People are just no damn good.
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I bet most. Which is what I usually think when I read headlines about there being like 300-500 mass shootings each year. People in other countries probably think they’re all terror related. Almost all aren’t.
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75 total deaths last year. 74 the year before. 2017 was the worst with 117. Thousands of people are not dying in mass shootings every year.
Of these 74-75, 45-50 are domestic violence. Guy killing his wife, kids, then himself type of stuff. Most often with handguns and maybe a shotgun. Guns that generally aren’t covered by most of the proposed legislation.
The next largest group is gang related. Generally bad guys killing bad guys account for about 35% of the victims. There are a few innocent bystanders, but only a few. Most are killed with handguns that were acquired illegally and wouldn’t be impacted by most of the proposed legislation.
The spree shooter (school, movie theater, nightclub) type of attack happens extremely rarely, despite all we hear about it. One occurs, and suddenly it’s on the news with journalists talking about this being the 272 mass shooting of the year… Those other 271 shootings bare no resemblance to the spree shooter. By relating the two you are creating a terrifying image that simply has nothing to do with reality. The other thing that the media will reference are “school shootings”. There were 150 school shootings in 2022. Terrifying, no? Well, not really. Almost all of those were gang related and not mass shootings. Just one wannabe gang banger taking out another. And while that’s horrible, it’s not nearly the same as pointing to the spree shooting and implying there were 149 just like it…
@LuFins-Dad and @George-K
Your stats on school shootings reminded me of the fear parents had after Uvalde. My friends had similar fearful comments. And I get it.
But I dug into the stats and the bottom line is your kid is 100x more likely to be killed on the commute to school than being killed in school. It’s not even close. So yes…it sucks, but don’t let extremely rare acts of violence impact your life.
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@LuFins-Dad and @George-K
Your stats on school shootings reminded me of the fear parents had after Uvalde. My friends had similar fearful comments. And I get it.
But I dug into the stats and the bottom line is your kid is 100x more likely to be killed on the commute to school than being killed in school. It’s not even close. So yes…it sucks, but don’t let extremely rare acts of violence impact your life.
@89th said in People are just no damn good.:
@LuFins-Dad and @George-K
Your stats on school shootings reminded me of the fear parents had after Uvalde. My friends had similar fearful comments. And I get it.
But I dug into the stats and the bottom line is your kid is 100x more likely to be killed on the commute to school than being killed in school. It’s not even close. So yes…it sucks, but don’t let extremely rare acts of violence impact your life.
If I recall correctly, in his book, Malcolm Gladwell made a similar comment about swimming pools and guns.
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More on the coverage at National Review:
https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/on-the-peculiar-coverage-of-the-kansas-city-shooting/
It gets tiresome to have to repeat this stuff, but, if this report is correct, then we can reasonably conclude the following:
- That, by definition, the suspects were not legally allowed to buy, possess, or carry handguns. A “juvenile” is a person who is not yet eighteen. Under federal law, one cannot purchase a handgun until one is 21, and one cannot “possess” a handgun until one is 18 (unless one is hunting or target shooting, neither of which apply here). In Missouri, it is illegal to “recklessly” sell, loan, or transfer any firearm to a minor without parental consent, and it is illegal to carry a firearm either openly or concealed until one is 19 (18 if a veteran or in the military).
- That this was not a “mass shooting” in the way that that term is typically used, but was an argument between two illegally armed minors that turned violent. This isn’t pedantry; it matters. When determining what to do about crime, it is important to understand the nature of the crime in question. From what I can tell, the aim of the two alleged shooters was not to hurt or kill those around them; they just didn’t care if they did. That does not describe most “mass shooters.”
- That the characterization of this incident as being reflective of “weak gun laws” is ridiculous. Per NPR, “city officials” in Kansas City “have their hands tied by the state of Missouri when it comes to passing meaningful gun safety laws.” But, even if that were true, what could it possibly have to do with this crime? Every single thing that happened here was already illegal. It is illegal for juveniles to possess handguns. It is illegal for them to carry those handguns. It is illegal for them to shoot at each other in a public place. What law relates to this, exactly? That isn’t rhetoric; I’d like an answer. Absent banning and confiscating all firearms, it’s difficult to see how this is preventable with legislation. There are more than half a billion privately owned firearms in the United States.
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@George-K said in People are just no damn good.:
Would anybody really be surprised to find out Maher and Coulter had some weird thing going on between them?
The Brad
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mass_shootings_in_the_United_States_in_2023
Mass shootings are incidents in which several people are victims of firearm-related violence, specifically for the purposes of this article, a total of four or more victims. A total of 754 people were killed and 2,443 other people were injured in 604 shootings.
But weather it is 75 people or 750 people, the impact goes far far beyond that.
From the website indicated above, 2400 people were wounded. And many of the wounds can be life changing. I heard a talk from an Israel person who was the victim of a bombing. The "headline" was something like - "Terror bombing in restaurant. 0 killed, 3 injured." making it sound almost minor. The person talking was one of those injured and spoke about how it affected her. Nerve damage to an arm, ongoing mental issues, etc.
But in addition to that, I am guessing that there are a lot of people affect that were not physically wounded or killed. How many kids that were at the parade and witnessed it will now be possibly afraid to go in a crowd for example.
I do agree that most of the shooting are gang related or involve family members. The % of mass shooting by terrorists or random crazy people is a minority.
But that does not answer the question as why it happens so much more in the US vs. other 1st world countries. Is it strictly a culture thing? Gun laws? Combination of the two?
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@George-K said in People are just no damn good.:
Would anybody really be surprised to find out Maher and Coulter had some weird thing going on between them?
@LuFins-Dad said in People are just no damn good.:
@George-K said in People are just no damn good.:
Would anybody really be surprised to find out Maher and Coulter had some weird thing going on between them?
It'd be far more surprising to find out they actually hated each other.
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https://www.grunge.com/1096897/bill-maher-facts-about-the-comedian-and-talk-show-host/
One of the comedian's frequent guests on his show is the right-wing pundit Ann Coulter. Maher refuses to heed the haters like usual and will have whoever he wants on "Real Time," but Coulter is a special case because their relationship goes beyond being simply colleagues as political commentators who are on opposite ends of the spectrum. Regardless of their differences, the two are close friends.
On top of their on-screen appearances together, both have separately defended the other. When Coulter was on "Hannity" and the host was critical of Maher, she responded, "I obviously don't agree with his politics. I like him. He's a true and loyal friend, he always has been, and he bought me dinner. So, I'm not going to say anything bad about him ... I'm easy. I'm a cheap date" (via Mediaite).
Likewise, Maher was asked by Variety why he has Coulter on his show, and he said, "She's not stupid. I don't exactly read her books. But I know from when we've covered her issues in the past, it's not like she doesn't do research."
