The answer is to mass shootings, beyond reasonable limits on gun ownership, is to make sure that no child in America (or anywhere) is being physically or mentally abused. Children are naturally open and curious - those who are not may well be hurting, and hurting badly. Help these children now.
Most mass shootings -- more than half -- are domestic incidents. They have nothing in common with the Las Vegas shooting. Writers who share opinions about mass shootings using statistics about domestic violence merely add confusion to the debate.
6
One of the saddest and most sobering graphics. Add the suicides, deaths by accidental shootings, and homicides with <4 victims. The inaction by Congress on measures to reduce gun deaths is simply a blatant derogation of responsibilities that demeans the US in the eyes of citizens of other developed countries.
2
Military weapons have no business outside the barracks, however, there are already so many out there that a ban on their sale will not have a big effect. But I am certain that there is a way to make ammunition to have the force of a BB gun pellet. That way the collectors will have their collections and those who like to play Rambo on the weekends will still look great in the photos with their friends. And nobody will become a mass murderer with them, just like none of the people who wrote the 2nd amendment became mass murderers with their front loaders.
1
We obviously need controls on assault weapons and better background checks across th e board. Open carry, to me, sounds too dangerous. I have nothing against responsible gun ownership. A lot of people are hunters; they supplement their families diet this way. I have little hope that Congress will, at this time in history, will do anything positive at all for any American who isn't wealthy. That's all they seem to care about - money.
2
This graph is pointless.
All the states have gun control laws, with varying degrees of severity.
They cannot stop someone who passes all the vetting criteria. Period.
Congress can only act on such matters via the Commerce clause; any other restraint would be unconstitutional.
And, it the graph fails to address the real problem, which is not the guns.
It is the people who fire the guns.
McVeigh killed a lot more people, without firing a shot.
All the states have gun control laws, with varying degrees of severity.
They cannot stop someone who passes all the vetting criteria. Period.
Congress can only act on such matters via the Commerce clause; any other restraint would be unconstitutional.
And, it the graph fails to address the real problem, which is not the guns.
It is the people who fire the guns.
McVeigh killed a lot more people, without firing a shot.
5
I couldn't agree with you more: People will always find a way to harm one another. But that just makes my point! But it's specious to argue that therefore we must all arm ourselves to keep from getting killed. I agree with the respondent earlier who described this stance as Orwelian. A more effective "solution" (in a child's fairy tale land) would be if Americans didn't feel so entitled to the use of deadly force. I hold up the Swedes and Norwegians as an example. They have their share of violence, but it's rarely deadly....
Now, how do we rebuild the American psyche...?
Now, how do we rebuild the American psyche...?
And yet, there is only one McVeigh you can name. Since 1995. In the 22 years since McVeigh wreaked his havoc (169 dead), we have also endured the Boston Marathon bombing (3 dead), and a Unabomber attack (1 dead). How many other Americans can you name who engaged in mass killing without guns? How many victims did they kill?
Meanwhile, gun toting terrorists, and their victims, are so commonplace they appear virtually evey day in this country, resulting in roughly 13,000 deaths per year, excluding suicide. That's 174 dead people from bombs, versus 286,000 dead from guns. And you honestly do not believe guns are the problem?
If the current regulations do too little to prevent the carnage, then Congress can change those laws. Limit the number of guns that can be purchased, limit the types of guns that can be purchased, limit the modifications that can make those guns deadlier, limit the amount of ammunition that can be stockpiled, limit the size of magazines. If the vetting process doesn't work, then change it.
Tim McVeigh is a strawman. Whatever your motivations for protecting the rights of terrorists over the rights of the rest of us who just don't want to be shot, don't pretend that a bombing 22 years ago somehow negates the deaths of 286,000 Americans killed by guns in those same years.
If you have some grand idea for preventing violent people from enacting their hate, then by all means share it. My suggestion: don't give them the guns they prefer.
