Topics available out there at the moment:
- Multiple Deaths Reported in Shooting at Oregon College — I’ve seen an indication that the shooter is dead; details still coming in.
- There’s been no calendar week without a mass shooting during Obama’s 2nd term — Interesting observation from The Fix. Now watch: Some Republican will say, “I told you the country would go to hell if he were re-elected.”
- Russia defends Syrian airstrikes as claims mount of blows to U.S.-backed rebels — This situation is just getting more and more dangerous. They’re in-theater, we’re in-theater, and there’s shooting going on…
- Man charged in Forest Acres officer’s death waives bond — Yeah, if I were that guy, I don’t think I’d want to be out on the street, either.
- Investigating Clinton Email Server, FBI Says It Doesn’t ‘Give A Rip About Politics’ — Well, that’s… good, I suppose.
Oh, and finally, I liked this little slice-of-life anecdote from the night before Boehner made his announcement:
Nice, moving story: “What John Boehner told me the night before he said he was quitting” via @washingtonpost http://t.co/rnmGqUQUcj
— Brad Warthen (@BradWarthen) October 1, 2015
Related Posts
The president’s rather strong speech in reaction to the latest mass shooting:
https://twitter.com/whitehouse/status/649715734277435392
According to the Chicago Tribune “So far this year (as of 8:46 PM 9/29/2015), at least 2,300 people have been shot in Chicago, about 400 more than during the same period last year, according to a Tribune analysis. Through Sunday, homicides have risen to 359, up 21 percent from 296 a year earlier, according to preliminary data from Chicago police.”
The article starts off with this sentence: “Six people were killed and at least eight people were wounded, including an 11-month-old boy and a 2-year-old boy, during a bloody start to the week in Chicago that saw 10 of the victims shot at two scenes less than 3 miles apart on the South Side.”
So yes, mass shootings have become a regular part of American life, especially in cities with strict gun control laws. The sad part is that the drug cartels and gangs responsible for the shootings tend not to pay much attention to the law in general and gun laws in particular. The gun control laws are effective in keeping guns out of the hands of law-abiding citizens.
I understand the president’s frustration, but he’s not being entirely forthcoming about what “modest measures” he sees as the solution. I infer from the countries he cites that firearms confiscation is his prescription. “We know that other countries, in response to one mass shooting, have been able to craft laws that almost eliminate mass shootings. Friends of ours, allies of ours. Great Britain, Australia. Countries like ours. So we know there are ways to prevent it.”
Chicago has tried that, without much success. So has Great Britain, where only criminals have guns. But hey, the 18th Amendment worked so well that we should do the same thing for firearms, no?
Obama also contends that states with the most gun laws tend to have the fewest gun deaths, an ironic statement given that Oregon has more gun laws than most. And the school where today’s shooting took place was a gun-free zone to boot.
The only way to stop a bad guy (or gal) with a gun is with a good guy (or gal) with a gun.
That’s as logical as saying the only way to stop an insane person is to toss another insane person at them.
Hey, it worked for me, but your mileage may vary.
Mass shootings are different from multiple shootings. A mass shooting involves multiple victims perpetrated by a single shooter in a particular place where one would expect to be safe such as a church, school, movie theater, shopping mall. In those places it would be better to have trained uniformed officers who coordinate their activities than to have individually armed individuals who are more apt to injure innocent bystanders.
There are all kinds of problems with gun sales. Online sales, gun show sales, individual sales, gifts, inheritance, slow background checks all could and do allow criminals and the mentally unstable to acquire firearms. Something could be done, but if the continuing deaths of school children won’t motivate action, I can’t imagine what would. Something could be done; it’s just not happening because of…..fill in your answer here. There are some people who don’t even want to require safety training for a concealed weapon permit whereas others (me) would like all gun owners to receive gun safety training – perhaps on a periodic basis like every ten years.
This is not to diminish the gun related deaths in Chicago, but if it is a regulated gun-free zone while every area surrounding them is the Wild West, there’s no way to keep guns out of the hands of gangs and criminals.
Let’s clarify the problems with gun sales.
Since it’s pretty well-established that not only is gun confiscation out of the question for this country, or the kind of gun laws that exist in many other Western liberal democracies, or even some basic tightening of regulations and gun sale oversight, maybe the answer for our country must be something very different and perhaps radical. Given what Mike C is saying about stopping a bad guy or gal with a gun, perhaps we should go the other direction, and make it mandatory (perhaps linked to earning a driver’s license or some other civic privilege) for all able-bodied adults between 21 and 70 with no criminal record to own an appropriate handgun and to undergo training in its use and safekeeping, and how to carry it safely in public and use where appropriate. There could be a sliding scale of payment based on what people could afford. The program could be for a set period of time, so that in 5 or 6 years if the effect is judged to be negative, a confiscation program could reverse the process, with gun owners who had receipts for their guns prior to the government distribution able to retain their guns. You could be exempted from gun ownership via religious objection, conscientious objection, etc.
If what Mike C says is true, having a fully armed populace should reduce these episodes of mass shootings, perhaps murder by homicide in general.
If we can’t mandate gun ownership, perhaps the answer is simply to strongly encourage gun ownership and carrying…that way responsible citizens who would like to step forward and be ready to save the day will have few barriers to doing so. It would be interesting to see what life would be like in such a scenario.
“perhaps we should go the other direction, and make it mandatory (perhaps linked to earning a driver’s license or some other civic privilege) for all able-bodied adults between 21 and 70 with no criminal record to own an appropriate handgun and to undergo training in its use and safekeeping, and how to carry it safely in public and use where appropriate”
In other words, mandatory military service, which would include all of the above…
Phillip’s conditions remind me of Starship Troopers — not the dumb movie, but Heinlein’s novel. He envisioned a society in which relatively few people went into the military (in fact, every effort was made to discourage service, by emphasizing the danger), but only those who DID serve would be citizens, and eligible to vote.
Dianne Gallagher, a TV news anchor in Charlotte, reacted to that speech thusly: “Did Sorkin have a hand in that speech? Wow.”
https://twitter.com/dianneg/status/649714068471853056
Didn’t watch it.
I try to ignore most everything – scratch that- everything President Obama says these days.
Wake up, Barry. It’s about mental health, first of all. What does the President have to do with mass shootings?
1. Mental health
2. Firearm availability
3. Media coverage
Pick any one of those you care to focus on. Don’t, however, spew your racism. It’s callous, to say the least.
Mark, I didn’t see Barry say anything racist.
By the way, there’s one tiny flaw with Robert’s cartoon today: Hillary has NEVER forgotten that one, not for a minute. That chip is always on her shoulder, and it’s the first defense she turns to…
I believe New York City has had a fewer number of gun deaths than in the past. While Chicago may ban guns, there’s nothing to prevent their shipping into the city. And, by Oregon law, no schools there are “gun free zones.”