I am saddened by the multitude of massacres happening all over the country.
Today, it is in Uvalde, TX. Tomorrow in ? As a massacre takes place, we hear prayers from GOP representatives and senators.
Their ideological and therefore blind commitment to owning firearms with no control is the cause. How many times has the President and democratic leaders reassured them that the 2nd amendment will be preserved and that the goal is to avoid senseless massacres?
Why would someone need an AK or an AR to hunt or to defend themselves?
Why would GOP blindness cost the lives of so many?
Who are the next victims?
I ask that everyone who visits the blog to flood their senators and reps with demands to revisit the issue.
The massacres will not stop. We just don't know who is next!
Julian
40 comments:
Murder and gun violence are nonlinear just putting in stricter guns laws will probably not change as much as think in the US
https://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/stats/Crime/Violent-crime/Intentional-homicide-rate. Also gun ownership per capita does not seem to be well correlated with murder rates in nations. I am not against anything Julian says, I do not own a gun, never had one and do not plan on getting one. My point is gun violence, murder and so on are more subtle issues than people think.
Even if you got rid of all the large scale mass shootings like the ones we have seen in the last 10 years it would not make a big difference in difference in the murder date considering there are over 100 gun deaths every day in the US.
Just from google
Gun violence in the United States results in tens of thousands of deaths and injuries annually.[4] In 2018, the most recent year for which data are available as of 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) National Center for Health Statistics reports 38,390 deaths by firearm, of which 24,432 were by suicide.[5][6] The rate of firearm deaths per 100,000 people rose from 10.3 per 100,000 in 1999 to 12 per 100,000 in 2017, with 109 people dying per day or about 14,542 homicides in total,[7][8][9] being 11.9 per 100,000 in 2018.[10] In 2010, there were 19,392 firearm-related suicides, and 11,078 firearm-related homicides in the U.S.[11] In 2010, 358 murders were reported involving a rifle while 6,009 were reported involving a handgun; another 1,939 were reported with an unspecified type of firearm.[12] In 2011, a total of 478,400 fatal and nonfatal violent crimes were committed with a firearm.[13].
2020 and 2021 deaths went way up.
African American populations in the United States experience high amounts of firearms injury and homicide.[17][18] Although mass shootings are covered extensively in the media, mass shootings in the United States account for only a small fraction of gun-related deaths.[19] Regardless, mass shootings occur on a larger scale and much more frequently than in other developed countries. School shootings are described as a "uniquely American crisis", according to The Washington Post in 2018.[20] Children at U.S. schools have active shooter drills.[21] According to USA Today, in 2019 "about 95% of public schools now have students and teachers practice huddling in silence, hiding from an imaginary gunman."[21].
I contend that American is not nor ever has been a first world nation. I think the violence is horrible but comparing the US to UK, Sweden and so is pointless for a number of reasons. The US gun death is best compared to Central, South America or Russia and when you compare to these nations US does pretty good. The US murder rate is 5 times less than Mexico. My guess if you banned all guns you would reduce US gun deaths at most by half which is good but still higher 1st world nations.
My point is even if you put in laws like they have in Europe you will never get the same results you have in Europe, Australia or New Zealand. If you look at the North and South American, the US is on the better with only Canada being very different from the rest of the New World nations. The question is can the US be more like Canda? I think the answer is no. Putting in more gun laws will help but it will not transform our culture.
https://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/stats/Crime/Violent-crime/Intentional-homicide-rate
"Their ideological and therefore blind commitment to owning firearms with no control is the cause."
You can blame the GOP and commitment to owing firearms all you want but if you look at the nations including the US in terms of ownership firearms the correlation and causation are not exactly clear. From the data below could you please show me a trend?
https://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/stats/Crime/Violent-crime/Intentional-homicide-rate
Little chance of bipartisan action so only an executive order can get results. Watch gun sales go up immediately tomorrow. Crime is rampant in the cities, and now pretty much everywhere. Police departments have been defunded and understaffed. Borders are wide open. No one is safe. Getting scary. Seems like the lockdowns have amped up all crimes, drugs, and now mass shootings. You now have this weird combination of people not wanting gun violence but feeling they need to get guns to protect against a system that will not fund police. I even know several beyond liberal friends who got guns and training just this last year because they are afraid republicans. The whole thing is just nuts.