Meanwhile, gun toting terrorists, and their victims, are so commonplace they appear virtually evey day in this country, resulting in roughly 13,000 deaths per year, excluding suicide. That's 174 dead people from bombs, versus 286,000 dead from guns. And you honestly do not believe guns are the problem?
If the current regulations do too little to prevent the carnage, then Congress can change those laws. Limit the number of guns that can be purchased, limit the types of guns that can be purchased, limit the modifications that can make those guns deadlier, limit the amount of ammunition that can be stockpiled, limit the size of magazines. If the vetting process doesn't work, then change it.
Tim McVeigh is a strawman. Whatever your motivations for protecting the rights of terrorists over the rights of the rest of us who just don't want to be shot, don't pretend that a bombing 22 years ago somehow negates the deaths of 286,000 Americans killed by guns in those same years.
If you have some grand idea for preventing violent people from enacting their hate, then by all means share it. My suggestion: don't give them the guns they prefer.
9
Pointless? Not so for these 521 deceased Americans and their families.
33 thousand Americans are killed every year with a gun. 521 in mass shootings in the last 12 months.
If you are still concerned about statistical niceties, you are missing the #%&&
forest for the trees. This is not a cost benefit analysis. This is 33,000 dead people every 12 months because someone had a bad hair day; which is what the NRA wants you to think.
If toaster ovens killed 33,000 people a year, do you think you could still buy one? In 2017 toaster ovens are about as critical to American freedom as guns.
33 thousand Americans are killed every year with a gun. 521 in mass shootings in the last 12 months.
If you are still concerned about statistical niceties, you are missing the #%&&
forest for the trees. This is not a cost benefit analysis. This is 33,000 dead people every 12 months because someone had a bad hair day; which is what the NRA wants you to think.
If toaster ovens killed 33,000 people a year, do you think you could still buy one? In 2017 toaster ovens are about as critical to American freedom as guns.
5
202-456-1111
Please call the White House, your Rep, and Senators. Today it took about 10 minutes.
Perhaps the first day of every month can be a day when those of us who are tired of this call them in remembrance of October 1st.
Please call the White House, your Rep, and Senators. Today it took about 10 minutes.
Perhaps the first day of every month can be a day when those of us who are tired of this call them in remembrance of October 1st.
3
Congress priorities: 1. Money 2. Money 3. More money 4. 1%’s 5. Corporations 6. Taxes for the poor 7. Wealth care 8. Getting rid of Medicare and Medicare 9. Protecting gun rights 10. Protecting special interests 11. .....................................etc etc 100. Valuing human life
11
"Government of, by, and for the people" has been a fraud and a lie for many years. Yet the suckers, saps, and chumps still want to think it's true. On the positive side, we still have the best government lobbyists, corporations, and the wealthy can buy.
3
How about setting up a doomsday type clock. Or one of those ....days since the last accident sign in a visible format. The corner right of the NYT. A billboard on time square? That might call attention to the problem. 2 days since the last mass shooting .....
7
My thought also. It would not take up much space. The longest we've gone without a mass shooting in 12 months is 4 days. It would take up less than 1/2 of the space of a Tweet.
About every two days the same number of people are murdered with guns in the primary category of firearm homicides; Blacks and Hispanics primarily in low income urban neighborhoods. No one pays attention.
2
Vote every single one of these blood-on-their-hands terds in Congress out over the next few years. They seem to be of one party almost totally; how could that happen? That is the only thing that has a hope of changing anything. These corrupt so-called human beings are morally bankrupt about and complicit in murders, so what does that make them? Vote them out. Every last one.
3
Everyone of them? Gun control advocates are just as hard headed as gun rights advocates. Democrats are as much to blame as Republicans.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/18/us/politics/senate-obama-gun-control.h...
Mr. Begich said the Senate could have united behind measures with broad support, like strengthening the existing background check system with more data about would-be gun buyers who have been deemed mentally ill, rather than expanding the checks to sales not now covered. Mr. Begich also cited bolstering school safety, criminalizing gun trafficking and improving mental health programs….Those modest steps, however, were sacrificed because other Democrats did not want to see further-reaching provisions fail at the expense of a package that the gun rights lobby wanted, aides said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/18/us/politics/senate-obama-gun-control.h...
