Those Damn Guns Again

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Letting American Kids Die


by David Leonhardt | Feb. 17th 2018
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/17/opinion/sunday/letting-american-kids-die.html

........Guns are a big part of the callousness, but only a part of it. They are one of three main reasons the United States has become “the most dangerous of wealthy nations for a child to be born into,” according to a study in Health Affairs. The other two are vehicle crashes and infant mortality.

child_gun_deaths_US.jpg


The chart above, from that study, shows just how much of an outlier the United States has become. This country suffers almost 21,000 “excess deaths” each year. That’s how many children and teenagers would be spared if the United States had an average mortality rate for a rich country.

Here’s another way to think about those 21,000: Imagine the Sandy Hook firehouse, filled with the devastated families of 20 children. Now add two other Sandy Hook firehouses, each with 20 more families receiving the worst possible news. Now imagine that scene repeating itself every day, year after year after year..........
 
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Marco Rubio and President Trump Stumble Through Gun Control Debates: The Daily Show
 

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POLITICS

02/24/2018

This Is What A Serious Gun Violence Policy Would Look Like

It's not as simple as expanding background checks.


By Jonathan Cohn



A serious debate over gun policy is underway in the aftermath of last week’s massacre in Florida, and one focus is the federal background check system ― a system that has existed for 20 years but which, by almost all accounts, isn’t doing enough to deter would-be killers from buying firearms.

In theory, almost everybody in Washington wants to strengthen the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS, as it’s known. That includes top Republicans, even though they have historically resisted or opposed efforts to control or limit gun access. It even includes President Donald Trump, who on Thursday tweeted support for improving background checks and on Friday said the same thing while answering press questions at the White House.

These vows may be meaningless. Recent history is littered with instances of Republicans dropping support for gun legislation as soon as public interest wanes. As for Trump, his own budget proposal, released earlier this month, proposed cutting funds for the background check system. It’s anybody’s guess whether Trump even understands the promise he has been making over the past few days, let alone whether he intends to keep it.

But if the student-led movement for stronger gun policies doesn’t let up, Trump and his allies may not be able to let go of this idea so easily. They might even decide that the political consequences of inaction are too serious to risk, that some kind of legislation on background checks is necessary.


The question, then, would be what kind of legislation.

On Capitol Hill, the current debate over background checks is focused on two very different proposals.

One is an anodyne bill to shore up the existing system by feeding it information in a more timely and consistent fashion.

The other is a more sweeping proposal to expand the reach of background checks so they include all sales, not just those that take place through officially licensed dealers.​

But there’s another, even more ambitious idea out there ― one that Congress isn’t seriously considering now but that, according to many advocates and experts, could have a bigger impact.

It’s a call for requiring would-be gun purchasers to first obtain licenses,

which the government would grant only for people who go through a protracted process [that] . . . could entail any number of steps, but in the most ambitious versions it would include

completing a gun safety course,

paying registration fees,

providing character references, and

applying in person to local law enforcement.​
The goal
is to reduce all kinds of firearm violence, including the everyday acts of homicide and suicide that account for the vast majority of this country’s gun deaths.

It might sound like a crazy idea wildly out of step with current practice. It’s not.

A dozen states plus the District of Columbia already have some kind of licensing program in place. There’s good reason to think these systems are having at least a mild impact in those places, and that they’d do a lot more if they existed nationwide. That’s especially true if licensing were part of a broader strategy that included bans on assault-style weapons, temporary restraining orders against gun ownership for people who pose likely threats, and other restrictions.


The Debate Taking Place Is About Background Checks

The existing background check system falls well short of such a licensing requirement. It is simply a mechanism for making sure prospective gun purchasers don’t have past convictions for serious criminal charges or domestic violence, prior judicial findings that the buyer was mentally unfit, or a handful of other conditions that, by law, would make somebody ineligible to own a gun.

But the system is only as good as the information it gets from states and other government agencies ― a weakness that became apparent after last year’s mass shooting at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. Years earlier, an Air Force court martial had convicted the killer, Devin Patrick Kelley, on a domestic assault charge. The Air Force failed to forward that information to NICS. If it had, Kelley would not have been able to obtain the guns he used in the massacre ― at least, not without violating the law.

A new bill would seek to fix that problem, by holding federal agencies to higher standards for supplying information and providing states with financial incentives to improve their reporting. The version in the Senate has as its chief sponsors John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.). The idea generally enjoys bipartisan support, although Democrats are unlikely to go along with concessions on gun policy (like undermining state concealed carry laws) that House Republicans are demanding.

Whatever the bill’s ultimate legislative fate, Murphy himself has made clear that it is not enough. To really reduce gun violence, he says, Congress has to go a lot further ― at the very least, extending background checks to cover those private transactions, many of which take place at gun shows. (That’s why it’s come to be known as the “gun show loophole.”)

To put it plain terms, somebody with a domestic violence conviction, though legally prohibited from owning a firearm, can today get one by going through a private seller online or in person. Exactly how many sales take place through private channels is the subject of some debate. Research suggests it’s anywhere from 20 to 40 percent of the total, which, very roughly, means that at least 6 million sales a year ― and probably quite a few more ― involve buyers who haven’t passed a background check.

Closing the gun show loophole was a major focus of the legislative effort President Barack Obama led in 2013 following the Sandy Hook massacre in Newtown, Connecticut. That effort failed when a bill from Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) fell six votes short of the 60 it needed to pass that chamber. Murphy has a new bill calling for universal background checks and the idea seems, if anything, more popular than ever. Ninety-seven percent of Americans support it, according to one recent poll. It remains to be seen whether it will get a serious hearing in the Senate, to say nothing of the House.


The Debate Not Taking Place Is About Licensing

Critics of universal background checks note that the system fails to stop many killers, including confessed Florida shooter Nikolas Cruz, who obtained his firearms legally through a licensed dealer near his house. Advocates and experts acknowledge as much. But they say that’s an argument for imposing a licensing system that would subject prospective buyers to a longer, more thorough vetting process ― in a sense, demanding of gun owners something like what the government already demands of automobile owners.

Twelve states plus the District of Columbia have some kind of gun licensing in place, according to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. The details differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, particularly when it comes to the kinds of gun purchases that require licenses, but they mostly include a few common elements: requiring the licensees to take a gun safety course, pay a fee, and wait for some period to get the license. Some states go beyond that. They require prospective buyers to obtain licenses in person, either from police or local officials, or supply fingerprints.

Typically licensing involves a more rigorous background check than the one federal law requires. The most aggressive states, like Massachusetts, require applicants to state their reasons for wanting guns, and give law enforcement officials discretion to deny a license if they believe an applicant poses a threat to public safety, even if nothing in the applicant’s history violates a specific prohibition. Applicants always have the right to appeal such denials and, ultimately, the vast majority of people applying for licenses get them.

Does licensing make a difference? Studies of several states by Daniel Webster, a widely cited professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, concluded that taking away licensing (as Missouri did) increases gun violence, while adding licensing (as Connecticut and Maryland did) reduces it. Webster told HuffPost he thinks “you could have much lower death rates” if licensing existed in every state alongside bans on high-capacity magazines and other firearm regulations. And he is by no means alone. In a survey of experts The New York Times conducted a year ago, licensing requirements were among the options they felt most likely to reduce firearm deaths.

The research on licensing has both its limits and its skeptics. (Conservative writer Robert VerBruggen, for example, has criticized Webster's Connecticut study.) When looking at the U.S., scholars must extrapolate from a relatively small set of states that have modified their laws in the last few years. The data is limited, and funding for more labor-intensive work, like sifting through police records on paper, is usually hard to find.

Still, anecdotal evidence, like interviews with criminals who say guns have become harder to get, supports the conclusion that licensing ultimately reduces violence. And then there’s all the research comparing the U.S. and other countries, showing pretty conclusively, as Vox’s German Lopez has argued, that by restricting access to guns, those countries have reduced gun violence and gun deaths.

Licensing alone wouldn’t produce such results here, especially with something like 300 million guns in circulation already. Even so, there’s good reason to believe that licensing in every state would ultimately save lives. Of course, the process for obtaining guns would also become more arduous. The NRA and its allies might not find that possibility tolerable, but the rest of the country might.



https://news.google.com/news/amp?caurl=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/gun-control-policy_us_5a8f728fe4b03b55731a60af#pt0-78320


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https://theintercept.com/2018/02/25/young-people-guns-marketing-video-games/

Even As a Student Movement Rises, Gun Manufacturers Are Targeting Young People

A movement of young people, led by students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, captured the nation’s attention with gun control activism following a Valentine’s Day shooting at the school. But, even as the students appear in national media and flood the streets, state legislatures, and Capitol Hill, the gun industry is enjoying a growing following of young people of its own.

For years, gun manufacturers and industry-supported associations have focused their energy on transforming young Americans into the next generation of shooters. Using the appeal of a real-word version of the video game-style experience, the industry is pursuing young people to bolster revenue amid slumping sales. While the industry soars under Democratic governance — for fear that imminent regulations will make purchases more difficult — gun sales have been down since President Donald Trump’s election.

Amid this slump, older Americans present lesser opportunities for the industry to grow it’s revenue. Not only are elderly gun enthusiasts dying off, but they tend to buy hunting guns. Younger generations reared on first-person shooter video games, on the other hand, provide the gun industry with a lucrative market for sophisticated guns geared toward shooting range entertainment.

With the aid of advertising that draws on a video game aesthetic, gun companies and their allies, including the National Rifle Association, have increasingly shifted their efforts to target young, first-time gun buyers.

“It has become a recreational shooting market, partly driven by the Xbox generation coming of age.”
One manufacturer, American Outdoor Brands, told investors in recent months that it is working to build out its market among young consumers. Formerly known as Smith & Wesson, American Outdoor is the parent company of gun maker that manufactured the assault rifle, an AR-15, used in the Parkland school shooting.

