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Friday, December 14, 2012

How long, America? How long?



From Reuters today:

(Reuters) - The deadly school shooting at a Connecticut elementary school on Friday was the latest in a series of shooting crimes in the United States this year.

Following are some of the worst such incidents in the United States in 2012:

April 2 - A gunman kills seven people and wounds three in a shooting rampage at a Christian college in Oakland.

July 20 - A masked gunman kills 12 people and wounds 58 when he opens fire on moviegoers at a showing of the Batman film "The Dark Knight Rises" in Aurora, a suburb of Denver, Colorado.

August 5 - A gunman kills six people during Sunday services at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, before he is shot dead by a police officer.

August 24 - Two people are killed and eight wounded in a shooting outside the landmark Empire State Building in New York City at the height of the tourist season.

September 27 - A disgruntled former employee kills five people and takes his own life in a shooting rampage at a Minneapolis sign company from which he had been fired.

October 21 - Three people are killed in a Milwaukee area spa including the estranged wife of the suspected gunman, who then killed himself.

December 14 - A shooter opens fire at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, killing several people including children.


55 people killed--so far--this year.

How long until we have finally had enough?

How long are we going to put up with these killings? These slaughters?

How long until we do something about automatic weapons?

How long until we do something about background checks for mental stability and criminal backgrounds on gun purchases?

How long until we institute a waiting period for weapons purchases?

How long, America?

When will we learn?

When will we react?

When will we ever learn?

Link: http://news.yahoo.com/tiimeline-major-shooting-incidents-united-states-185007308.html

3 comments:

Sevesteen said...

What automatic weapons were used in any of these shootings? (Huge difference between army-style automatic machine guns and small-town police semiautomatic)

Which of these shootings happened within days of purchase?

How many of these shootings happened where guns were allowed?

Mo Rage said...

I don't have enough time to dedicate to documenting what automatic weapons were used in each and all of these incidents. The deaths and death toll speaks for itself. Same for the shootings that occurred within days of purchase.

Your last question though, where guns are allowed? It's America. They're "allowed" and even legal virtually everywhere, thanks to the NRA and the cowards in our government.

You're defending the deaths, then, of these 55 people? That's good and okay with you, is that what you're saying? Further, if they continue to happen, that's okay and it's what we need to learn to live with?

You know 20 children were slaughtered yesterday, right? And I'm patently not being sarcastic here, to make a point, I'm not. I'm challenging you, your questions and the stance you seem to be taking.

Sevesteen said...

You are calling for a bunch of irrelevant restrictions that would have done nothing to stop these tragedies.

Automatic weapons are rare, and misuse of legal automatic weapons is almost non-existent--2 or 3 incidents since the 30's. Semi-automatic guns are the majority of guns available today--including virtually every policeman's gun. If you want to ban those, you are talking about almost every gun invented in the last 100 years, just about anything that isn't in a cowboy movie.

Who would a waiting period stop? It would have to be someone angry enough to kill, who doesn't already have access to a gun, who will maintain that anger for a couple of hours but not a couple of days, and whose anger issues have not already resulted in serious legal issues. There was some sense to waiting periods before instant background checks, to give time for the process.

At least 5 of the 7 shootings took place where guns were banned. I'm not sure about the other two. Localized bans give the worst of both--murderers get access to guns, but the law abiding people don't have them for defense

http://www.kgw.com/news/Clackamas-man-armed-confronts-mall-shooter-183593571.html

My brother sent this one of a mall shooting the other day near where he lives. Carry license holder pointed a gun at the murderer, but was afraid of a miss hitting the wrong person:

"after he saw me, I think the last shot he fired was the one he used on himself."

Consistent with other spree shooters--when they are confronted with another gun, they often suicide, never continue killing. Only two victims in this one, I think if the killer hadn't seen the armed good guy he would have killed more.

I wish someone like that had been at the school.