Gun violence in the USA

[lapal_fan]

Pfft, who cares?

Sure, the family will, but think of the money they'd forego if they just made guns illegal? At least the family will get over it eventually.

What about all the families that rely on guns for income and jobs.  It's a hard-working Americans God given right to own a 12 gauge shotgun.

One 11 year old girl don't matter.

[Davkaus]

...And another one at Northern Arizona University. Only 1 dead and 3 wounded, I'm surprised it even made the news in America.

[villakram]

People over here are almost numb to it now. It's a pretty scary scenario when one thinks about it

[MakemineVanilla]

People over here are almost numb to it now. It's a pretty scary scenario when one thinks about it

But not as numb as to the bigger numbers who die as the result of road traffic accidents.

36 000 people die on American roads a year (nearly four times the UK rate per population), compared with 9 000 gun homicides.

Road traffic 'accidents' kill 1.24 million people across the globe, so why are we so inured to that fact and so outraged with gun crime?

Even amongst the nations of the world America is not remarkable in terms of gun homicide - Brazil has 35 000 gun homicides a year and many countries have a higher proportion to gun homicides compared with their population.

So why do we spend so much time debating gun violence in the USA while having no interest at all with the problems of other countries?

 

 

 

Edited October 12, 2015 by MakemineVanilla

[limpid]

Isn't that part of the reason so many companies are developing self driving vehicles?

[MakemineVanilla]

Isn't that part of the reason so many companies are developing self driving vehicles?

The British strategy seems to be to make the roads so crowded no one can go fast enough to hurt themselves.

[Stevo985]

I remember reading somewhere that the best thing that could be done to improve road safety would be to put a massive great spike on the steering wheel of cars pointing at the driver's face.

Nobody would drive fast enough to have an accident

[blandy]

The Onion (they do this same article each time, with the place changed, obviously)

 

‘No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens: ISLA VISTA, CA—In the days following a violent rampage in southern California in which a lone attacker killed seven individuals, including himself, and seriously injured over a dozen others, citizens living in the only country where this kind of mass killing routinely occurs reportedly concluded Tuesday that there was no way to prevent the massacre from taking place. “This was a terrible tragedy, but sometimes these things just happen and there’s nothing anyone can do to stop them,” said North Carolina resident Samuel Wipper, echoing sentiments expressed by tens of millions of individuals who reside in a nation where over half of the world’s deadliest mass shootings have occurred in the past 50 years and whose citizens are 20 times more likely to die of gun violence than those of other developed nations. “It’s a shame, but what can we do? There really wasn’t anything that was going to keep this guy from snapping and killing a lot of people if that’s what he really wanted.” At press time, residents of the only economically advanced nation in the world where roughly two mass shootings have occurred every month for the past five years were referring to themselves and their situation as “helpless.”

Edited October 12, 2015 by blandy

[TrinityRoadSteps]

A man was shot after an argument in one of the parking lots at the Cowboys game yesterday. I walked through the car park around 30 mins before the shooting. Hits home how easy it could be to get caught up in something nasty when something like that happens 

[PompeyVillan]

They've go a long way to go, there needs to be a real, nationwide appetite to change for things to really improve.

I can't see it happening.

[PongRiddims]

People over here are almost numb to it now. It's a pretty scary scenario when one thinks about it [emoji20]

But not as numb as to the bigger numbers who die as the result of road traffic accidents.

36 000 people die on American roads a year (nearly four times the UK rate per population), compared with 9 000 gun homicides.

Road traffic 'accidents' kill 1.24 million people across the globe, so why are we so inured to that fact and so outraged with gun crime?

Even amongst the nations of the world America is not remarkable in terms of gun homicide - Brazil has 35 000 gun homicides a year and many countries have a higher proportion to gun homicides compared with their population.

So why do we spend so much time debating gun violence in the USA while having no interest at all with the problems of other countries?

 

 

 

I understand the point you're making about the volume of Road Traffic Accidents, but then I'd assume that 99.9% of these cases are just that, accidents. With people being shot, I'd suggest that maybe the accidental percentage may not be so high?

[HanoiVillan]

People over here are almost numb to it now. It's a pretty scary scenario when one thinks about it

But not as numb as to the bigger numbers who die as the result of road traffic accidents.

36 000 people die on American roads a year (nearly four times the UK rate per population), compared with 9 000 gun homicides.

Road traffic 'accidents' kill 1.24 million people across the globe, so why are we so inured to that fact and so outraged with gun crime?

Even amongst the nations of the world America is not remarkable in terms of gun homicide - Brazil has 35 000 gun homicides a year and many countries have a higher proportion to gun homicides compared with their population.

So why do we spend so much time debating gun violence in the USA while having no interest at all with the problems of other countries?