Speaking to a shareholder meeting in September, James Debney, the CEO of of American Outdoor, expressed excitement about the “change in the demographic” of those buying the company’s gun. “Many more younger people from urban areas versus older people from rural areas, let’s say, are showing a strong interest in the shooting sports,” Debney said.

Debney credits “savvy marketing” for American Outdoor’s success in luring first-time buyers, noting that young consumers have a strong interest in self defense and going to firing ranges that are increasingly opening in urban areas. “Younger people,” Debney said, describing the demographics of new customers, “millennials coming through strongly. And then, also, many more women showing an interest in the shooting sports.”

Debney is only one of many gun executives who have been touting young gun buyers — and the market opportunities they present — to investors.

The chief executive of the gun manufacturer Sturm Ruger, Christopher Killoy, told investors in May that, although sales were down, the industry is better positioned in relation to previous downturns because of the influx of “new shooters, fresher faces, younger faces, more diverse faces.”

At the Bank of America Leveraged Finance Conference in November, the CFO of one of the largest companies involved in gun accessories and ammunition was explicit about the video-game appeal to young gun enthusiasts. “It has become a recreational shooting market, partly driven by the Xbox generation coming of age,” said Stephen Nolan, of Vista Outdoor. “And two trends which bode very well to the market long term: significant influx of younger shooters and significant influx of female shooters into the market.” Younger shooters, he explained, look to buy paper targets of zombies or vampires, and are more interested in buying high volumes of ammunition.

The NRA, which is funded by gun manufacturers, has long maintained youth outreach programs. The group sponsors high school gun clubs around the country, including one with the JROTC program attended by Nikolas Cruz, the Parkland shooter. The group sponsors a number of programs for high school-level shooters, including the NRA’s Youth Education Summit, which has events all around the country for young gun enthusiasts.

The NRA sponsors high school gun clubs around the country, including one with the JROTC program attended by Nikolas Cruz.
The outreach reflects a larger marketing effort by gun companies. Junior Shooter magazine, for instance, sells a range of products geared towards bringing children and teenager shooters into the market. Companies hawk zombie-themed gun apparel and other youth oriented gun accessories on social media. Vista Outdoors sponsors shooting events for Boy Scout troops. In 2012, EA Games partnered with a gun companies such as Magpul, McMillan, and others to sell guns and other items featured in the the game “Medal of Honor: Warfighter” to consumers.

There are indications that the gun industry is making inroads. In a recent Marist poll, a majority of all age groups supported stricter gun rules. But people between 18 and 39 years old, the youngest grouping surveyed, favored stricter gun rules by a smaller percentage — 64 percent, versus a national average of 71 percent — than the other age groups.

The young voters were also less likely than others to make electoral decisions based on politicians’ positions on guns. Asked by Marist whether they were likely to vote for or against a politician who supported banning semi-automatic assault guns, a majority of voters said they were more likely to support the politician. The younger segment of those polled, at 53 percent, were the only age grouping where a majority said they were unlikely to support the politician.

Top photo: Andrew Farris and his son Eli look over guns fitted with Crimson-Trace sights at the 146th NRA Annual Meetings & Exhibits on April 29, 2017, in Atlanta.
 

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There are Trump supporters somewhere right now saying, "See, I told you Obama wanted to take our guns".
 

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Whelp....the idiot GA Repugs just ran off Amazon.....

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Georgia Passes Bill That Stings Delta Over N.R.A. Position


By RICHARD FAUSSET
MARCH 1, 2018

ATLANTA — Georgia lawmakers approved a bill on Thursday that stripped out a tax break proposal highly coveted by Delta Air Lines — the most stinging punishment that America’s pro-gun forces have leveled so far on one of the many corporations recalibrating their positions on firearms after the Florida high school massacre.

The $50 million sales tax exemption on jet fuel that was sought by Delta, one of Georgia’s biggest employers, had been included in a broader tax-relief bill. But this week, a number of Georgia Republicans, including Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, sought to remove the perk as retribution for Delta’s decision to end a promotional discount for members of the National Rifle Association.

Delta, in announcing the policy change, said it was trying to remain “neutral” in a national gun debate that has been rekindled by a gunman’s attack at a school in Parkland, Fla., that left 17 people dead. A number of other major American companies, including the car rental company Hertz and MetLife insurance, have also ended relationships with the N.R.A. since the shooting on Feb. 14.

On Thursday, the Georgia Senate overwhelmingly approved a version of the bill without the jet-fuel tax break. The House, which had already approved a version of the bill, also approved the change. Both houses are controlled by Republicans.

The legislation now goes to the desk of the Republican governor, Nathan Deal, who has pledged to sign it into law. But Mr. Deal is a supporter of the jet-fuel tax break, and he said he would sign the bill only because it also included a significant reduction in personal and corporate tax rates.

In a sign of the gulf that has opened between gun-rights purists and Republicans with a more pro-business bent, Mr. Deal this week appeared to chastise fellow Republicans who sought to punish Delta, and thus potentially harm Georgia’s business-friendly reputation.

“Ours is a welcoming state — the epitome of ‘Southern Hospitality,’” said Mr. Deal, who will leave office because of term limits early next year. “We were not elected to give the late-night talk show hosts fodder for their monologues or to act with the type of immaturity that has caused so many in our society to have a cynical view of politics.”

The divisions over gun control are stark in Georgia, where Mr. Cagle is among a handful of Republicans who are seeking to be the next governor. They are particularly eager to make an impression among the hard-right conservatives who will have a big voice in the Republican primary in May.

Mr. Cagle, the presumptive front-runner in the governor’s race, presides over the State Senate, and his threat on Monday to kill the tax break was interpreted here as a way to protect his right flank from his Republican rivals.

“I think that obviously Delta is free to make any decision that they want to,” Mr. Cagle said during an appearance on “Fox and Friends” this week. He added that Delta “chose to single out the N.R.A. and their membership, law-abiding gun owners, and I don’t think that’s right.” Delta announced on Saturday that it was ending a discount for N.R.A. members traveling to the association’s annual convention.

Other Republican candidates for governor were also eager to weigh in in favor of rescinding the tax break. Secretary of State Brian Kemp said lawmakers should reject the perk to airlines and instead focus on creating a sales tax holiday for buyers of guns, ammunition, holsters and safes where guns can be stored.

On the floor of the Senate on Thursday, Senator Michael Williams, another Republican candidate for governor, praised his fellow lawmakers for stripping the tax exemption, saying they “stood strong” in the face of pressure from liberals, the media and big business.

Mr. Deal has said he was “committed to finding a pathway forward for the elimination of sales tax on jet fuel, which is nonnegotiable.” But the political reality seems to leave him with few options.

Democrats have argued that the attack on Delta could harm the ability to attract new businesses, chief among them Amazon. The online retailer named metropolitan Atlanta as one possible location for its new headquarters.

“Unfortunately, we’re looking at political gamesmanship, and trying to send ultraconservative messages for the Republican primary,” said Senator Steve Henson, the minority leader. “I think it does not enhance our chances to get Amazon.”
 

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Here is how you protect schools, not arming teachers. How many shootings take place where are metal detectors? You have a security booth away from the school, if something happens you press a button that block access to the school.

You have children that will become dangerous criminals commit violent crimes but may not exhibit these traits.
 

QueEx

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Hundreds of thousands expected to participate in March for Our Lives

"Let us pray with our legs, let us march in unison to the rhythm of justice, because I say enough is enough," said one Parkland shooting survivor.


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David Hogg, a senior from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, speaks during a rally with Thurgood Marshall Academy students in advance of Saturday's March for Our Lives event, in Washington on March 22, 2018.Eric Thayer / Reuters

NBC News
by Phil McCausland
Mar.23.2018


Hundreds of thousands of kids across the country are expected to participate in rallies Saturday as part of the March for Our Lives movement that was born out of the Valentine’s Day school shooting in Parkland, Florida, that killed 17 students and staff members.

The main event will occur in Washington, where student survivors from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School will lead a march down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House.





Justin Timberlake

✔@jtimberlake



I’m so inspired by the #MarchForOurLives students out there owning their voices. We need to demand action. Get out there and join the march this Saturday — more info here: https://marchforourlives.com/

11:49 AM - Mar 19, 2018

 

QueEx

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Former president and first lady encourage survivors of the Parkland school shooting

By Erica Y King
March 21, 2018



As the country continues to look for answers and young people prepare to demand a response on gun legislation, former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama wrote to the Parkland, Fla. students whose activism has galvanized a nation.

You’ve helped awaken the conscience of the nation,” the couple wrote earlier this month in a letter of encouragement to the survivors of the deadly mass shooting on Feb. 14 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School which left 17 dead and 14 injured.

“We wanted to let you know how inspired we have been by the resilience, resolve and solidarity that you have all shown in the wake of unspeakable tragedy,” they wrote in the letter.


News of the Obama's letter, first reported by Mic, comes on the eve of a national march to mark the deaths of those killed in the shooting at the Parkland, Fla. high school. Survivors and their supporters are gearing up for the March for Our Lives slated for Saturday and will march in Washington D.C. and all across the nation.


https://www.google.com/amp/abcnews.go.com/amp/Politics/obamas-encourage-parkland-shooting-survivors-letter/story?id=53920505

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QueEx

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March for Our Lives rallies assemble nationwide

Student-led March for Our Lives rallies are scheduled in Washington and cities across the United States on Saturday. About 500,000 people are expected to gather in the capital alone, and some 700 additional protests for stricter gun laws are listed on the march website. Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where the mass shooting on Valentine's Day left 17 people dead, are among the 20 speakers scheduled for the primary event in Washington. All the speakers are 18 or younger, and they will be accompanied by performances from celebrities including Ariana Grande, Common, and Miley Cyrus.