Mr. Begich said the Senate could have united behind measures with broad support, like strengthening the existing background check system with more data about would-be gun buyers who have been deemed mentally ill, rather than expanding the checks to sales not now covered. Mr. Begich also cited bolstering school safety, criminalizing gun trafficking and improving mental health programs….Those modest steps, however, were sacrificed because other Democrats did not want to see further-reaching provisions fail at the expense of a package that the gun rights lobby wanted, aides said.
John- no one thinks gun restrictions would stop a crazy who is intent on shooting up a concert. But common sense legislation like universal background checks and keeping guns out of the hands of convicted domestic abusers would reduce the 93 people who are killed EVERY DAY in America due to easy access to guns.
24 of those killed are our veterans who commit suicide. 10 of those are under 18. 50 women are killed by a partner with a gun in a domestic violence event monthly.
Loved ones should be able to get guns taken away from someone who is suicidal so he doesn't have easy access to his guns (and don't say he'll find another way- that's been disproven over and over- most people who attempt suicide don't attempt again after they are helped). These killings, not the "big ones" we hear about in the news, are what can be reduced.
24 of those killed are our veterans who commit suicide. 10 of those are under 18. 50 women are killed by a partner with a gun in a domestic violence event monthly.
Loved ones should be able to get guns taken away from someone who is suicidal so he doesn't have easy access to his guns (and don't say he'll find another way- that's been disproven over and over- most people who attempt suicide don't attempt again after they are helped). These killings, not the "big ones" we hear about in the news, are what can be reduced.
1
Spoken just like a good lobbyist. Or the president about Charlottesville. That both sides in the demonstrations were about equal. What the article you cite says is "More than 50 senators — including a few Republicans, but lacking a handful of Democrats from more conservative states — had signaled their support for the gun bill, not enough to reach the 60-vote threshold to overcome a filibuster." Vote that handful of Democrats out also, publish their names.
Americans have been in the grip of a mass delusion for decades. Orwellian logic such as guns keep us safe; weapons designed only to kill people will keep us alive; the NRA can buy our politicians and we will still be a democracy.
I am horrified and devastated and losing hope.
I am horrified and devastated and losing hope.
4
Now that a gunman have targeted Congressional baseball players, there could be a little more sympathy for gun control, but I doubt it. I figure that that Congressmen always will believe that the bullet will hit someone else and not them.
2
Just reread The Forever War, classic sci fi from 1972, soldier goes off to fight aliens and comes back to Earth in the year 2023 (due to time dilation). And he finds everywhere you go in 2023's America, you have to have a bodyguard, and everywhere you go you carry a gun. They try to become farmers to eke out a peaceful living, but roving bands of gun-toting outlaws kill everyone. Washington is no safer than Omaha, and everywhere it's only a matter of time before someone shoots you. Ironically, they find it safer to re-enlist and face an alien army than hang around to get shot in St. Louis. Science fiction? I hope so, but it's sounding more and more like real life.
7
There has been no react by Congress. Democrats would like to think that only people who are beholding to the NRA and gun manufacturers are unwilling to agree with the measures which their constituents in the gun control advocacy groups want. The Republicans will not discuss those proposals and offer proposals like arming everyone and sending them out intending to administer justice themselves to deter gun violence, like vigilantes.
Every time the Democrats offer solutions they sound like removing guns to end the problem, which worked in Australia because the people were willing to fall into line with their leaders rather than to resist (it was not a popular measure when it was enacted). That only prevents any cooperative discussion with gun owners who are also appalling by gun violence, despite the opinions of most of the gun control advocates who express themselves. It's a big problem that cannot be solved as the Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress want to think. No real controls, today, enable the violence to persist. Alienating gun owners out of frustration and a failure to trust in their decency makes getting their cooperation impossible. Getting the kind of system which can focus on troublemakers and let responsible people to continue to use their firearms safely and legally without interference is the middle path, and the hardest to make happen but the one that has the best chance, at least for now.