To the last two commentators:
Let us not rise above common sense.
1) An AR or AK or any assault weapon kills significantly more people than a hunting rifle in the same period.
2) Having control over who can own weapons helps save lives.
3) Preventing or making it difficult for deranged people to buy assault weapons saves lives.
So, if you follow statistics ,you conclude that legislation won't help?
What legislation has been passed to control guns that has not worked?
5/25/2022 7:33 AM
(1) I think legislation you propose would indeed help but maybe not as much as one would think. I can agree on just banning assault rifles but (a) Not that many killings are done with assault rifles. I think 90% or more are hand guns. (b) There are a ton of them out there already. On the other hand in the 65% of the big mass shooting use assault rifles used, and most of those the guns where legally bought in many cases within a year of the shootings, so a ban on assault riffles should reduce the number of mass shootings.
I would give a pass to people in Alaska on the assault rifles as they seem to use them in some cases for hunting and defense against animals but most states do not have polar bears, grizzlies bears or wolf packs. My broader point is that even getting rid mass shootings will reduce the big TV highlights but would not reduce overall gun crime all that much. If you are serious about reducing all gun crime getting rid of assault rifles is probably not gong help much.
(2) "Having control over who can own weapons helps save lives" this is tougher point and one would need a clear plan on how to do this.
3) "Preventing or making it difficult for deranged people to buy assault weapons saves lives:" This seems feasible and some states and cities do that. You could make it pretty strict like you need a real extended psych evaluation before you own a gun, have your records carefully checked for any kind of red flag, have waiting time and so on. I would add this for any gun period. I know some 2nd admen people would go nuts abut this but it seems petty common sense. The question is do you want a total ban on assault rifles or just checks like this. If you did this for all guns I think you could make a real dent in the gun deaths. Also I think you could get more people on board with this.
I think the three things you have proposed are indeed common sense particularly (1) and (3) and many cities already have these to varying degrees. I would look at gun crime in NYC to see get a good example of how effective these, even then you have too cautions because NYC has a very large police force. Some placed like NYC and New Jersey have those exact rules you put in and it is difficult to any kind of gun.
I think it would be very interesting conversation to see if one could ever get gun violence down to levels of much of Europe, Japan.
(some places in Europe people can get guns) and of course Norway had the worse mass shooting of all time with one guy killing over 75 people with an assault rifles. Norway is odd as they had another guy kill 5 people with crossbow. I
It would be tough in the US for a number of reasons. I read that there are maybe 400-700 millions guns in the US right now. The fact that we have no idea how many show crazy it is. Even if you did a total ban, you would probably get a big gun trade going with Mexico. It wold be strange but getting rid guns would also imply a much more careful control of the border than we have now.
How do you determine who is deranged? Even so called red-flag laws are ambiguous as to their effects on mass shooters. You make a call not to rise above common sense, and yet you have no solution except what has been tried before, throw the same stuff at the wall that didn’t stick so well, and see if it will stick this time. The ageless plea that anything is better than nothing is what I am hearing, implying that there are marginal benefits of what has been tried, and that all we must do is “turn up the gain” to get better results. When you find that decoder ring that lets you spot deranged people, let us know.
What do you think should be done?
Thank you 5/25/2022 7:33 AM
Your comments ate very constructive and you seem well informed. Reducing thr num et of massacres is the goal. For that, some control is necessary.
A couple of points
32K deaths per year from guns,60% suicides, 3% accidental, 4% justified, 33% homicides (80% of the homicides are gang related.) of the 32k deaths, 232 were by a rifle of any kind
Some things to try
(1) You could have a Federal law that someone needs to have a psychology evaluation before you can purchase a gun.
(2) If you have any crime as a minor that should be considered a red flag.
(3) If you buy a gun for someone you are partially liable. (This may already exist).
4) real background checks
5) mandatory liability insurance
6) annual state registration like a car
7) criminal and civil liability passes to gun owner (eg parents of teen shooters)
8) mandatory transparency of funds flow sources to gun lobbyists and politicians
This will do something for sure but who knows how much. Mexico for example has extremely strict gun laws yet at the same time has way more gun violence than the US.
An argument I have heard that if the US public did not have assault rifles the US government could probably win in an all out war waged on the citizens. The conspiracy is that this is what is driving these anti-assault rifle pushes not gun violence. I do not know if that is true but in terms of reducing gun deaths getting rid of assault rifles does little if you look at the actual numbers.