Source: USA Today, The Washington Post


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QueEx

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March For Our Lives: Six key takeaways from the US gun control rallies
  • 9 minutes ago
Related Topics
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Media caption'Our message to the world is...'
It was the biggest gun control protest in a generation. Hundreds of rallies were staged across the US and beyond as marchers filled the streets calling for the implementation of tighter measures following the deadly mass shooting at a Florida school in February.

That incident not only ignited the #NeverAgain movement, but also Saturday's mass demonstrations, which took place under the banner of March For Our Lives and were led by a rally in Washington DC attended by some 200,000 demonstrators, according to CBS News.

With events not just in the US but as far afield as London, Paris, Mauritius, Tokyo, Stockholm, Sydney, Geneva and Berlin, the day was made up of powerful messages delivered by articulate students and children, most of whom have already in some way experienced gun violence.

Here are six key moments from some of the biggest US rallies since the Vietnam War era.

1. Survivor shows the power of silence
One of the most emotionally charged moments came when Emma Gonzalez, one of the student survivors of the mass shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, took to the podium in Washington DC.

Ms Gonzalez, who has been at the forefront of the recent student-led protests, delivered a powerful speech in which she listed the 17 people killed at her school before she fell silent for several minutes.

When an alarm beeped, she switched it off and noted that six minutes and 20 seconds had passed since she first took the stage, saying they represented the exact time it took the gunman to kill her classmates.

The crowd erupted into chants of "Emma, Emma" as she left the stage.

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Media captionEmma Gonzalez demonstrated the power of silence during her speech
2. MLK's granddaughter also has a dream
The nine-year-old granddaughter of civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr, Yolanda Renee King, touched the large crowds as she shared her "dream" in a surprise appearance.

"I have a dream that enough is enough," she said, referencing her grandfather's famous I Have a Dream speech on ending racism, which was delivered in 1963 close to where she now stood.

"That this should be a gun-free world - period," she added.

She then told those gathered to "spread the word all across the nation" as they roared in support.

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Media captionYolanda Renee King: "I have a dream that enough is enough"
3. Girl, 11, inspires America
She may only be 11, but Naomi Wadler's strong voice at the March For Our Lives rally in Washington DC is still reverberating across the US.

The fifth grader from Alexandria, Virginia, said she represented African-American girls ignored by the media and suffering from gun violence.

"I am here today to acknowledge and represent the African-American girls whose stories don't make the front page of every national newspaper or lead on the evening news," she said.

She added that she represented those who are "simply statistics" instead of "vibrant, beautiful girls who are full of potential".

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Media caption"I represent African-American women who are simply statistics"
4. Sandy Hook survivors say 'thank you'
They were children when a gunman opened fire at their primary school in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, in 2012.

But on Saturday, the survivors of the school massacre that claimed the lives of 27 people, arrived on the streets of Washington DC as teenagers to join the Parkland survivors.

"America, I am pleading with you to realise this is not OK," said Matthew Soto, whose sister was killed in the shooting at Sandy Hook. "Show those that say our lives are not more important than a gun that we are important," he added.

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Media captionSandy Hook survivors march with Parkland survivors
Speaking before the march, Sandy Hook survivor Dalton Milgram said: "It's happening so often."

His sister, Lauran, added that such incidents should never happen, saying they were "just too consistent" and "needed to stop".

Their parents, Erin and Eric Milgram, said: "To the Parkland kids, thank you for not letting anyone silence you."

5. Celebrities lend their support
For those in need of help, for those in need of somebody, Beatles legend Sir Paul McCartney was on hand at the march in New York, Manhattan, to make a stand for what he said was a personal stake in the gun control debate.

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Image copyrightREUTERS
Image captionSir Paul McCartney joined the rally in New York City
"One of my best friends was shot not far from here," he said, referring to John Lennon, who was gunned down near the park in 1980.

Kim Kardashian West and her husband, rapper Kanye West, flew into Washington DC to join the main demonstration.

Lin-Manuel Miranda, Miley Cyrus, Ariana Grande, Jennifer Hudson, and Demi Lovato were among a number of entertainers to perform at the DC rally.

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Image copyrightEPA
Image captionMiley Cyrus sings The Climb at the rally in Washington DC
Jennifer Hudson, whose mother, brother and seven-year-old nephew were all shot dead in 2008, performed a cover version of the Bob Dylan song The Times They Are a-Changin'.

Skip Twitter post by @tribelaw
 

QueEx

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US & Canada

America's Gun Culture in 10 Charts

Students across the United States will join a national march to call for tighter gun control and to highlight the issue of school safety.


BBC
March 21, 2018


The March for Our Lives was organised by pupils at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, where a former student is accused of killing 17 people last month.

The shooting, one of the worst in US history, renewed debate about gun laws and the rights of gun owners.



What do young people think about gun control?

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When looking at the period before the Parkland shooting, it is interesting to track how young people have felt about gun control.

Support for gun control over the protection of gun rights in America is highest among 18 to 29-year-olds, according to a study by the Pew Research Centre, with a spike after the Orlando nightclub shooting in 2016. The overall trend though suggests a slight decrease in support for gun control over gun rights since 2000.

Pew found that one third of over-50s said they owned a gun. The rate of gun ownership was lower for younger adults - about 28%. White men are especially likely to own a gun.


How does the US compare with other countries?

About 40% of Americans say they own a gun or live in a household with one, according to a 2017 survey, and the rate of murder or manslaughter by firearm is the highest in the developed world. There were more than 11,000 deaths as a result of murder or manslaughter involving a firearm in 2016.

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Homicides are taken here to include murder and manslaughter. The FBI separates statistics for what it calls justifiable homicide, which includes the killing of a criminal by a police officer or private citizen in certain circumstances, which are not included.


Who owns the world's guns?

While it is difficult to know exactly how many guns civilians own around the world, by every estimate the US with around 270 million is far out in front.

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Switzerland and Finland are the European countries with the most guns per person - they both have compulsory military service for all men over the age of 18. Cyprus, Austria and Yemen also have military service.


How do US gun deaths break down?

There have been more than 90 mass shootings in the US since 1982, according to investigative magazine Mother Jones.

Up until 2012, a mass shooting was defined as when an attacker had killed four or more victims in an indiscriminate rampage - and since 2013 the figures include attacks with three or more victims. The shootings do not include killings related to other crimes such as armed robbery or gang violence.

The overall number of people killed in mass shootings each year represents only a tiny percentage of the total number.

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There were nearly twice as many suicides involving firearms in 2015 as there were murders involving guns, and the rate has been increasing in recent years. Suicide by firearm accounts for almost half of all suicides in the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A 2016 study published in the American Journal of Public Health found there was a strong relationship between higher levels of gun ownership in a state and higher firearm suicide rates for both men and women.


Attacks in US become deadlier

The Las Vegas attack was the worst in recent US history - and five of the shootings with the highest number of casualties happened within the past 10 years.

The Parkland, Florida, attack is the worst school shooting since Sandy Hook in 2012.

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What types of guns kill Americans?

Military-style assault-style weapons have been blamed for some of the major mass shootings such as the attack in an Orlando nightclub and at the Sandy Hook School in Connecticut.

Dozens of rifles were recovered from the scene of the Las Vegas shooting, Police reported.

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A few US states have banned assault-style weapons, which were totally restricted for a decade until 2004.

However most murders caused by guns involve handguns, according to FBI data.


How much do guns cost to buy?

For those from countries where guns are not widely owned, it can be a surprise to discover that they are relatively cheap to purchase in the US.

Among the arsenal of weapons recovered from the hotel room of Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock were handguns, which can cost from as little $200 (£151) - comparable to a Chromebook laptop.

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Assault-style rifles, also recovered from Paddock's room, can cost from around $1,500 (£1,132).

In addition to the 23 weapons at the hotel, a further 19 were recovered from Paddock's home. It is estimated that he may have spent more than $70,000 (£52,800) on firearms and accessories such as tripods, scopes, ammunition and cartridges.


Who supports gun control?

US public opinion on the banning of handguns has changed dramatically over the last 60 years. Support has shifted over time and now a significant majority opposes a ban on handguns, according to polling by Gallup.

But a majority of Americans say they are dissatisfied with US gun laws and policies, and most of those who are unhappy want stricter legislation.

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Some controls are widely supported by people across the political divide - such as restricting the sale of guns to people who are mentally ill, or on "watch" lists.

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But Republicans and Democrats are much more divided over other policy proposals, such as whether to allow ordinary citizens increased rights to carry concealed weapons - according to a survey from Pew Research Center.

In his latest comment on the shootings, President Donald Trump said he would be "talking about gun laws as times goes by". The White House said now is not the time to be debating gun control.

His predecessor, Barack Obama, struggled to get any new gun control laws onto the statute books, because of Republican opposition.


Who opposes gun control?

The National Rifle Association (NRA) campaigns against all forms of gun control in the US and argues that more guns make the country safer.

It is among the most powerful special interest lobby groups in the US, with a substantial budget to influence members of Congress on gun policy.

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In total about one in five US gun owners say they are members of the NRA - and it has especially widespread support from Republican-leaning gun owners, according to Pew Research.

In terms of lobbying, the NRA officially spends about $3m per year to influence gun policy.

The chart shows only the recorded contributions to lawmakers published by the Senate Office of Public Records.

The NRA spends millions more elsewhere, such as on supporting the election campaigns of political candidates who oppose gun controls.


SOURCE: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41488081

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QueEx

Rising Star
Super Moderator
FactCheck.org®
ARTICLESFEATURED POSTS

The Gun Debate
Facts on background checks, concealed-carry laws, U.S. gun homicide rate, stolen guns

By Eugene Kiely,
D'Angelo Gore,
Lori Robertson
and Robert Farley

Posted on March 5, 2018 | Updated on March 6, 2018



President Donald Trump and some members of Congress metFeb. 28 at the White House for a freewheeling discussion on how to reduce gun violence at schools. The meeting came two weeks after the mass shooting in Florida in which 17 people were killed, including 14 high school students.