Every time the Democrats offer solutions they sound like removing guns to end the problem, which worked in Australia because the people were willing to fall into line with their leaders rather than to resist (it was not a popular measure when it was enacted). That only prevents any cooperative discussion with gun owners who are also appalling by gun violence, despite the opinions of most of the gun control advocates who express themselves. It's a big problem that cannot be solved as the Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress want to think. No real controls, today, enable the violence to persist. Alienating gun owners out of frustration and a failure to trust in their decency makes getting their cooperation impossible. Getting the kind of system which can focus on troublemakers and let responsible people to continue to use their firearms safely and legally without interference is the middle path, and the hardest to make happen but the one that has the best chance, at least for now.
The Las Vegas shooter was a responsible, law-abiding gun owner with a whole bunch of legally obtained guns right up until the point that he pulled the trigger. Perhaps it would be a really good idea to stop thinking that it's possible to magically keep bad guys from getting guns if we're going to insist on letting good guys have unlimited firepower with minimal inconvenience.
2
This nation suffers from a chronic mental illness: gun worship. Can you imagine if physicians took the attitude that if we cannot completely cure a chronic disease, they'd elect to ignore it. Just ignore diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, epilepsy, many forms of cancer. Just forget about it until we were sure we could have a complete cure.
This is what our politicians--so under the influence of the NRA--do with guns. Someone logically explain why we need easy access to military style weapons, bump-stocks and high-capacity clips. Better yet, don't explain--there is no rational explanation. Only that chronic mental illness.
This is what our politicians--so under the influence of the NRA--do with guns. Someone logically explain why we need easy access to military style weapons, bump-stocks and high-capacity clips. Better yet, don't explain--there is no rational explanation. Only that chronic mental illness.
5
Could any gun carriers in that crowd have stopped this slaughter? I think not.
On top of that, WBEZ - just to fill in dead air and sound like they were on top of the problem - aired an interview with someone who described in some detail how to convert a semi-automatic rifle into an automatic machine gun.
The nation thanks you, WBEZ, for this extremely valuable information.
On top of that, WBEZ - just to fill in dead air and sound like they were on top of the problem - aired an interview with someone who described in some detail how to convert a semi-automatic rifle into an automatic machine gun.
The nation thanks you, WBEZ, for this extremely valuable information.
3
I agree. The shooter at Sandy Hook assembled a very large database of details on mass shootings that he used to increase his lethality. Many other details from other shootings describe which type of ammunition is most effective, how often to change magazines, etc.
In addition the murder-suicides have a contagion associated with them, guidelines on reporting suicides need to be followed to minimize the contagion, but the media typically doesn't follow it.
I would believe the sincerity of the media more if they were to donate the increased revenue from such events to a victims fund.
In addition the murder-suicides have a contagion associated with them, guidelines on reporting suicides need to be followed to minimize the contagion, but the media typically doesn't follow it.
I would believe the sincerity of the media more if they were to donate the increased revenue from such events to a victims fund.
Now is the time to start voting only for candidates who support gun control.
3
WE THE PEOPLE must demand an end to the debate about guns and demand action.
EVERY gun in The United States of America must be registered on a national database, licensed and fully insured for liability.
Just like cars.
EVERY gun in The United States of America must be registered on a national database, licensed and fully insured for liability.
Just like cars.
17
And the right to possess a gun should be given only to people who are responsible in how they use them and how they treat other human beings.
The Republican says, "Now is not the time to talk about gun control".
Now is the time. After each of these terrible incidents was the time.
But I agree. Now is not the time to talk. Now is the time to ACT. Send letters, get out in the streets, telephone your legislators, inundate the current occupant of the Oval Office with calls and letters. ACT.
Now is the time. After each of these terrible incidents was the time.
But I agree. Now is not the time to talk. Now is the time to ACT. Send letters, get out in the streets, telephone your legislators, inundate the current occupant of the Oval Office with calls and letters. ACT.