According to FBI statistics, gun homicides caused by all rifles (including AR-15 style rifles, the most common privately owned rifle in the US, numbering in the millions), are about 2.5% of all gun homicides. Most gun homicides are perpetrated in cities by young black men with handguns, who mostly kill other young black men. A majority of the perpetrators in those cases have existing criminal records, many with previous gun-related convictions. Most illegally-owned guns are straw-purchased for the recipients by mothers, sisters, girlfriends, and other relatives of the recipients. Such straw purchases are not prosecuted by local, state, or federal authorities, who don't want to be seen putting Grandma or Aunt Susie in jail.
Finally, gun ownership per capita is about the same in Switzerland as in the US. The gun homicide rate in the US is about 9 times that in Switzerland. It ain't the guns, it's the people.
Hey 5/25/2022 5:43 PM
1)Black on black crime has nothing to do with the violence we are talking about!
2) Gun control is working in Massachusetts. Why can their measures be adopted.
3) In Switzerland children aren't massacred.
For Scooby at 0733: The three points above sound reasonable.
An answer to the next two questions is that the US has numerous gun laws, some well-known and publicized, some obscurely hidden in trade laws and regulations, and many of all kinds in other venues. As usual, the actual count depends on who is defining and counting. The numbers range from 300, by a Brookings Institute study that admits it didn't count everything, to something like 20,000 by the NRA which probably counted everything that could be remotely associated.
The important point is, whatever the number, given what takes place the laws obviously don't make any difference. Yet what we invariably hear is, we need more of the same because this time the results will be different.
We can go on and on with stats, which will support one view or another, depending on who collects and publishes. The real issue that needs to be addressed (IMHO) is that a significant fraction of US society has seriously degenerated over the last several decades and has no concept of self-discipline or personal responsibility. This is not confined to one political party or ideology; it's all over the place and manifested in any number of ways. Simply passing more gun laws will not solve any problems.
And, of course, while I think I can identify the problem, I have no idea how to address it.
"1)Black on black crime has nothing to do with the violence we are talking about! "
It is bit odd that you dismiss half of the murders in the US as not something to talk about. If you count mass shootings as more than 3 people shot that black and black is the largest portion of mass shooting.
So far in 2022 we have over 200 mass shootings that fit this criteria of the 3 ore more
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mass_shootings_in_the_United_States_in_2022
This site goes through each one in 2022 and a huge amount are black and black and gang related.
The map shows California, Texas, Illinois and Florida hot spot states. You are right Mass, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire have none along with Idaho, Montana, Utah and Wyoming .
It seems like you are most concerned about the big events of 10 people. Sure those are bad and get all the news but when you have something close to 2 events a day of three more being shot after 365 days is up to 1500 people and is lot greater than the the 50 people killed yearly in large scale events like Texas. Again math is your friend if you want to actually make real progress.
2) Gun control is working in Massachusetts. Why can their measures be adopted.
How about Montana, Idaho, Utah and New Hampshire.
Here is odd one Mass borders NH and Vm yet these states have far less strict gun laws.
10 States with the Strongest Gun Laws:
1. California
2. New Jersey
3. Massachusetts
4. Connecticut
5. Hawaii
6. New York
7. Maryland
8. Illinois
9. Rhode Island
10. Michigan
In case you have not noticed CA, MI. Maryland, and Illinois are have whole lot of gun crime.
10 States with the Weakest Gun Laws:
1. South Dakota
2. Arizona
3. Mississippi
4. Vermont
5. Louisiana
6. Montana
7. Wyoming
8. Kentucky
9. Kansas
10. Oklahoma
I know Veromont is very safe. SD, MT, and WY are also very safe if you exclude certain lands.
Than look at this
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosmap/firearm_mortality/firearm.htm
Just from looking at these numbers it is hard to find a pattern clear pattern. If you look at bit deeper you do have some patterns.
(3) In Switzerland children aren't massacred
As the poster said it is not the guns it is the people.
I looked into Massachusetts some more. It basically is is close to some of the suggestion like extensive background checks. I agree that this is probably the best way to go at least to keep the guns out the hands of some of the crazies.
I think Mass, NJ and NY are the states that you want to focus on that do have effective gun laws that have receded crime.
