Mass shootings and gun violence are happening way too often

[VelociRapture]

16 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

"Has your member of Congress received campaign support from the NRA?"

This is a site from MoveOn where they list how much money the NRA has given members of congress by state. There are petitions for many members of congress to return the money, though I doubt that will ever happen.

I’m ridiculously proud that none of the Connecticut politicians have accepted money from the NRA. 

 

8 hours ago, fraurosena said:

I praise anyone who stands up and confronts the Senate with the hard truth. 

But I have my reservations. It's easy to say these things when you're the minority and can't push through the necessary legislation. However, if come November the Dems get the majority and still don't do (enough) to bring a halt the the NRA's power and to minimize the possibility of these atrocities ever occurring, then this will have turned out to be just hypocritical talk. I really, really hope that it isn't. 

Aunt Crabby has an overview of NRA donations to Reps on the Hill.

America has something far, far worse than the opioid epidemic that everyone is now so focussed on: mass shootings. As of February 14, and including this one in Florida, a total of 30 (thirty) mass shootings have occurred in the US in 2018. More than half of them, 18 (eighteen) were school shootings.

That means that every 1,5 days a mass shooting has happened. It is almost an every day occurrence in the US. 

Why aren't you out on the streets about this? Why aren't there protests and sit ins and angry letters and emails? Your children, your children, are being killed on a daily basis, and no protest? I don't get it. If so many of you can take to the streets for the Women's Marches (which I applaud), why can't you do the same for your children?

 

Chris Murphy is one of my Senators. I can’t speak for other Democratic politicians, but I can assure you that both Murphy and Senator Richard Blumenthal take gun control very seriously. They were both in office (or at least had been elected) when Sandy Hook occurred and the deaths of those children and educators deeply affected them both. I honestly have no doubts about how hard both my Senators have worked to protect people here. I’m both grateful and proud to be represented by them. 

[Audrey2]

Yes, let's talk about mental health contributing to shootings while we cut people's access to Medicaid, CHIP, and affordable health care.

[fraurosena]

 

[AnywhereButHere]

 

Quote

@realDonaldTrump

So many signs that the Florida shooter was mentally disturbed, even expelled from school for bad and erratic behavior. Neighbors and classmates knew he was a big problem. Must always report such instances to authorities, again and again!

7:12 AM - Feb 15, 2018

https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5a8591f9e4b0ab6daf468ba3/amp

He is such a piece of shit. Basically blaming the victims! What exactly did he think they should’ve done to prevent this tragedy? He was expelled, so obviously they knew and had done something! 

Quote

Contrary to Trump’s tweet, it does appear that authorities were aware of Cruz’s behavior before the attack. A former neighbor told The New York Times that Cruz’s late mother called the police on her two sons on multiple occasions, though she stressed that she didn’t think the boys were violent. Broward County Mayor Beam Furr told CNN that Cruz had been treated at a mental health clinic in the past and  was somewhat on officials’ radar. 

So far this year we’ve averaged a mass shooting every 60 hours. But hey, thoughts and prayers man. They work wonders. 

[fraurosena]

He didn’t use the word “gun” once.

Donald Trump Puts Focus On Mental Health In First Remarks After Florida School Shooting

Quote

President Donald Trump on Thursday spoke about the mass shooting that took place at a Parkland, Florida, high school the day before, claiming he will tackle “the difficult issue of mental health” in the wake of the massacre.

“No child, no teacher should ever be in danger in an American school. No parent should ever have to fear for their sons and daughters when they kiss them goodbye in the morning,” the president said. “Each person who was stolen from us yesterday had a full life ahead of them. A life filled with wonders, beauty and unlimited potential and promise.”

Trump didn’t use the word “gun” once during his remarks and did not suggest he’d take up the issue of gun control.

It was Trump’s first public remarks about the shooting that left at least 17 people dead. Earlier Thursday, Trump ordered flags be flown at half-staff until Feb. 19 in honor of the shooting victims.

Trump tweeted about the shooting Wednesday, offering “prayers and condolences.” He tweeted again Thursday morning, saying the shooter “was mentally disturbed” and that “such instances” should be reported “again and again.”

So predictable. That whole speech was a string of platitudes one after the other. 

"We will do everything in our power to prevent this kind of thing happening again..." Well, except legislate gun control, that is.

