What your drunk uncle isn’t taking into account is the fact that at least one legally bought gun has been involved in the majority of mass shootings since 1982. Guns do not kill people, people kill people.
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Former Republican race-leader Jeb Bush made headlines by saying, ‘Stuff happens, ‘ but has since clarified that he was talking about the issue of gun control more broadly and not just about the Oregon shootings. Berman likely realizes this, and thus quickly moves on to an article linking strong gun laws to lower rates of gun deaths.
To discount our cultural acceptance of intolerable violence in assessing mass shootings is deceitful. But these aren’t the only steps that need to be taken to address gun violence. Too frequently, shockwaves are spread across the world as guns are brought into public places, with multiple killings being the result.
Obama said the families wanted to communicate how much they appreciated the nation’s “help, thoughts and prayers”. What is perhaps telling is that investigators found Harper-Mercer was linked to 14 firearms.
“Are you opposed to me owning a gun?” it asks. I have no idea that he had any guns whatsoever… “We’ve become numb to this”.
Guns do not vanish into thin air because there are gun control laws. So what if we stopped worrying about the guns and instead focused on the bullets?
The Constitution protects our right to keep and bear arms for a variety of purposes.
The Second Amendment, which states, “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed”, is a constitutional guarantee of the right to own a gun.
Time we could be spending thinking about who it is committing these crimes, and why. Even more disturbing, researchers believe mass shootings, like the one in Roseburg, are contagious, and many in the media have begun to refer to an epidemic of mass shootings.
Harper-Mercer shot himself dead at the end of his rampage as police closed in. “They’re simply using a awful incident to dance on the blood of the innocent”, Friday said. Indeed, in Wisconsin we’ve seen a spike in violent crimes since Gov. Walker enacted a concealed carry law in 2011, a law that he had claimed would make the state safer overall. Indeed, its political transformation into a network of firearms extremists has been so complete that many Americans don’t know that the NRA started out as an organization of sportsmen who taught marksmanship and gun safety skills. Hundreds of supporters and protesters gathered near the local airport for Obama’s arrival, with signs welcoming him mixed with others advocating for gun rights. Gun dealers would also need to be licensed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Looking at the activities of the NRA, it is no surprise that America is as gun-obsessed as it is. It’s time to face that fear head on and do something about it.
A major feature of the commentary surrounding these shootings is the inclination of the public to blame mental health difficulties for the deaths. However, Missouri discontinued its gun-ownership permit system in 2007, which required background checks.
But when it comes to changing the gun debate, dating a swamp troll might be less challenging. These were people who were all mentally unstable and had absolutely no business handling a gun.
School shootings have been happening now for not just decades, but centuries.
In a more rational Washington, these proposals would be on Congress’s agenda.
Most USA gun owners hold moderate views on gun control, yet we do not hear their voices, because loudmouths speak first.
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“There’s this perception that people are neatly divided into folks who want an M1A1 Abrams battle tank to drive to work and those who want to melt every last gun and bullet into doorstops”, said Patrick Tomlinson, a science fiction writer and gun owner in Milwaukee who favors universal background checks and longer waiting periods for gun purchases. “It’s not enough. It does not capture the heartache and grief and anger that we should feel, and it does nothing to prevent this carnage from being inflicted someplace else in America, next week, or a couple of months from now”. “We’re going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics“.