Here we look at the facts regarding some of the issues that were raised during that meeting:


Do universal background checks reduce firearm deaths?

Sen. Christopher Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, urged Trump to support federal legislation that would expand background checks of prospective gun buyers.

Currently, federal law requires background checks on those who buy guns from federally licensed firearm dealers. Murphy and the Democrats want to expand background checks to cover private sales by unlicensed individuals, including some of the sales that take place at gun shows and over the internet.

Murphy cited states that require universal background checks as evidence that such a federal law would reduce gun deaths.

Murphy: In states that have universal background checks, there are 35 percent less gun murders than in states that don’t have them.

That’s true, but it doesn’t mean that universal background check laws have caused lower mortality rates. A causal relationship between such state laws and firearm deaths hasn’t been established by researchers.

In fact, Murphy is citing an average firearm mortality rate for states with universal background checks. But the states’ individual rates vary. Some of them have higher firearm mortality rates than states that don’t have universal background checks.

There are eight states and the District of Columbia that have laws in effect that require “universal background checks at the point of sale for all sales and transfers of all classes of firearms, whether they are purchased from a licensed dealer or an unlicensed seller,” according to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. The average firearm mortality rate in those nine jurisdictions was 9 per 100,000 residents in 2016, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s 35 percent less than the states that don’t require universal background checks, as Murphy said.

Below are the rates for the eight states and the District of Columbia that required universal background checks in 2016.

Firearm-mortality-rates1.png


Colorado, the District of Columbia and Oregon had rates higher than the national average, which was 11.8 deaths per 100,000 in 2016, according to the CDC.

They also had higher rates than Maine (8.3 deaths per 100,000), New Hampshire (9.3), and Vermont (11.1) — three states that have no state laws on background checks and received an “F” grade for the strength of their overall gun laws from the Giffords Law Center.

David Hemenway, director of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center and the Harvard Youth Violence Prevention Center, told us there haven’t been enough studies to say for sure that universal background checks reduce firearm deaths. But the studies that have been done suggest an association between such universal background checks and reduced firearm deaths, he said.

He referred us to a 2017 paper he coauthored that reviewed the available peer-reviewed research on gun control laws from 1970 to 2016. “We found evidence that stronger firearm laws are associated with reductions in firearm homicide rates,” the paper said. “The strongest evidence is for laws that strengthen background checks and that require a permit to purchase a firearm.”

The RAND Corp. on March 2 released several reports as part of its Gun Policy in America initiative, which looked at several thousand studies and identified 62 that met its criteria — “studies that offered some evidence, some estimate of the causal effect of [gun] policy” on several outcomes, Andrew Morral, a RAND senior behavioral scientist who led the project, told FactCheck.org.

The review of the scientific literature found “moderate” evidence (two studies in agreement) that background checks by licensed dealers may decrease firearm homicide rates, but whether private-seller background checks affect those rates was “uncertain.”


Do concealed-carry laws decrease violent crime?

Whether state concealed-carry laws — the right to carry a concealed firearm in public — cause an increase or decrease in gun violence remains unsettled.

At the bipartisan meeting, Republican Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana spoke about a House-passed measure that would allow people who have the right to carry a concealed handgun in one state to be able to carry a gun in other states that have concealed-carry laws. (All states have some form of concealed-carry permissions, though they vary in the requirements or restrictions.) “Look at the data,” Scalise said. “I know a lot of people want to dismiss concealed-carry permits. They do actually increase safety.”

Scalise’s office pointed us to statistics on the growth in concealed-carry permits, and the decades-long downturn in the national violent crime rate since it peaked in the early 1990s. But that doesn’t show any cause-and-effect. When we looked into this issue in 2012, we found there was academic disagreement on what impact concealed-carry laws had. Six years later, that’s still the case. And the body of research is largely inconclusive.

The RAND Corp. project also looked at studies on causal effects of concealed-carry laws. There was inconclusive evidence that such laws had an effect, in either direction, on mass shootings or suicides, and only “limited” evidence that such laws may increase unintentional injuries or violent crime overall. The “limited” evidence is just that — defined by RAND as one study meeting its criteria and not contradicted by studies “with equivalent or stronger methods.” In fact, RAND found inconclusive evidence on the impact on specific violent crimes: “Shall-issue concealed-carry laws have uncertain effects on total homicides, firearm homicides, robberies, assaults, and rapes,” it said, largely because studies found uncertain or inconsistent results.

“It’s hard to do research in this area,” Morral told us, citing three reasons that it’s difficult to prove causation of gun laws – “no funding, weak data and you can’t do experiments.”

We’ve explained before that while crime or homicides may go down after certain policies are implemented, it’s difficult to show that the policy caused the decline. Researchers can’t do real-life experiments with firearms. But setting that aside, Morral said, “The U.S. government does not invest heavily in collecting the kind of data you might want.”

And funding for gun research lags that for other causes of mortality. Morral referred to a recent paper published in the Journal of the American Medical Association that found: “Between 2004 and 2015, gun violence research was substantially underfunded and understudied relative to other leading causes of death, based on mortality rates for each cause.”

The RAND project concluded: “With a few exceptions, there is a surprisingly limited base of rigorous scientific evidence concerning the effects of many commonly discussed gun policies.”


How does the U.S. gun homicide rate compare with other developed countries?

At the meeting, Murphy also said: “America has a gun violence rate that is 20 times that of every other industrialized country in the world.” His wording was imprecise.

A spokesman for the senator said he was referring to a study on violent death rates published in the American Journal of Medicine in March 2016. It found the “U.S. gun homicide rate” in 2010 was 25 times higher than the rate for more than 20 other “populous, high-income countries” combined, not individually.

The authors of that paper, Erin Grinshteyn and David Hemenway, used mortality data from the World Health Organization to compare the U.S. with 22 other high-income countries, with at least 1 million inhabitants, that also belonged to the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development in 2010. That was the most recent year with “complete data for the greatest number of countries,” the paper says.

They concluded: “In 2010, the US homicide rate was 7.0 times higher than the other high-income countries, driven by a gun homicide rate that was 25.2 times higher.”

That comparison was based on the aggregated gun homicide rate for only the non-U.S. nations examined, not “every other industrialized country,” Grinshteyn told us in an email. And it doesn’t mean the U.S. rate was 25 times higher than the rate for each of the studied countries, as Murphy’s statement may have suggested to some.

For example, the U.S. gun homicide rate of 3.6 deaths per 100,000 population in 2010 was about seven times higher than the rates in Canada and Portugal, about nine times higher than the rate in Ireland, and about 12 times higher than the rates in Belgium and Italy.

On the other hand, Grinshteyn said, the data show America’s rate was 82 times higher than the rate in the United Kingdom, 88.3 times higher than the rate in Norway, 513.8 times higher than the rate in Japan, and 594.7 times higher than in South Korea, which had the lowest gun homicide rate of all the countries included.

The combined gun homicide rate for all 22 nations was 0.1434 deaths per 100,000 population, Grinshteyn said, and the U.S. rate was 25 times higher.

That said, Murphy still has a point about the large gap between the U.S. and other similarly developed nations.

“The United States has an enormous firearm problem compared with other high-income countries,” Grinshteyn and Hemenway wrote in their analysis. “In the United States, the firearm homicide rate is 25 times higher, the firearm suicide rate is 8 times higher, and the unintentional gun death rate is more than 6 times higher. Of all firearm deaths in all firearm deaths in all these countries, more than 80% occur in the United States.”




Are most firearm homicides committed with stolen guns?

During the White House meeting, Republican Rep. John Rutherford of Florida said “stolen guns kill more people than guns that are bought legally.” There is no research to prove that.

Rutherford’s office pointed us to a Washington Post story about a study on guns recovered by Pittsburgh police. But an author of that study says Rutherford got it wrong.

“There is no data in our study that would support that statement,” the study’s lead author, Anthony Fabio of the University of Pittsburgh, told us in a phone interview.

The 2016 study — “Gaps continue in firearm surveillance: Evidence from a large U.S. City Bureau of Police” — found that in 2008 most perpetrators, 79 percent, were carrying guns that did not belong to them. But that doesn’t mean they were all stolen or even illegally obtained, and it doesn’t mean that they were used to kill people.

The researchers concluded about 33 percent of the guns were reported stolen when police contacted the gun owners (more than 40 percent of those stolen guns had not been reported stolen prior to that). Another 22 percent were not stolen. In a large proportion of cases — 44 percent — it was unknown or could not be determined if the gun was stolen.

The study was not limited to guns used to commit homicides. The authors did not know what crimes the recovered guns were used for. In other words, the study does not back up Rutherford’s statement about the prevalence of stolen guns being used in murders.

It is certainly true that a large percentage of guns that are used to kill someone were acquired illegally, said Philip Cook, a public policy professor at Duke University. If nothing else, he said, research he did in 2005 shows that more than 40 percent of those convicted of homicide had at least one prior felony conviction that would prohibit them from owning a gun.

“But most such illegal transactions do not involve stolen guns, as far as we know,” Cook told us.

Cook, who is currently doing research on gun theft, told us via email that he was unaware of any evidence that would support Rutherford’s statement that “stolen guns kill more people than guns that are bought legally.”

A 1986 study of nearly 2,000 convicted felons in 10 state prisons by researchers James Wright and Peter Rossi found that nearly a third of those reported they had directly stolen their most recent handguns. About 44 percent of their guns were obtained from friends or family, and 26 percent from “gray or black market sources,” the report states. Wright said the study concluded that “70 percent of the most recent handguns possessed by this sample were definitely or probably stolen.” But the study’s authors could not confirm that this percentage definitely represented stolen guns.

“So the more general point, that improper storage of guns by legal users puts an awful lot of firearms into criminal hands, is no doubt correct,” Wright told us via email.

Federal data back that up.