[GreyhoundFan]

An interesting analysis: "Europeans had school shootings, too. Then they did something about it."

Spoiler

BERLIN — Contrary to what you may sometimes hear, school shootings are not unique to the United States. Germany, for instance, went through a string of devastating attacks between 2002 and 2009. Between 1996 and 2008, major school shootings also occurred in Finland and Scotland, among other places.

But in Europe, there hasn't been a major high-casualty gun attack on a campus in almost a decade.

Meanwhile, Wednesday's shooting in Florida was at least the sixth of its kind in the United States this year — 45 days into 2018.

There is widespread consensus in Europe and abroad that some school shootings are impossible to prevent, but the numbers still speak a clear language: There are some things countries can do, and Europe appears to have learned from uncomfortable lessons.

The prevalence of handguns

The most frequently cited reason for why mass shootings — not necessarily in schools — are more frequent in some countries than in others is the prevalence of handguns. In his famous study, “Public Mass Shooters and Firearms: A Cross-National Study of 171 Countries,” University of Alabama criminology professor Adam Lankford found a link between the number of guns and mass shootings that killed four or more people. The data set ranged from 1966 through 2012.

The study indicated that a decrease in the number of weapons also would probably result in a decrease in shootings. That’s exactly what happened in Australia after the country tightened gun legislation following a mass shooting in 1996. It would also explain why countries where gun ownership is rare, such as France or Britain, have largely been spared such catastrophic incidents.

Apart from arguing that Lankford’s overall data set is misleading because it doesn't take into account politically motivated violence, critics also questioned whether the number of weapons is really the most significant factor. They point to one nation in particular: Switzerland.

Access as the key factor?

Switzerland has one of the world’s highest ratios of firearms per person, with an estimated 45.7 guns per 100 residents, according to the Small Arms Survey. Only two countries have a higher ratio: Yemen, with 54.8 guns per 100 residents, and the United States, with 88.8 guns per 100 residents. Other studies have even indicated the share of households with weapons may almost be the same in Switzerland as it is in the United States. Those statistics have big margins of error, but they still point to a legitimate question: Why has there never been a school shooting in Switzerland, despite the Swiss enthusiasm for weapons?

With about 8 million citizens, Switzerland is of course much smaller than the United States. But it’s still more populous than Finland, a European country that has fewer weapons but more school shootings.

Many of Switzerland’s weapons are distributed to citizen soldiers, as they are known. Conscription is mandatory for male Swiss citizens, and conscripts can keep their semiautomatic assault rifles at home even after returning to their nonmilitary careers. (They still have to report for a short annual training). Meanwhile, those who wish to buy weapons themselves need to undergo a weeks-long background check.

Swiss authorities have a list of about 2,000 individuals they suspect of being willing to commit shootings. All of them are frequently approached by authorities, along with psychologists, and are forced to hand over their weapons immediately or are barred from purchasing new ones.

Some sociologists say that Switzerland's military service comes close to an extended background check, too, and that the country's education system teaches children early on to search for compromises instead of risking open conflicts. Hence, while almost every home in Switzerland may have a weapon, access is still indirectly regulated and the use of weapons usually follows strict societal norms.

There’s also another crucial difference with the United States: extensive, mandatory health insurance, which allows schools to have direct and immediate access to psychologists and intervention teams.

Growing awareness of the need of psychological support

Similar measures are still being implemented in Germany, the nation with the most school shootings in contemporary European history. Following a string of attacks, the country tasked a number of academics and professionals to come up with guidelines how to spot potential attackers early on.

When President Trump took to Twitter on Thursday morning, he urged students and others to alert authorities to anyone whose behavior strikes them as suspicious. “So many signs that the Florida shooter was mentally disturbed, even expelled from school for bad and erratic behavior,” Trump wrote in the tweet. “Neighbors and classmates knew he was a big problem. Must always report such instances to authorities, again and again!”

But experience from abroad shows that awareness alone may not be sufficient. Other countries, including Germany, have attempted to set up government-led national networks dedicated to spot potential attackers and to stop them before they can pursue their plans.

In a first step, funding for in-school psychologists was increased exponentially. Teachers at every school are now being trained to act as “trusted personnel,” as a first point of contact either for students who want to seek psychological support themselves or for others who want to raise alarm over the behavior of an individual. Psychologists are then called in to examine each case further.