The solutions should be broken down into immediate steps, intermediate steps, and and long term steps. (just a starting point of discussion)
1. Immediate
Like many USA adult venues, we need funded armed security on school grounds that are situationally aware, trained, and prepared for these scenarios
2. Intermediate
Don’t allow schools to remain “soft targets” by fortifying entrances, exits, and other easily compromised perimeter points of entry and
exits
3. Long Term
Determine the root causes to the seemingly lost traditional family unit, respect for all life, respect for the law, and respect for its officers.
What percentage of these violent offenders come from broken families, or from affluent but chronically disengaged parents?
All of us including those in leadership positions, should openly and repeatedly communicate the value of a functioning family unit to themselves, and to the community as a whole.
5/26/2022 10:29 AM
(1) and (2) look good. They already have some that but if it more widespread it would help.
(3) is problematic in number ways and will not happen and even discussing this puts you in danger of being cancelled.
"Determine the root causes to the seemingly lost traditional family unit."
There is actually a large segment of certain political parties activity against traditional families. The traditional family unit is a dog whistle for white supremacy, insurgents, Russians, and capitalism. Yet there is study after study that says coming from single parent households lead to worse results for kids. This is not some exaggeration anybody with kids in schools knows there is huge push to tear down the idea of family, or claim the entire system is rotten so just fight against every aspect of it.
"Determine the root causes to the seemingly lost traditional family unit"
Again there are forces actively working against this even at schools that equate any and every thing traditional as racists or capitalists.
" respect for the law, and respect for its officers"
Defund the police, burn it all down, ACAB.
In case you did not watch TV or the internet in 2020 there where riots every night burning, looting, murder, saying we need to get rid of the police, destroy the system, get in your face and riot. Murder went way up 2020 and 2021.
In short (3) is not tenable there are millions against this and see families as the enemy of progress.
More armed school security might help, but how do you keep them from quitting or falling asleep all day after months and months of no threats in the great majority of schools?
about 4 hours ago:
"Tammy Bruce: No one seems interested in this"
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=R51Dxb_fF68
"More armed school security might help, but how do you keep them from quitting or falling asleep all day after months and months of no threats in the great majority of schools?
5/26/2022 5:20 PM"
There has been pushback against having armed guards or police on school and college campuses as it is seen having racial overtones or that they will more likely arrest people of color. I am not kidding about this you are now starting to see collisions o contradictions. Huff post is running stories about how the police are to blame in Texas for not going in shooting yet in 2020 2021 they where yelling that we need to get rid of the police. You cannot have it both ways.
"about 4 hours ago:
"Tammy Bruce: No one seems interested in this"
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=R51Dxb_fF68
5/26/2022 6:16 PM"
A couple of things America is not as violent as evervody thinks. Sure it is worse than Europe, Japan, Aus, NZ and Canada. America should be compared more to South America, Central, and Mexico. In fact the country most similar to the the US is Brazil and American gun violence is still way lower than Brazil. America has always been violent just look murder rates. Sure it is way up in 2020 and 2021 but the rate is about the same as the 80s so we are not in some kind of uncharted territory.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/27/politics/uniform-crime-report-2020/index.html
I am not sure what the point of the Tammy Bruce thing was other than saying everything is bad but we are not in a particularly worse situation than before. It is just adding noise. By the way lots of people go to Church in Mexico and it what 5 times worse the the US. So this just going to church does not really stand up.
It looks as if this shooting in particular was a direct result of drug use -- the shooter was evidently intoxicated, having crashed his car across the street from the school. Also it was stated that his mother was a drug user, so that many of his mental health related problems may have resulted from exposure to illicit drugs in the womb, or exposure of the fetus to alcohol.
Use of illegal drugs including marijuana, can cause psychosis, paranoia, anger, and suicidal ideation. I have no doubt this may have been a contributing factor. Guns should not be sold to those who use illegal drugs or have a record of drug abuse.
Use of illegal drugs including marijuana, can cause psychosis, paranoia, anger, and suicidal ideation. I have no doubt this may have been a contributing factor. Guns should not be sold to those who use illegal drugs or have a record of drug abuse.
5/27/2022 11:02 AM
Once again there is big push do decimalize drugs and get rid of the stigma of drug use. One claim is that drug enforcement unfairly targets people of color or the poor. What we need is programs, housing and treatment for people who use drugs.