The Trace reported that 237,000 guns were reported stolen in the U.S. in 2016, up 68 percent from 2005, according to the FBI’s National Crime Information Center. Those records show nearly 2 million weapons were reported stolen over the last decade. One caveat: In 2005, fewer states had laws requiring gun owners to report missing firearms, and The Trace noted that “[w]hen asked if the increase could be partially attributed to a growing number of law enforcement agencies reporting stolen guns, an NCIC spokesperson said only that ‘participation varies.'”

The actual number of stolen firearms is likely much higher, the report states, since many gun thefts go unreported.

Federal law requires licensed dealers to report stolen or lost guns, but not individual gun owners. Only 11 states and the District of Columbia require gun owners to report stolen firearms, according to the Giffords Law Center.



So Rutherford has hit upon a growing problem in the U.S. with stolen guns, even though there is no hard evidence that more stolen guns are used in homicides than guns that are purchased legally.

Fabio, the lead author of the study on recovered guns in Pittsburgh, said one of the biggest takeaways from his study is that there is a dearth of good data and research about firearms. That echoes the findings of the RAND project on gun violence.

Since the late 1990s, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been wary of studying gun issues after NRA lobbyists convinced Congress to cut into its funding after a series of studies in the mid-1990s were viewed by the NRA as advocating gun control. Referred to as the Dickey amendment, a warning has accompanied appropriations bills, saying that “none of the funds made available for injury prevention and control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may be used to advocate or promote gun control.”

As a result, Fabio said, “There’s not a lot of money for research with the word ‘firearm’ in it.”



Did the law banning certain types of semiautomatic weapons from 1994 to 2004 reduce gun violence and deaths?

At the meeting, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat from California, gave Trump a letter and said: “This is when the 10-year assault weapon ban was in — how incidents and deaths dropped. When it ended, you see it going up.”

Feinstein’s office told us she was referring to a Washington Post article about “Rampage Nation,” a 2016 book by Louis Klarevas. The author collected data on mass shootings — those involving six or more firearm deaths — for a 50-year period in an effort to assess the impact of the 1994 ban — which prohibited the sale of an estimated 118 models of semiautomatic weapons from 1994 to 2004.

Klarevas identified 12 mass shootings that resulted in 89 deaths when the ban was in effect, down from 19 incidents and 155 deaths in the previous 10-year period, from 1984 to 1994, the Post article says.

Federally funded research, however, did not credit the 1994 ban with reducing gun violence.

As we have written before, the Department of Justice funded a series of three studies on the effectiveness of the law that concluded with a 2004 study led by Christopher S. Koper, “An Updated Assessment of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban: Impacts on Gun Markets and Gun Violence, 1994-2003.”

That final report said the ban was successful in reducing crimes committed with assault weapons, or AWs. However, that decline was likely offset “by steady or rising use of non-banned semiautomatics with [large-capacity magazines], which are used in crime much more frequently than AWs,” the report said.

“Therefore, we cannot clearly credit the ban with any of the nation’s recent drop in gun violence,” the report concluded.

What happened after the federal ban expired?

As Feinstein referenced, Klarevas reported an increase in mass murders. In the 10-year period after the ban expired, the number of mass shootings increased by 183 percent (from 12 to 34) and the number of deaths increased by 239 percent (from 89 to 302), according to Klarevas.

In a paper published last year in the Journal of Urban Health, Koper and his colleagues said the “limited” data available on the type of guns used in mass shootings “suggests” an increase in the use of “assault weapons and other high-capacity semiautomatics.”

The researchers said that “detailed weapon information could not be found in public sources for many” of the mass murders, which they defined as four or more firearm deaths, not including the shooter, in a single incident.

Koper et al, Oct. 2, 2017: Estimates for firearm mass murders are very imprecise due to lack of data on the guns and magazines used in these cases, but available information suggests that AWs and other high-capacity semiautomatics are involved in as many as 57% of such incidents.

That study also found an increased use of high-capacity semiautomatics in crime in general.

Using local crime data from three cities and FBI data on law enforcement murders nationwide, Koper and his colleagues found that such high-powered guns “have grown from 33[%] to 112% as a share of crime guns since the expiration of the federal ban — a trend that has coincided with recent growth in shootings nationwide.”

At the high end, the percentage of semiautomatics used in crimes in Richmond, Virginia, increased from 10.4 percent in 2003 and 2004 to 22 percent in 2008 and 2009, an increase of 111.5 percent, the report said. The 33 percent figure represents the increase in the number of law enforcement officers killed by high-capacity semiautomatics, up from 30.4 percent in 2003 through 2007 to 40.6 percent in 2009 through 2013.

Would restoring the ban, as proposed by Feinstein, reduce mass shootings and gun violence in general? That’s unclear.

David Hemenway, the director of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center, told us last year that an assault weapons ban may reduce mass shootings, but it would be unlikely to reduce gun deaths overall.

For a 2017 paper published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Hemenway and his colleagues reviewed the available research on the association between firearm laws and preventing firearm homicides. Specifically, they reviewed four studies — including the 2004 federally funded study led by Koper — regarding bans on military-style weapons.

That paper said the reduction in firearm homicide rates identified by Koper et al during the federal gun ban period “was not statistically significant.” The three other studies “examined laws banning assault weapons in the context of other firearm-related laws; none found a decrease in firearm homicides,” the paper said.

“Specific laws directed at … the banning of military-style assault weapons were not associated with changes in firearm homicide rates,” the researchers concluded.

After the paper was published, Hemenway told us last year, “I doubt that banning AR-15 type weapons has much effect on overall gun deaths since these type of guns are not often used in suicides, homicide or for accidents. Reducing the accessibility of AR-15 type weapons might reduce mass shooting incidents and fatalities.”

The RAND project looked at studies on state assault-weapons bans and found“inconclusive” evidence that they affected mass shootings or homicides overall.

Update, March 6: We obtained updated data from the FBI’s National Crime Information Center, showing that there were 246,968 guns reported stolen in 2017. We have added a new graphic to reflect that. We also updated the title on the firearm mortality rate chart to clarify that the figures are for 2016.


https://www.factcheck.org/2018/03/the-gun-debate/


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QueEx

Rising Star
Super Moderator
How America normalized the murder of schoolchildren


AP_18138531402166.jpg

Illustrated | KTRK-TV ABC13 via AP

For some time now it has been obvious that our language is not up to the task of describing current events. Perhaps the most obvious and dispiriting example is the more or less ubiquitous use of the phrase "mass shooting" to refer to massacres such as those that have taken place recently in Nevada, Florida, and now Texas, where at least 10 people were killed on Friday morning at a high school near Houston.

When a euphemism suddenly appears and finds itself universally adopted, it is always worth asking what it is meant to conceal.

The earliest use of the phrase "mass shooting" I can find appears in a volume of the Congressional Serial Set from 1920. It is part of a translation of a Bolshevik radio broadcast:

Such a situation should decidedly be stopped. End should be put to weakness and softness. All rightist-socialist-revolutionaries known to local Soviets should be arrested immediately. Numerous hostages should be taken from the bourgeois and officer classes. At the slightest attempt to resist or the slightest movement among the White Guards, mass shooting should be applied at once. [Congressional Serial Set]​


Our eyes are so accustomed to skimming documents of this sort that it is easy to forget just how ludicrous they actually sound. Here we have acts of almost unimaginable savagery reduced to a vague "incident," another "situation" that has mysteriously come into being. The words are dehumanizing to an extent that is almost impossible to convey. A person, or perhaps an animal, might be described as "active," but situations and incidents cannot be. Nor in any case is "active," which simply means engaged or ready to engage in some unnamed activity, anything like the right word for describing mindless violence. Goodness knows what is being papered over by "contained."

It is difficult to fault whoever is tasked with preparing this worthless account; he or she did not invent this mystifying double-speak, but if examples of this sort of thing are never discussed or criticized for their disfiguring effect upon our ability to see events clearly, I cannot help but think that the normalization of murder will become inexorable.

We must resist whenever possible this unthinking reliance upon the abstract, the equivocatory, the nonsensical in our descriptions of violence, especially when children are among the victims. If it means discarding many of the norms of contemporary journalism and PR-ese, so be it. We cannot tolerate "situations." A quasi-miltary assault, whether it is staged on a battlefield or a high school, is not an "incident." When a murderer is armed and at large he is not "active"; when he has been shot or detained by the police he has not been "contained," like a liquid.

Many will insist that this kind of linguistic nonsense is justified, even necessitated, by the absence of facts. To which I would respond that if facts are not available, we ought to wait for them to arrive before writing or speaking, at least publicly. In any case, by the time the facts are known we have already conditioned ourselves to respond to them with the indifference of generic awareness. Even after the names and other details are released we are mentally prepared to respond to them in a predetermined manner, the way we would statistics from a football game, with numbers of victims inserted into our write-ups as casually as if we were recording that so and so had this many tackles; correction, this many.

This reflexive obfuscation is not limited to journalists or those responsible for communicating with the public on behalf of schools. It has long been the practice among gun cultists whenever anyone draws attention to the paucity of good reasons for allowing their hobby to remain legal to resort to jargon and hair-splitting. Those of us who have observed that in Newtown, in Aurora, in Orlando, in Sutherland Springs, and now in Santa Fe, the killers have all used more or less the same sort of weapon are uniformly met with the response that there is, my good sir, a difference between the Colt AR-15 and the ArmaLite AR-15, and that when we use the phrase "assault weapons," what we are in fact referring to are any number of weapons that could be classified in a variety of ways depending upon their manufacturer and various after-market modifications. Moreover, they insist, there is nothing mechanically more deadly about them — notice the sudden willingness to grant the existence of a general category — than numerous other firearms that escape criticism

There is no reason to indulge this obtuseness. Proponents of private AR-15 ownership should be able to say why they think theirs is a harmless pastime. Without invoking the letter or the dreaded spirit of the Second Amendment and thus declaring the argument over before it has begun — a rhetorical move as dignified as insisting upon one’s right to hoist the Confederate flag over a statehouse — they should explain what the country would lose if the manufacture and sale of these weapons were banned. "Because I can" is not a serious answer to a question on one side of which lie the bodies of more Americans killed in public school buildings since January alone than have been lost among our soldiers fighting multiple wars abroad during the same period.