Psychological tests are also standard practice for Germans younger than 25 who want to purchase firearms. Age restrictions were tightened and a national registry of all weapons was created in 2013.

This hasn’t stopped other attackers, such as a 2016 right-wing shooter who killed nine people in Munich’s city center, from obtaining weapons illegally online. Even the best prevention programs, government experts here agree, won't provide 100 percent safety — but they can at least do something.

 

[Black Aliss]

And the countdown begins, until one of our fundies claims the latest shooting deaths were nothing compared to the number of abortions that happen every day. Let me know when it's over. I'm going to hide from the news for a day or two.

[GrumpyGran]

This is a messy clean-up for the Repubs. They're having to step around the fact that Cruz was a big time Trump lover. So no 'partisan politics making Americans angry' excuse. He bought the gun legally so we can't claim that we just didn't enforce the gun laws. Especially because it's Florida and we don't want any blame to splash on Scott or Bondi.

And armed SRO was on site so...

All they have is the lame "mental illness!" excuse but again, State of Florida, who exactly was getting in your way and keeping you from institutionalizing him? You know they are NEVER going to enact laws that will allow involuntary institutionalization of angry, gun-owning Trump supporters who have expressed rage and made threats on line because, well, there aren't enough mental health facilities in the world for that.

[candygirl200413]

I can't even go on social media with people asking "well people are going to get guns anyway so we don't need gun control". I asked how they felt about taking their shoes off at the airport cause of a bomb happening ONCE and they just went on with discussing how we just need armed teachers next time (I wish I made this up). My senator Pat Toomey who I think has taken a lot more this year from the NRA offered his usual shit while discussing about sanctuary cities (because why not obviously). It's just so exhausting.

 

I watched nbc nightly news last night and this little girl lost her best friend I think a year/1.5 years ago and she wrote to orange fuckface about how she wants something done, she's still so sad and all he said was "you're strong, thanks for sharing". It pissed me off so much.

 

I also think a lot of us are just so fatigued. It's hard when you've gotten used to this even though it's not normal.

[fraurosena]

Oh.... so he was one of the good people! He was probably doing America a service...

/end sarcasm

 

 

 

[GrumpyGran]

2 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

Oh.... so he was one of the good people! He was probably doing America a service...

/end sarcasm

 

 

 

Yup, he is a full-baked Trump cake. Hence the awkward Trump speech. One of his little monsters just exercising his rights.

And he is probably only one of a thousand or more.

[fraurosena]

Da fuq? Oh, right. The shooter's name is Cruz... so of course he's a gang member! The Supreme Keebler Elf Wizard's KKK presumptions are showing. Whoops. I guess he didn't get the memo about Cruz being a white supremacist then.

Jeff Sessions Just Tried to Blame Florida School Shooting on Gang Violence

Quote

In response to Wednesday’s school shooting in Parkland, Florida, Attorney General Jeff Sessions suggested, in a speech to a  sheriff’s convention in Washington on Thursday, that cracking down on gang violence could prevent school shootings. 

“When parents once again go to sleep fearful that their kids will not be safe, even when they go to school—parents have told me in gang-infested neighborhoods that children can no longer stand at the bus stop by themselves, they take turns, parents do, of being out there every morning and afternoon,” he said. “So we’ve gotta confront the problem. There’s not doubt about it.”

[But] in this case, the shooter had no known gang ties (though he was linked to a white supremacist group, Republic of Florida, authorities report). What’s more, Parkland was just named Florida’s safest city in 2017, according to an analysis by the Washington-based National Council for Home Safety and Security. Located just outside the Florida everglades, and about an hour of Miami, the city is “an affluent one that’s intentionally designed to mimic a park,” according to the council’s website.

Sessions also said that “effective enforcement” of current gun laws, and “focusing on criminals and dangerous people, mentally ill people” could reduce gun violence. “It is not good if we got gun laws that say criminals can’t carry guns and they never get enforced. So we intend to enforce our laws,” he said.

In Thursday’s address, Sessions notably did not mention stronger laws aimed at preventing the shooter from obtaining the military-style rifle in the first place.

 

[fraurosena]

I am appalled, horrified, disconcerted, outraged and nauseous all at once. 