10
The high and unacceptable incidence of gun related deaths in the US is not only a scourge and cancer in America it is a National Security and National Health risk issue adversely impacting all Americans.
The culture of gun violence is out of control !!!
The key issues are the proliferation of and the easy access to guns.
On guns, Americans need to recognize four facts:
1. Since 1968 more Americans have died from gunfire than died in all the wars of America’s history. There have been 1,516,863 gun-related deaths since 1968 in contrast to the total of 1,396,733 war deaths since the American Revolution.
2. There were 33,636 deaths related to firearms in 2013. That amounts to a death rate by firearms of 92 persons per day !!! Both the total and the annual rate of all gun deaths per 100,000 of persons have increased over recent history and are the highest in the civilized world.
3. There are an estimated 357 million firearms. An estimated 31% of households, or one in three Americans, own guns.
4. All of the discussions on the need to improve controls on guns and gun ownership are debates on the margins. Any new legislation to strengthen gun controls will affect only new purchases of guns. Any such new legislation will leave the remaining guns already owned unaffected, grandfathered by earlier laws. Tinkering on the margins has not and never will work.
Congress must repeal the Second Amendment.
The new law should be called: “The Innocents’ Law.”
Bring peace to America.
The culture of gun violence is out of control !!!
The key issues are the proliferation of and the easy access to guns.
On guns, Americans need to recognize four facts:
1. Since 1968 more Americans have died from gunfire than died in all the wars of America’s history. There have been 1,516,863 gun-related deaths since 1968 in contrast to the total of 1,396,733 war deaths since the American Revolution.
2. There were 33,636 deaths related to firearms in 2013. That amounts to a death rate by firearms of 92 persons per day !!! Both the total and the annual rate of all gun deaths per 100,000 of persons have increased over recent history and are the highest in the civilized world.
3. There are an estimated 357 million firearms. An estimated 31% of households, or one in three Americans, own guns.
4. All of the discussions on the need to improve controls on guns and gun ownership are debates on the margins. Any new legislation to strengthen gun controls will affect only new purchases of guns. Any such new legislation will leave the remaining guns already owned unaffected, grandfathered by earlier laws. Tinkering on the margins has not and never will work.
Congress must repeal the Second Amendment.
The new law should be called: “The Innocents’ Law.”
Bring peace to America.
10
"There were 33,636 deaths related to firearms in 2013."
Which includes suicides. The non-age adjusted suicide rate is about the same in the UK, Canada and New Zealand as it is in the US. Of the remainder about 75% occur primarily in low income urban Black and Hispanic neighborhoods, a problem for the most part ignored in the US.
Which includes suicides. The non-age adjusted suicide rate is about the same in the UK, Canada and New Zealand as it is in the US. Of the remainder about 75% occur primarily in low income urban Black and Hispanic neighborhoods, a problem for the most part ignored in the US.
1
"We have seen/met the enemy and the enemy is us" Pogo by Walt Kelly. No one in this government seems to care that we are destroying our own population. Why are we fearing terrorists when we have them right here at home. Oh I forgot, this doesn't involve the rich and famous.
4
Now that our Republican controlled U.S. House of Representatives and Senate took a full moment of silence over the horrible mass shooting in Las Vegas, Republicans can resume their important work on legislation allowing the unlimited sale and use of silencers for weapons. The purpose of this important legislation is to protect the hearing of those individuals firing anything from a handgun to a machine gun. Especially if a weapon is being fired at close range, it will also protect the hearing of those people being shot and those close at hand watching being people being shot. The Republicans may not have been able to strip healthcare from 20 million people, but with the help of President Trump, this is one effort on which they think they can get a legislative "win". Then the Republicans can turn to the overwhelmingly popular privatization of Social Security.
6
Until Congress and the GOP make it clear to the NRA that they will no longer support nearly unlimited access to guns and ammunition, nothing will change. The NRA and other gun groups like the Gun Owners of America believe they have the GOP in their pockets, so now they want legalized silencers and armor-piercing ammunition made legal. This has to stop.
