and staff were attacked in both places but no one died in China.

[cee-dee]

Al, in America a "mass shooting" is defined as where four or more people are killed.

So far in 2015 there have been 294 "mass shootings" according to the Mass Shooting Tracker.

[lightblueberet]

The gun lobby must have overwhelming power in the States...I see no other reason why firearms control continuously comes across a brick wall ! ! ! 

[******lynda******]

I suppose, if they think most criminals have guns, fear will make people reluctant to give up their protection, as they see it, if they are accustomed to the ownership. They have the right to shoot intruders in the house. It is always difficult to take away a given right

[bankhaunter]

I was watching a video where a surgeon in Florida said how all his cases were the result of either family disputes or those between neighbours. Not cases of house invasion or armed robbery.

In many places they have an obsession with the right to carry guns wherever they go.

Sooner or later there is going to be incidents where gun battles will be taking place on the street, it won't take much to start one off, they are all itching to use them.

[******lynda******]

I never said there were home invasions. I said people might fear the possibility of home invasion, and feel more secure if they feel they can defend themselves. An insurance, if you will. Many of us have insurances, not expecting to actually need them, but in case.
The main point is, if people have a sense of entitlement, they tend to be reluctant to give it up.


We have arguably the toughest firearm laws and we still see the occasional shooting.

[******lynda******]

I should add, I don't agree with the US policy on firearms and think ownership should be regulated, and the carrying of arms in public as in the photo above should be forbidden.

[bankhaunter]

The threat of home invasions, of which there actually are some, is one of the ways the gun lobby use to scare people into wanting to keep their guns.

In some parts of London, they just have locked grills across doors and windows.

They don't realise that if a criminal thinks you have a gun and are likely to use it, they will shoot first and why anyone regards the ability to walk around in public openly carrying a weapon is a really important freedom, is beyond me.

Interesting info here.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/01/pro-gun-myths-fact-check

[jd.linklater]

The gunman in Oregon took six guns with him to the college campus and police found another seven at his home, all were bought legally. Realistically nobody needs more than a handgun for protection yet some individuals in the gun lobby have arsenals of weapons that a SWAT team would be proud of. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-34428410

[bankhaunter]

From the link I gave, the average gun owner in the US, owns 7.9 guns.

[jd.linklater]

---

@bankhaunter wrote:

From the link I gave, the average gun owner in the US, owns 7.9 guns.

---

That's a very informative article. Judging by some of the comments at the end, the gun lobby don't seem very popular with the wider US population.

[bankhaunter]

But it's a very powerful and vociferous one, there is a lot of money involved.

People in the US are very besotted about their 'freedoms' and yet often seem less free than many other countries.

They also seem very insecure, school children reciting the oath of allegience every morning appears, to me at least, a bit OTT.

Another study has shown that the more publicity a mass shooting gets, the more likely there will be another one shortly afterwards.

[jd.linklater]

Another day another tragedy, this time an 11 year old killing an 8 year old neighbour because she wouldn't let him play with her pet dog. That's 559 children under 11 killed or injured by guns this year. I wonder what the gun lobby's response will be to this.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-34450841