If no good reason is forthcoming, these weapons ought to be banned or at the very least banished to specially licensed ranges where overgrown children can play with their deadly toys without harming others. The rest of us have had enough of these "incidents."


http://theweek.com/articles/774000/how-america-normalized-murder-schoolchildren

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QueEx

Rising Star
Super Moderator
Indiana School Shooting: Teacher and Student Wounded; Gunman Detained


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Law enforcement responded to a shooting at Noblesville West Middle School in Indiana on Friday.VIA REUTERS

New York Times
By Mitch Smith
May 25, 2018


A student at an Indiana middle school barged into a class on Friday morning wielding two handguns and firing shots. A teacher and another student were wounded. The boy with the guns, the authorities say, was subdued, then arrested. And on a sunny day that began with the promise of a holiday weekend, yet another American city was left to cope with classroom bloodshed.

“Here we go again, and it’s just really, really, really unfortunate,” said Douglas G. Carter, the superintendent of the Indiana State Police. “I wish I had the answer.”

The shooting on Friday, at Noblesville West Middle School in suburban Indianapolis, came a week after 10 people were fatally shot at a high school in Santa Fe, Tex., an episode that revived a national debateabout gun control and gun rights. It came nine days after a police officer in Illinois shot a gunman who interrupted a high school graduation rehearsal. And it came about three months after 17 people were massacred at a school in Parkland, Fla.

“We’ve had these shootings around the country — you just never think it could happen in Noblesville, Indiana,” Mayor John Ditslear said on Friday afternoon. “But it did. Our people were prepared.”

Many details of the Noblesville shooting remained unclear, but the authorities said a swift response by school employees and police officers likely saved lives. The boy was disarmed, was not injured and was kept near a single classroom, the police said. Neither his name nor his age was released, and no charges had been announced by Friday afternoon.

Chief Kevin Jowitt of the Noblesville police said officers received a call of a shooting at the school just after 9 a.m. A student asked to be excused from class, then returned with the two guns, Chief Jowitt said. A police officer was assigned to the school building and immediately went toward the site of the shooting, the authorities said.

The injured girl, who was not named, remained in critical condition on Friday evening. The police identified the injured teacher as Jason Seaman, 29, a football coach and seventh-grade teacher who was once a defensive lineman on the Southern Illinois University football team, called the Salukis.. He was listed in good condition on Friday night.


FULL STORY: https://www.google.com/amp/s/mobile.nytimes.com/2018/05/25/us/noblesville-indiana-shooting.amp.html

 

MCP

International
International Member
New CDC Report Downplays Role of Guns in Rising U.S. Suicide Rates

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https://theintercept.com/2018/06/08/cdc-suicide-rates-guns/


A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that suicide rates have increased dramatically across the United States. From 1999 to 2016, 49 states saw suicides increase by 5 percent or more, and 25 of those states saw increases of a staggering 30 percent or higher. By 2016, almost 45,000 Americans were taking their own lives every year.


While the CDC report notes that guns are the most common method for these suicides — accounting for about half of all cases — it fails to underscore the extent to which these alarming rates may be attributable to the country’s utter saturation with civilian firearms.


“It’s not just about firearms,” Deborah Stone, the lead author of the study, told NPR. “It’s also about other methods of suicide, such as hanging, suffocation, poisoning, and the like.”

Research consistently points to a strong association between firearm access and suicide deaths.
While it may be true that suicide rates are increasing across the board, research consistently points to a strong association between firearm access and suicide deaths, independent of other factors. In a country that has as many privately owned guns as it does people, this presents a unique public health problem.


“Cut it however you want,” the Harvard School of Public Health’s Deborah Azrael put it in 2013. “In places where exposure to guns is higher, more people die of suicide.”


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The reason for this is relatively simple: Unlike other common methods of suicide, firing a gun is an immediate, irreversible, and reliably lethal act. And because suicide is, more often than not, impulsive — and the time between ideation and action is short — firearm access is uniquely deadly if someone thinks to kill themselves at all. Gun suicide attempts end in death about 85 percent of the time, compared to less than 5 percent for intentional drug overdoses.


Because of this, the presence of guns in over a third of U.S. households greatly enhances the aggregate risk of suicide deaths. Variation in suicide rates within the U.S. supports this conclusion. A 2008 study in the New England Journal of Medicine compared states with the lowest household gun ownership rates (15 percent) to those with the highest (47 percent). While non-firearm suicides were basically equivalent in both groups, firearm suicides were about four times more prevalent in the latter. The more firearm-saturated population experienced about twice as many suicide deaths overall.


To be fair, the CDC does issue a mild recommendation regarding guns in its press release announcing the study: “Reduce access to lethal means – such as medications and firearms – among people at risk of suicide.”


This recommendation, however, is only really useful if suicide is a generally predictable phenomenon. Unfortunately, it’s not. The new CDC study itself found that 54 percent of suicide victims in 2015 had no known mental health conditions. And suicidal ideation can arise from a plethora of quotidian experiences that aren’t commonly documented or recognized as actionable mental health issues: financial distress, relationship crises, substance abuse, and so on. In these situations, individualized interventions and safer storage methods simply cannot substitute for not having a gun nearby in the first place.


Because it relies on Congress for funding, the CDC may have good reason not to emphasize the unique role of firearms in U.S. suicide rates. In 1993, the agency supported a study that found that people with guns at home faced a risk of suicide five times greater than those without. Three years later, Congress passed what’s known as the Dickey Amendment, which effectively prevented the CDC from funding targeted research into gun violence.


Top photo: Handguns are seen on display at the K&W Gunworks store on Jan. 5, 2016 in Delray Beach, Fla.

 

QueEx

Rising Star
Super Moderator
Multiple Deaths Reported in Mass Shooting at Pittsburgh Synagogue; Trump Blames Lack of Guns


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Screenshot: CNN
After law enforcement officials in Pittsburgh responded to a mass shooting at a local synagogue that left several victims dead, Donald Trump told reporters that the deadly hate crime might have been prevented if the victims had more weapons inside their house of worship.

According to CNN, Allegheny County Sheriff’s Deputy Kevin Kraus says that a 46-year-old alleged gunman, now being named as Robert Bowers, surrendered after reportedly killing multiple people near the Tree of Life Synagogue in Squirrel Hill, a historic Jewish section of Pittsburgh. Emergency services responded to the incident at around 10 a.m. Saturday morning.

Authorities say 12 people were shot, including three law enforcement officers and at least 8 people were killed, according to NBC, in an incident that officials are calling a hate crime after a “heavy-set” white male reportedly yelled: “All Jews must die” before opening fire with a military-style assault weapon and two handguns during a religious service at one of the area’s largest places of Jewish worship.



https://www.theroot.com/multiple-deaths-reported-in-mass-shooting-at-pittsburgh-1830046559


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US gun deaths at 40-year record as suicide rate spikes

December 14, 2018
5c1322fcfc7e9310778b462c.JPG

Reuters / George Frey

Gun deaths in the US are at an all-time high, but it’s not because more people are shooting each other, according to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Instead, they’re turning the weapons on themselves.

Firearms killed a record high of 39,773 people in 2017, according to the CDC’s WONDER database, which has only tracked gun deaths since 1979.

While mass shootings get most of the media attention, 60 percent of those deaths by firearm were suicides. Here, too, the numbers are on an upswing, with almost 24,000 people killing themselves with a gun in 2017, the highest figure in 18 years.




https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.rt.com/usa/446425-us-gun-death-record/amp/


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New Zealand Parliament Passes Ban on Semi-Automatic Weapons by 119-1 Vote


bc1d7f3e-513d-47a7-82bd-5ab76da60487.jpeg

Common sense and three weeks is all it takes to effect change in the face of tragedy.
Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images


By Elliot Hannon
April 10, 2019


Less than a month after a deadly mosque shooting by a white nationalist, New Zealand passed a law Wednesday banning the most types of semiautomatic weapons. Parliament voted 119-1 to make permanent what were temporary restrictions imposed in the aftermath of the shooting that killed 50 people in the city of Christchurch. The law covers military-style semiautomatic weapons, like the AR-15, which used in the Christchurch attack as well as in a number of mass shootings in the U.S., including the Parkland school shooting last year.

The rapid legislative change came not just in response to the tragic shooting, but the fact that the weapons used were bought legally and then modified. “I can recall very vividly the moment I knew that we would need to be here, doing what we are doing right now,” New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. “I could not fathom how weapons that could cause such destruction and large-scale death could have been obtained legally in this country.”



The sole parliamentarian to oppose tightening the country’s gun laws was David Seymour of the right wing ACT Party. In an opinion piece, he criticized the speed at which the changes were made, and made a number of arguments that ought to be familiar to Americans who have heard it all before. “By banning all semi-automatic weapons, the Prime Minister made legal owners of such weapons pay a cost for something they had not done,” Seymour wrote. “Right now, there’s no reason to be confident the ban will make it harder for determined bad people to access dangerous weapons.”

The changes to the country’s gun laws garnered widespread support, however, and did take into consideration the views of the country’s many remote rural communities. “Experts studying New Zealand gun laws say such changes had been recommended to Parliament several times but always met with opposition,” the Washington Post reports. “Four inquiries on gun laws have been undertaken by the New Zealand government in recent years, including one after a 1990 mass shooting that killed 13.”