5
But let's remember, as spineless as Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats are about reasonable gun control, the root of the of the matter is the strangle-hold the NRA, corporations and 1%-er's have on American democracy.
It is only because corporate cash ("money is speech") and 1% corporate representation matters much more than human speech that Congress has failed to maintain basic safety and reasonable gun control.
America's national shooting gallery is the poster-child of American's collapsed democracy that caters almost exclusively to cash and leaves actual human beings dead, maimed, injured and in the corporate dust.
Single-payer taxpayer-financed campaign financing is our only hope....it will save lives and billions in political corruption.
VOTE !
It is only because corporate cash ("money is speech") and 1% corporate representation matters much more than human speech that Congress has failed to maintain basic safety and reasonable gun control.
America's national shooting gallery is the poster-child of American's collapsed democracy that caters almost exclusively to cash and leaves actual human beings dead, maimed, injured and in the corporate dust.
Single-payer taxpayer-financed campaign financing is our only hope....it will save lives and billions in political corruption.
VOTE !
15
What are they calling a mass shooting?
As noted in the editorial, a "mass shooting involves four or more people injured or killed in a single event at the same time and location."
Isn't it about time the Congress stops be led around by the nose by the gun lobby and their money and passes some gun laws that help people? Are they now going to pass the law about silencers? Why do hunters need silencers and guns that shoot more than one bullet at a time? Where is sanity?
13
That's actually not true at all! In the last 477 days, congress has done plenty of work on gun laws. They have:
- voted to allow the mentally ill to have access to firearms
- voted to allow the state with the least restrictive gun laws to supersede stricter states
- voted not to tighten background checks
- voted not to expand background checks
- voted NOT to prevent terrorists from getting guns
Congress has done plenty on guns lately!
- voted to allow the mentally ill to have access to firearms
- voted to allow the state with the least restrictive gun laws to supersede stricter states
- voted not to tighten background checks
- voted not to expand background checks
- voted NOT to prevent terrorists from getting guns
Congress has done plenty on guns lately!
51
Amazing post, many thanks.
1
Perhaps there should be an appeal to "responsible" gun owners that we need their help in protecting us from terrorists and others unfit to own firearms.
By helping to reduce violent acts and the subsequent outrage over gun ownership they will help protect their "legitimate" right to bear arms.
There must be some sort of middle ground.
By helping to reduce violent acts and the subsequent outrage over gun ownership they will help protect their "legitimate" right to bear arms.
There must be some sort of middle ground.
11
Help in protecting us meaning encouraging the support of safer gun ownership legislation.
2
Yes, but Democrats are as much to blame as Republicans for not trying to work the middle ground. Below is an article on how Democrats scuttled the last attempt at gun control legislation after Sandy Hook.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/18/us/politics/senate-obama-gun-control.h...
Mr. Begich said the Senate could have united behind measures with broad support, like strengthening the existing background check system with more data about would-be gun buyers who have been deemed mentally ill, rather than expanding the checks to sales not now covered. Mr. Begich also cited bolstering school safety, criminalizing gun trafficking and improving mental health programs….Those modest steps, however, were sacrificed because other Democrats did not want to see further-reaching provisions fail at the expense of a package that the gun rights lobby wanted, aides said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/18/us/politics/senate-obama-gun-control.h...
Mr. Begich said the Senate could have united behind measures with broad support, like strengthening the existing background check system with more data about would-be gun buyers who have been deemed mentally ill, rather than expanding the checks to sales not now covered. Mr. Begich also cited bolstering school safety, criminalizing gun trafficking and improving mental health programs….Those modest steps, however, were sacrificed because other Democrats did not want to see further-reaching provisions fail at the expense of a package that the gun rights lobby wanted, aides said.
2
The scariest part about this act of terrorism for me was that it was not driven by ideology; that is, that it was completely irrational. A retired white man opening fire on a country music festival? How do we feel safe again in publc spaces?
17