Let just put the blame on where it should be which Republican party which pushes for no gun laws, spread of hate, making people angry, lack of affordable mental health and making people poor, low taxes, and capitalism all things leading to mass shootings. Why cannot we be exactly like Denmark? They do not have poor people, they do not guns, they do not have racism, they do not have capitalism, they are way better educated, sane, kind, and rational. People are all the same it is only the will of certain people holding us back. Denmark is just the same as the US, but they do not have Republicans.
5/27/2022 11:02 AM
Drug use is an unwarranted and unnecessary assumption for which there is as of yet no evidence. Crashing the pickup truck (not "car") might just be due to the fact that the kid had no drivers license. Avoiding hyperbole and exaggeration is a mark of maturity.
conditions like Denmark won't happen here, this book goes into some of the unique reasons for their system:
Lutheranism and the Nordic Spirit of Social Democracy: A Different Protestant Ethic Paperback – August 1, 2017
by Robert H Nelson (Author)
One man's way of thinking about God has decisively shaped the political and economic rise of Nordic social democracy. 500 years ago, Martin Luther's writings led to the Reformation in the Nordic countries, and his values and beliefs shaped more than just the church. Lutheranism is one of the most important influences on the Nordic welfare system and a general belief in social democracy. Indeed, Nordic social democracy itself can be seen as a modern form of religion, or "secular Lutheranism". In Lutheranism and the Nordic Spirit of Social Democracy, Robert Nelson, an American observer and professor of political economy at the University of Maryland, brings a fresh perspective to the interrelated questions of religion, national identity, and governance in the Nordic world. Exploring how Lutheranism never went away as the true path to a new heaven on earth, Nelson shows how the form of Lutheran Nordic religion and culture changed radically, while its substance remained surprisingly unaltered.
Here is a suggestion, I suspect that this is where things are going. We need to repeal the 2nd Amendment
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/michael-moore-second-amendment_n_628f3e04e4b0cda85dbab174
We won’t acknowledge that we are a violent people to begin with. This country was birthed in violence with the genocide of the native people at the barrel of a gun. This country was built on the back of slaves with a gun to their back…We do not want to acknowledge our two original sins here that have a gun behind our ability to become who we became.
Justice John Paul Stevens’ Tuesday op-ed in the New York Times called for a repeal of the Second Amendment, which guarantees “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.
Just how to do that?
The Constitution’s Article V requires that an amendment be proposed by two-thirds of the House and Senate, or by a constitutional convention called for by two-thirds of the state legislatures. It is up to the states to approve a new amendment, with three-quarters of the states voting to ratifying it.
So right now getting 2/3 of the states to vote this way is hard. I think it will be possible in 10 years time as Texas is on its way to to turning blue. Arizona is just turning blue, CO has been blue for some time, Gr, FL, OH, is on the border but will inch toward blue soon. NC, Missouri, In. These are for sure to be blue in 10 years. If we DC and PR become states that will be the the key to get over the top.
The 2nd amendment can removed. As for the 1st admen I think it should be modified but removed. In light of the misinformation crisis we are having, something should be done. Another possibility is to add a new amendment to deal with misinformation.
I think if you look at many of Americans current problems in terms of gun violence, misinformation, poverty and mental health much of it does have to do with our Constitution which was written for a particular group of people in 1780, which where wealthy male European land owners in a time with out automatic weapons, internet or massive corporations. We have to adults and realize that we need to progress which means the United States needs to serve everyone not just a few. I think we will get there it will just take some time but in 20 years I believe this nation will be much safer and kinder nation.
5/27/2022 11:56 PM
I do not buy that story, Denmark, Norway and Sweden are great places and in many ways have thrown out religious ways of thinking and are enlightened people. I say think simply do not have republicans. My class on western history has shown much of the colonialism, imperialism and capitalism come from the Christianity that believes it is the only way and needs to conquer the world. The protestant work that lead to exploitation or workers. In fact most figures in Europe are dark, there are some rays of light like Fou
As for Lutheranism well Luther was antisemite and one of the last works Luther ever wrote was his 1543 book On the Jews and Their Lies. Luther’s ideas lead to the spread of German anti-Semitism and the rise of Nazism. You do not seen Nazis in Denmark, Sweden or Norway so your argument that Luther has influence in the Nordic nations is bunk.