The government has established a buyback program that will run until Sept. 30, giving gun owners a five-plus month amnesty during which they can hand over any weapons covered by the ban.


https://slate.com/news-and-politics...semi-automatic-weapons-ban-by-119-1-vote.html

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List of mass shootings in the United States in 2019
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia





Main article: List of mass shootings in the United States

The definitions of a mass shooting:
Mass Shooting Tracker: 4+ shot in one incident, at one location, at roughly the same time.[4]
Gun Violence Archive: 4+ shot in one incident, excluding the perpetrator(s), at one location, at roughly the same time.[5]
Vox: 4+ shot in one incident, excluding the perpetrator(s), at one location, at roughly the same time.[6][7]
USA Today: 4+ shot and killed in one incident, at one location, at roughly the same time (same as the FBI's "mass killing" definition).[8]
Mother Jones: 3+ shot and killed in one incident, excluding the perpetrator(s), at a public place, excluding gang-related killings.[9]
The Washington Post: 4+ shot and killed in one incident, excluding the perpetrator(s), at a public place, excluding gang-related killings.[10]
Only incidents considered mass shootings by at least two of the above definitions are listed below.


Mass shootings by at least two of the above definitions are listed.

Date Location Dead Injured Total Description
May 7, 2019 Highlands Ranch, Colorado 1 8 9 STEM School Highlands Ranch shooting: Authorities responded to the STEM School Highlands Ranch, at about 1:50pm on a report of shots fired. One student was fatally shot and eight others were injured; two suspects were taken into custody by police.[11][12]
May 5, 2019 North Bergen, New Jersey 1 4 5 Just before 4am, officers discovered one person deceased and four people wounded, after a fight potentially escalated.[13]
May 5, 2019 Oceano, California 0 6 6 Officers responded to a call and discovered six individuals wounded by gunfire; the victims were transported to local hospitals for treatment.[14]
May 4, 2019 Saint Louis, Missouri 1 4 5 Five people were shot inside of a vehicle; the incident resulted in one death and four injuries.[15]
May 4, 2019 Indianapolis, Indiana 0 4 4 Three teens and one man were injured after a fight involving between 20-30 individuals.[16]
May 4, 2019 Wilmington, Delaware 0 4 4 Four people were wounded in a shooting at West 27th and Tatnall Streets.[17]
May 3, 2019 Baltimore, Maryland 0 4 4 Four people were injured and discovered after a Shot Spotter gunfire alert notified police to the location.[18]
May 3, 2019 Baltimore, Maryland 0 5 5 Emergency responders discovered a female and two young children injured, and two men were later identified as being wounded in the same incident.[19]
May 3, 2019 Dallas, Texas 1 3 4 Four men were discovered shot at Cherrywood Park after a drive-by shooting; one of the victims died from their injuries.[20]
May 1, 2019 Boston, Massachusetts 1 3 4 One person was killed and three were wounded while sitting in a parked car in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood.[21]
April 30, 2019 Charlotte, North Carolina 2 4 6 University of North Carolina at Charlotte shooting: Six people were shot, two fatally, on the last day of classes at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. The student gunman was taken into custody after he ran out of ammunition.[22]
April 28, 2019 West Chester Township, Ohio 4 0 4 Four family members, three women and one man, were found shot to death in an apartment. The suspect remains at large.[23]
April 28, 2019 Nashville, Tennessee 0 7 7 Two men got into an altercation at a party and exchanged gunfire; seven people were wounded in the crossfire.[24]
April 28, 2019 Birmingham, Alabama 0 4 4 A suspect in a vehicle opened fire on patrons outside of a nightclub, injuring four.[25]
April 28, 2019 Baltimore, Maryland 1 7 8 One person was killed and seven were wounded when a gunman opened fire on two cookouts at an intersection.[26]
April 27, 2019 Jackson, Mississippi 1 3 4 One person was killed and three were injured in a shooting in south Jackson.[27]
April 27, 2019 Jackson, Michigan 0 4 4 Four people were wounded in an overnight shooting.[28]
April 27, 2019 Poway, California 1 3 4 Poway synagogue shooting: One person was killed and at least three were wounded by a shooter at the Chabad of Poway synagogue.[29]
April 27, 2019 Westmoreland, Tennessee 7 2[n 1] 9 A 25-year-old man killed seven people and critically wounded a woman; the shootings took place at two separate locations.[30]
April 26, 2019 Hugo, Oklahoma 0 4[n 1] 4 Investigators attempted to make contact with the suspect in relation to another crime, he then began to open fire, injuring three children and himself.[31]
April 21, 2019 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 0 4 4 Four people were wounded in the Grays Ferry Section of the city.[32]
April 21, 2019 Los Angeles, California 0 4 4 Four seniors were wounded by gunfire after a suspect opened fire in the vehicle behind them.[33]
April 20, 2019 Memphis, Tennessee 0 7 7 Seven people were wounded in a shooting that police believe occurred after a large fight.[34]
April 20, 2019 Corpus Christi, Texas 0 4 4 A disturbance in a neighborhood escalated into a shooting; four men were wounded.[35]
April 19, 2019 Wichita, Kansas 0 4 4 Two suspects fired multiple shots at people attending a party, injuring four.[36]
April 18, 2019 Louisville, Kentucky 0 4 4 Four people in a vehicle were wounded when they were shot at by at least one person in another car.[37]
April 16, 2019 Germantown, Maryland 1 3 4 A drive-by shooting killed an 18-year-old male and wounded three other men in a cul-de-sac.[38]
April 14, 2019 Stockton, California 0 4 4 A man opened fire inside of a bar following a disturbance, wounding four patrons.[39]
April 14, 2019 Vallejo, California 1 3 4 One man was killed and three were injured in an early morning shooting.[40]
April 14, 2019 Miami, Florida 2 2 4 Two women were killed and another man and woman were wounded in a drive-by shooting outside of Miami's Liberty City neighborhood.[41]
April 12, 2019 Carbondale, Illinois 0 4 4 Four people were injured in a shooting outside of a restaurant and bar.[42]
April 11, 2019 Phoenix, Arizona 3 2 5 A man killed his wife, two of his daughters, and another man, and injured two people who came to try to help one of the victims. All of the victims were shot, with the exception of one of his daughters who was killed by blunt force trauma.[43]
April 11, 2019 Los Angeles, California 1 4 5 One person was killed and four were wounded when suspects fired at them from a car in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles.[44]
April 11, 2019 Baltimore, Maryland 0 4 4 Four men were wounded in a shooting near Druid Hill Park.[45]
April 9, 2019 Kansas City, Missouri 0 4 4 Police found four people with gunshot wounds in front of a residence.[46]
April 7, 2019 Shreveport, Louisiana 0 4 4 Four people were wounded in a shooting at a mobile home park.[47]
April 7, 2019 Indianapolis, Indiana 2 3 5 Two people were killed and three were wounded in a shooting at a motorcycle club hangout.[48]
April 7, 2019 Winston-Salem, North Carolina 0 6 6 Six people were wounded in a shooting outside of a local bar.[49]
April 7, 2019 Wilmington, Delaware 0 6 6 Six young men were wounded in a shooting in the city's East Side district.[50]
April 6, 2019 Chicago, Illinois 0 6 6 At least six people were injured in a shooting at a baby shower.[51]
April 6, 2019 Tallahassee, Florida 0 4 4 Four Florida A&M University students were injured in a shooting following an argument at a house party.[52]
April 4, 2019 Panama City, Florida 1 3 4 One person was killed and three were found with gunshot injuries in Panama City.[53]
April 4, 2019 Stockbridge, Georgia 3 2 5 Two officers responding to a suspected hostage situation were wounded and three individuals were later found deceased in a murder–suicide.[54]
April 2, 2019 Hermanville, Mississippi 0 4 4 A man shot four people in a drive-by shooting outside of a convenience store.[55]
April 2, 2019 Covington, Kentucky 0 5 5 Five people were wounded in a drive-by shooting at an intersection.[56]
March 31, 2019 Chicago, Illinois 1 4 5 One person was killed and four people were wounded in a shooting in East Garfield Park.[57]
March 31, 2019 Atlanta, Georgia 1 4 5 One person was killed and four were wounded during a house party.[58]
March 31, 2019 North Charleston, South Carolina 0 7 7 Seven people were wounded in a shooting at an overnight house party.[59]
March 28, 2019 Baltimore, Maryland 0 4 4 Four people were wounded in a shooting near a playground.[60]
March 25, 2019 North Las Vegas, Nevada 0 5 5 An after-school fight led to a shooting in a neighborhood; five teenagers were wounded.[61]
March 24, 2019 San Francisco, California 1 5 6 A shooting occurred near the Fillmore Heritage Center around 8:40pm local time; one person was killed and five others were injured.[62]
March 24, 2019 Phoenix, Arizona 0 7 7 During a warehouse party, a fight broke out and escalated into a shooting; seven people were wounded.[63]
March 19, 2019 Phoenix, Arizona 2 4 6 An argument at a house party ended in a shooting when the perpetrator returned to the party and killed two and wounded four before fleeing.[64]
March 17, 2019 Augusta, Georgia 0 4 4 Four people were wounded after an argument, although the shooter claims that it was in self-defense to being randomly attacked.[65]
March 17, 2019 Las Vegas, Nevada 0 4 4 Four people were wounded at the El Cortez Hotel and Casino in an early morning shooting. The suspect was later arrested.[66]
March 17, 2019 Rochelle, Georgia 1 3 4 In the early morning, two groups were involved in a dispute, which ended with one person killed and three people wounded.[67]
March 16, 2019 Camden, New Jersey 1 3 4 One man was killed and three others were wounded following a shooting at a "residential speakeasy".[68]
March 15, 2019 Mobile, Alabama 2 3 5 Two men were killed and three others were wounded in an overnight shooting behind a home. The suspect was arrested the next day.[69]
March 14, 2019 Missoula, Montana 1 3 4 One person was fatally shot and three others were wounded, including a Montana Highway Patrol trooper following a road rage incident.[70]