 

 

 

The obvious difference is that cars, while in many ways fairly unpleasant, serve a purpose and have utility. It would be difficult to have a complex modern society without cars. A society where the public don't have firearms, however, is extremely easy to imagine and a solid majority of developed countries prove that, day in day out. 

[Kingman]

Banning guns to control violence is like banning forks to control obesity.

[limpid]

Banning guns to control violence is like banning forks to control obesity.

No-one is saying that banning guns would stop violence. It might reduce killings caused by guns.

[ender4]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-34507760

Texas university students in dildo protest over gun law

Texas students are planning to hang sex toys from their bags in protest at a law allowing people to carry concealed weapons on university campuses.

"You're carrying a gun to class? Yeah well I'm carrying a HUGE DILDO," Jessica Jin, organiser of Campus (DILDO) Carry, wrote on Facebook.

About 3,000 people have signed up for the protest, which is planned for next year when the law takes effect.

Gun rights supporters have criticised the rally on the group's Facebook page.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott enacted the campus carry law in June. Under the law, university presidents are permitted to create so-called "gun-free zones".

"The State of Texas has decided that it is not at all obnoxious to allow deadly concealed weapons in classrooms, however it DOES have strict rules about free sexual expression, to protect your innocence," wrote Ms Jin, a student at the University of Texas at Austin.

"You would receive a citation for taking a DILDO to class before you would get in trouble for taking a gun to class. Heaven forbid the penis," she added.

Some students at the Austin university have appealed to University President Gregory Fenves to impose limits on the new law.

Daniel Hamermesh, an economics professor at the university, said last week he was resigning over concerns about his personal safety.

Supporters of gun rights have argued that mass gunmen target "gun-free zones" such as university campuses and cinemas so they do not meet resistance when they commit their crimes.

Others say encouraging armed civilians to engage an attacker could lead to more chaos and deaths.

A student was armed during a recent college shooting in Roseburg, Oregon, but he did not use his weapon.

He was not in the building where the shootings occurred, and he also said he feared police could have mistaken him for the gunman, putting his life in danger.

Gun rights supporters have flooded the protest's Facebook page, mocking the organisers.

"A grand example of the decline of value in American University education," read one of the responses.

"As a parent I feel more comfortable with my children having a weapon on campus rather than a dildo," read another.

 

 

Edited October 12, 2015 by ender4

[Kingman]

Banning guns to control violence is like banning forks to control obesity.

No-one is saying that banning guns would stop violence. It might reduce killings caused by guns.

Same with forks. 

Ps, I didn't say "Stop" I said control, same as reduce i guess.

Edited October 12, 2015 by Kingman

[HanoiVillan]

Banning guns to control violence is like banning forks to control obesity.

No-one is saying that banning guns would stop violence. It might reduce killings caused by guns.

Same with forks. 

Ps, I didn't say "Stop" I said control, same as reduce i guess.

I must be tremendously thick, because I'm struggling to understand the point you're making. 

[HanoiVillan]

I know this is absurd, but I can't stop trying to understand the connection between forks and guns . . .

[maqroll]

What the fork is wrong with you

[villakram]

People over here are almost numb to it now. It's a pretty scary scenario when one thinks about it

But not as numb as to the bigger numbers who die as the result of road traffic accidents.

36 000 people die on American roads a year (nearly four times the UK rate per population), compared with 9 000 gun homicides.

Road traffic 'accidents' kill 1.24 million people across the globe, so why are we so inured to that fact and so outraged with gun crime?

Even amongst the nations of the world America is not remarkable in terms of gun homicide - Brazil has 35 000 gun homicides a year and many countries have a higher proportion to gun homicides compared with their population.

So why do we spend so much time debating gun violence in the USA while having no interest at all with the problems of other countries?

 

 

It's not just homicides though. Firearms killed 33,636 people in 2013 per the CDC (http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/injury.htm). But don't let such crazy things as facts get in your way. So nicely selective stat you quoted there, where does it come from? You'll notice that stat comes from the CDC, not the FBI or homeland or justice... why, because they are pretty much prohibited from collecting those statistics by law.

Coming back to the total number of deaths... that's 23000 people dying by "accident". Suicide is a huge problem globally in developed countries, there is no chance for a second thought during a moment of weakness when a gun is at hand. Also, who classifies death as homicide vs justified or some other bs classification. The problem in the USA is huge and to deny it requires frankly the most ridiculous mental gymnastics!

Also, while I agree that the road deaths over here are also very bad. To attempt to compare those to gun death is facetious bs. 99% of auto related deaths are accidental. Cars have one purpose, guns another, but yes, let's conflate the issue because something or other.

 

 

Edited October 13, 2015 by villakram