 

[GrumpyGran]

15 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

I am appalled, horrified, disconcerted, outraged and nauseous all at once. 

 

Hey, yeah, where are the words of comfort from this douchebag?

[fraurosena]

Fuck this hypocrite!

 

[GreyhoundFan]

[AuntK]

Things I heard today while watching MSNBC:

Australia banned assault rifles and enacted strict gun control laws after a mass shooting killed 35 people in 1996. Since then they have had 0 mass shootings. ZERO.

The Florida Legislature is currently considering legislation to make background checks less stringent, to allow concealed carry on school campuses and churches.

The shooter posted a photo of himself online and was seen frequently wearing his MAGA hat. He also commented on a YouTube video that his goal was to be a "professional school shooter." This was reported to the FBI, but reportedly, they could not find him, which surprised me, I thought anything you posted online could be traced back to you by the feds.

Congress is tone deaf. Nobody,but NOBODY wants to hear ANY POLITICIAN talk about sending his or her "thoughts and prayers." 

Thoughts and Prayers? NO - POLICY & CHANGE!

[fraurosena]

What a good idea!

 

[Ozlsn]

3 hours ago, AuntK said:

Things I heard today while watching MSNBC:

Australia banned assault rifles and enacted strict gun control laws after a mass shooting killed 35 people in 1996. Since then they have had 0 mass shootings. ZERO.

This is true depending on the definition of 'mass shooting'. If it's more than four unrelated victims killed, yes there have been none. If it's four people shot but not necessarily killed, then there has been at least one I can think of offhand (Monash University 2002).  It also bugs me a bit that when it is family members killed then it is also not counted as a mass killing - I get that they are trying to identify different motives etc, but it still bugs me. Geoff Hunt murdered four members of his family and then killed himself with a shotgun, but not counted as a 'mass killing' because it was 'domestic'. 

Either way the point still stands that Australia has had considerably fewer shootings than the US since 1996, and firearms as a means of suicide has also dropped as firearms have become more restricted. 

[GrumpyGran]

As I watch my HLN, a point someone made, this kid will end up most likely on death row despite the screaming on the right about mental illness. Because he does not meet the definition of legally insane. So how do we decide who is "insane" enough to not get a gun? This really isn't an issue of insanity in that sense, it should be an issue of threat assessment. But, oh boy, we aren't going there. How many white men are a real threat to their female family members? And kids, unfortunately. Oh, and ex-girlfriends. And female co-workers who file complaints against them.  But we WILL NOT talk about keeping guns out of their hands.

[kacarlton]

As I watch my HLN, a point someone made, this kid will end up most likely on death row despite the screaming on the right about mental illness. Because he does not meet the definition of legally insane. So how do we decide who is "insane" enough to not get a gun? This really isn't an issue of insanity in that sense, it should be an issue of threat assessment. But, oh boy, we aren't going there. How many white men are a real threat to their female family members? And kids, unfortunately. Oh, and ex-girlfriends. And female co-workers who file complaints against them.  But we WILL NOT talk about keeping guns out of their hands.

It’s maddening isn’t it? Seems like it should be easy for everyone to work together to at least fix background checks, but nope. I’m so sick.

[GrumpyGran]

Sitting on my bed feeling the frustration about this and thinking about how I can DO SOMETHING about it. Then it occurred to me. Going to call my financial advisor to make sure my portfolio and funds for my IRAs do not include any stock for gun manufacterers. I admit I don't know what's in there.

Do you have a 401K? Do you know what's in it? An IRA? We aren't going to buy guns but are we still unwittingly supporting them? Let's hit them where it hurts. This is what WE can do now.

[AmazonGrace]

 

[kacarlton]

Sitting on my bed feeling the frustration about this and thinking about how I can DO SOMETHING about it. Then it occurred to me. Going to call my financial advisor to make sure my portfolio and funds for my IRAs do not include any stock for gun manufacterers. I admit I don't know what's in there.
Do you have a 401K? Do you know what's in it? An IRA? We aren't going to buy guns but are we still unwittingly supporting them? Let's hit them where it hurts. This is what WE can do now.

That is an amazing thing to do. I work for a small foundation and we have many negative filters for companies we won’t support: fossil fuels, gun mfrs, private prison industry, anti-lgbtq companies, etc.

[fraurosena]