March 13, 2019 Harvey, Illinois 1 3 4 One person was killed and three were wounded after gunfire erupted in a nightclub.[71]
March 11, 2019 Paterson, New Jersey 0 4 4 Four men were wounded in a shooting inside of a local liquor store.[72]
March 10, 2019 Denver, Colorado 1 4 5 A conflict between two individuals escalated into a shooting; one man was killed, and four others were injured.[73]
March 10, 2019 Shreveport, Louisiana 0 4 4 Three children and one adult were wounded in a drive-by shooting.[74]
March 3, 2019 Oakland, California 0 4 4 Four people were injured in a shooting at a sports bar following a fight.[75]
March 3, 2019 Chicago, Illinois 0 6 6 Six people were injured in a shooting at a bar following a fight.[76]
March 2, 2019 Pine Bluff, Arkansas 1 4 5 One person was killed and four other were wounded at a party when shots were fired into a home.[77]
February 28, 2019 Oakland, California 1 4 5 One person was killed and four others were wounded in a shooting near a gas station.[78]
February 22, 2019 Birmingham, Alabama 2 2 4 Two people were killed and two were injured in a shooting at a party in a home.[79]
February 21, 2019 Elizabethtown, Kentucky 2 2 4 Two people were killed and two others were found wounded in two separate shootings believed to be perpetrated by the same man.[80]
February 21, 2019 Baltimore, Maryland 1 4 5 Officers on patrol responded to gunshots, and upon investigation discovered a deceased male and four wounded victims.[81]
February 21, 2019 Houston, Texas 2 2 4 A gunman perched on the roof of a home killed two and wounded two after an argument led to the incident.[82]
February 20, 2019 Covington, Tennessee 0 4 4 Three adults and a teenager were injured inside a home in a presumed targeted shooting.[83]
February 18, 2019 Solon Township, Michigan 4[n 1] 0 4 A 28-year-old woman killed her three children, ages 8, 6 and 2, before killing herself.[84][85][86]
February 17, 2019 Evansville, Indiana 0 5 5 Five people were wounded after shots were fired outside of a bar. Two suspects were taken into custody by police.[87]
February 17, 2019 Henderson, Texas 2 2 4 Two people were wounded and two were killed in a shooting at an apartment complex. The suspect was later arrested in Bienville Parish, Louisiana.[88]
February 17, 2019 New Orleans, Louisiana 1[n 1] 5 6 After police attempted to arrest a suspect, a gunfight broke out, and led to one person being killed and five being wounded.[89]
February 16, 2019 Clinton, Mississippi 4 0 5 Police responded to a domestic dispute at a residence; upon arrival, the suspect fired shots at officers leading to a 12-hour hostage standoff. Four people were killed, and the suspect was taken into custody and later died.[90]
February 15, 2019 Aurora, Illinois 6[n 1] 6 12 Aurora, Illinois shooting: A man opened fire in his workplace, killing five employees, and injuring five police officers and a civilian before being killed by police.[91]
February 14, 2019 Jacksonville, Florida 2 2 4 After a fight broke out near a basketball court at a park, multiple people started shooting at each other. Two people were killed, and two were wounded.[92]
February 11, 2019 Livingston, Texas 5 0 5 A family member heard sounds of gunfire, and upon investigation, found four adults and one toddler deceased.[93]
February 9, 2019 Petersburg, Virginia 0 4 4 Four people were injured in a shooting outside of an apartment complex.[94]
February 6, 2019 Brooklyn, New York 1 3 4 A man was killed and three others were injured after a shooting in the lobby of an apartment building around 10:30pm ET.[95]
February 6, 2019 Cleveland, Ohio 1 3 4 One man was killed and three others were injured after a shooting broke out in Cleveland's Clark–Fulton neighborhood.[96]
February 5, 2019 San Antonio, Texas 2 2 4 A man and woman were killed and two others injured after the shooter kicked open an apartment door and shot inside, before fleeing.[97]
February 4, 2019 Washington, D.C. 0 5 5 Four men and an elementary-school-age girl were injured in a shooting at a bus stop.[98]
February 4, 2019 Baton Rouge, Louisiana 0 4 4 Four people were wounded in an early morning shooting.[99]
February 3, 2019 Chicago, Illinois 2 5 7 Around 2am local time, two people were killed and five people were wounded in a drive-by shooting after a fight outside of a club.[100]
February 1, 2019 San Diego, California 0 4 4 A fight broke out at a house party and shots were fired; four people were wounded.[101]
January 28, 2019 Houston, Texas 2[n 1] 4 6 Four police officers were shot while serving a warrant in southeast Houston. Two of the perpetrators were killed.[102]
January 27, 2019 Birmingham, Alabama 0 5 5 Police responded to a call and discovered five people with gunshot wounds, along with two of the victims sustaining life-threatening injuries.[103]
January 26, 2019 Newark, New Jersey 1 3 4 A gunman opened fire on individuals attending a candlelight vigil, killing one, and wounding three others.[104]
January 26, 2019 Indianapolis, Indiana 0 5 5 A man was asked to leave a bar; shortly after, he came back and shot five people, critically wounding two.[105]
January 26, 2019 Albany, Georgia 0 4 4 Two people were found with bullet wounds in front of a residence, and two more arrived at a hospital with gunshot injuries from the same shooting.[106]
January 26, 2019 Ascension Parish and Livingston Parish, Louisiana 5 0 5 January 2019 Louisiana shootings: A 21-year-old man killed five people, including his parents, in two parishes in Louisiana.[107] The suspect fled to Virginia and was arrested the next day.[108]
January 24, 2019 State College, Pennsylvania 4[n 1] 1 5 A man killed two people and injured one inside a local bar, then drove away and broke into a home and killed the homeowner before killing himself.[109]
January 24, 2019 Rockmart, Georgia 4 1 5 A man killed four individuals and injured another in two separate shootings.[110]
January 23, 2019 Sebring, Florida 5 0 5 2019 Sebring shooting: At least five people were killed in a hostage incident and shooting at a bank. The suspect was taken into custody by police.[111]
January 20, 2019 Miami, Florida 0 4 4 Three adults and a child were wounded in a shooting while attending a block party.[112]
January 19, 2019 Gaffney, South Carolina 1 4 5 One person was killed and four others were wounded in a shooting at a nightclub.[113]
January 19, 2019 Jacksonville, Florida 3[n 1] 2 5 A man killed two people and injured two more before killing himself.[114]
January 19, 2019 Lebanon, Pennsylvania 0 4 4 In an apparent targeted shooting, four individuals were discovered shot in a building.[115]
January 19, 2019 Chicago, Illinois 0 4 4 Early in the morning, three women and a man were involved in a fight and were injured in the ensuing shooting.[116]
January 19, 2019 Houston, Texas 3 2 5 Three people were killed and two more were injured by a homeowner in a possible attempted home invasion.[117]
January 17, 2019 Owensboro, Kentucky 3 1 4 Three people were killed and another person was wounded in a shooting at a home. Two men were arrested in relation to the shooting.[118]
January 16, 2019 Jacksonville, Florida 1 5 6 A man was killed and five other people were injured in a shooting. The Mayor of Jacksonville described the shooting as gang-related, although this characterization has been disputed by the sister of the deceased man.[119]
January 16, 2019 Palmdale, California 3 1 4 Three people were killed and another one was wounded in a shooting.[120]
January 15, 2019 Little Rock, Arkansas 1 4[n 1] 5 An argument over a gun inside a local ice cream shop led to a shooting. One man was killed and four others, including the suspected shooter, were injured.[121]
January 13, 2019 Phoenix, Arizona 1 5[n 1] 6 An argument at a motel escalated into a shooting. One person was killed, and five others were injured.[122]
January 6, 2019 Roswell, New Mexico 0 4 4 A man injured four people in a shooting following an argument at a party. He was arrested the same day.[123]
January 4, 2019 Hurt, Virginia 3[n 1] 2 5 A man killed his wife and son in their home and injured two people who were inside a vehicle before killing himself.[124]
January 4, 2019 Houston, Texas 1[n 1] 3 4 A man injured his brother and two friends before being killed by a police officer.[125]
January 4, 2019 Torrance, California 3 4 7 An argument at the Torrance bowling alley escalated into a fight and three people were killed by gunshots, at least four others were wounded. A suspect who was out of prison on parole has been arrested.[126]
January 3, 2019 Texas City, Texas 3 1 4 Three children under the age of six were found deceased along with a wounded woman in an apparent home invasion.[127]
January 2, 2019 Jonesboro, Arkansas 1 3 4 A 16-year-old boy was killed and three others were wounded during a home invasion.[128]
January 1, 2019 Columbia, South Carolina 0 5 5 Five people were shot and wounded outside of a nightclub around 6am local time.[129]
January 1, 2019 Tallahassee, Florida 0 5 5 Five people were shot and wounded around 3am local time at the University Village Shopping Center.[130]

Statistics

Shootings statistics by month
Month Number of events Total number killed Total number wounded Occurred at a school Occurred at a place of worship
January 28 36 92 0
February 22 41 68 0
March 20 13 89 0
April 35 30 138 1 1
May
June
July
August
September
November
December

Totals:
Total Mass Shootings - 105
Total Killed - 120
Total Wounded - 387
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mass_shootings_in_the_United_States_in_2019


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At least 12 dead after disgruntled employee
opens fire at Virginia Beach municipal center




By Steve Almasy
and Rebekah Riess
CNN
Fri May 31, 2019


NN)The shooter who opened fire indiscriminately in a Virginia Beach city building Friday afternoon, killing at least 12 people and sending six others to the hospital, was a disgruntled employee, a Virginia government source briefed on the investigation told CNN.

The shooter died after a gunfight with police.

Police Chief James Cervera told reporters Friday night the gunman was a public utilities worker.
"This is the most devastating day in the history of Virginia Beach," said Mayor Bobby Dyer. "The people involved are our friends, coworkers, neighbor, colleagues."



https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/31/us/virginia-beach-shooting/index.html
 
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