Thus far, there has been more than a mass shooting somewhere in the USA every day.
September 1, the 244th day of the year, marks the 283rd such shooting.
The nonprofit Gun Violence Archive tracks every mass shooting in the country. They define a mass shooting as any incident in which at least four people were shot, excluding the shooter. The GVA said there have been 37,662 total shooting incidents, resulting in 9,932 gun deaths and 19,868 injuries as of yesterday. 37 thousand incidents! That’s not self-defense, folks.
On a slightly different note, most states outlaw guns with a magazine larger than 5 rounds for hunting big game. The rationale is that if you can’t kill a deer with 5 rounds or less, you don’t belong in the woods. So, who needs a 30 round magazine and why?
Some recent Mass shootings
Virginia Beach, May 31, 12 people killed and 4 wounded.
El Paso, Texas, August 3, 22 people killed and 24 wounded.
Dayton, Ohio, August 4, 9 people killed and 27 wounded.
Odessa, Texas, August 31, 7 people killed and 24 wounded.
It’s not just here that this is happening.
On March 15, 2019 a white supremacist Australian shot up two mosques in Christchurch and Canterbury, New Zealand. He killed 51 and injured 49.
Within a week, the PM announced sweeping changes to strengthen the country’s gun laws that took full effect in mid-April.
New Zealand now bans all military-style assault rifles as well as high capacity magazines.
Australia did something similar in response to a mass shooting in 1996.
Americans, in turn, offer their “thoughts and prayers”.
It took just one mass shooting for New Zealand to move to change its gun laws.
In the US, where levels of gun violence are generally much higher, it’s unclear if any changes will ever happen at the federal level — even as the US suffers mass shooting after mass shooting on a nearly daily basis. Hooray for the NRA!
BTW, I own 3 rifles and 2 handguns. The only thing I ever killed was a rabbit, and I still regret that.
Outdated invention
It would seem we are at war with the US, based on the casualty counts.
Will the US defend us against ourselves?
I can’t recall hearing (m)any stories about gun owners who thwarted a personal attack using their own guns. It seems like a fantasy reason for owning them. I’ve read far more about children coming across guns in the house and causing trouble, more about dogs shooting owners, and more about people who simply jumped on an attacker and held them until police came.
For example – all these mass shootings. Where are the concerned citizens carrying registered guns saving lives at these scenes? Ever hear of one? Maybe it happens, but it isn’t widely reported if it does.
Where are the stories of bad guys being stopped by armed citizens? It seems rare to non-existent, which is odd given the number of guns out there and the number of people carrying them.
Even in the best circumstances – Ohio, recently – where armed officers were on the scene as the shooting began and killed the gunman almost instantly – many were killed before the short spree ended. Guns didn’t stop the attack, though one could argue that they helped keep the death count lower than otherwise. But without guns, no shooting spree could begin.
Guns seem like an outdated invention, no longer useful for most purposes. T mentions killing a rabbit, above. A gun wasn’t necessary, I bet.
I get to argue with myself
Hey Grotke, you are completely ignoring news stories. Just the other day there was a woman in Texas that fired her gun and shot someone trying to steal her purse from her car. The would-be robbers ran off, and the one that was shot was found easily by police and charged.
Bad guys stopped by gun. Period.
You were saying….? : )