The Nordic nations are secular socialist states and of course the US can have exactly what they have if we have the will. I think it is insult to educated secular people everywhere that kind, rational and good nations like the Nordic nations are that way because of religion. I simply do not believe that and it does not jive with what is being taught in Western Civ classes. Your Robert Nelson is probably some right winger trying to rewrite history.
"We must confront the cultural mess that gave us Uvalde"
"...But it’s easier to focus on firearms than it is to talk about the other cultural factors at play, which we tend to avoid because they reveal difficult truths about our society and the ways in which it has failed...Why is it, for example, that 75% of the most recent school shooters, including the 18-year-old in Uvalde, were raised in broken homes without fathers? Indeed, this background is so common among perpetrators that criminologists Michael Gottfredson and Travis Hirschi concluded after the Sandy Hook school shooting that the absence of fathers is one of the “most powerful predictors of crimes.” Boys raised without a fatherly presence are more likely to act impulsively, irrationally, and, yes, violently. They were deprived of the discipline, structure, authoritative role model, and sense of identity that a father is supposed to provide, and they suffered for it.."
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/community-family/we-must-confront-the-cultural-mess-that-gave-us-uvalde
5/29/2022 7:47 AM
You are not going anywhere with this. The idea of traditional families, fathers, mothers, responsibility, church, values like accountability are all loaded terms with racial overtones, ties into superiority of western culture, capitalism, or are seen as dog whistles for white supremacy.
Of course there is study after study saying the things you point to but if you bring this up you will either be hit by the accusations noted above or you it will claimed that the US culture of capitalism and western values creates the conditions where lack of traditional families can occur. They will argue that over policing leads to so many males in jail, that lack of drug programs leads to broken families, lack of affordable housing leads to lack of a family life, poor working wages leads to drug use, systemic racism is playing a role in making sure families cannot be stable in ways that we cannot be seen but must exists.
If you point out the the culture is the issue as I said it will go nowhere, so good luck with that. As things get worse they will double down even harder.
If you look at some easy paths to success. (1) Get a high school education,
(2) get a full time jobs. (3) Do not have kids before you are married. All the math shows that this works.
"You are not going anywhere with this. The idea of traditional families, fathers, mothers, responsibility, church, values like accountability..."
I don't necessarily disagree with you, but that doesn't change the fact it remains a root problem that requires family and leadership attention, else we will continue to politicalize symptoms over root causes.
I don't necessarily disagree with you, but that doesn't change the fact it remains a root problem that requires family and leadership attention, else we will continue to politicalize symptoms over root causes.
5/30/2022 9:24 AM
I completely agree. I also think many people know this to be true but simply do not speak out.
Why does the US have so many lone gun men mass shootings?
I found a list some of reasons why some of it makes sense other seem really far fetched.
America is the most “progressive” and “liberal” country in the world
America has the world’s highest rate of prescription psychotropic drug use
America has the world’s highest rate of untreated mental illness
America has the ugliest manmade structures in the world, creating urban environments that are alienating and dehumanizing
America is one of the most pornography-riddled countries, and also one of the least sexually active countries
America has one of the highest divorce rates in the world
America has one of the lowest marriage rates in the world
America has the highest rate of children living in single-parent homes
America has the least social cohesiveness as a result of being the most diverse country in the world
Perhaps most importantly: America has a mass intelligence apparatus with a well-documented history of running utterly amoral psychological operations against their own population
So this list included the fatherlessness which was brought up earlier .
The other is the mental illness one. I would like to know how many mass shooters where on psychotropic drugs. The mass use of putting large segment of the population on mental health drugs started in the 90s which is when the big uptick in mass shootings started so this could be a driver.
I doubt that ugly library buildings are the root cause.
Lutheranism and the Nordic Spirit of Social Democracy: A Different Protestant Ethic Paperback – August 1, 2017
by Robert H Nelson (Author)
I do not buy this and I think the opposite.
If you assume the Bible was written by Satan, it make way more sense. The high shall be brought low, and the low raised up.” Revolting against Reality. The Bible is an inherently a document for rebels and Satan was the first rebel.
"America is the most “progressive” and “liberal” country in the world"
In some sense this is true in that people have a lot of freedoms including freedom to own guns, be in cults, have strange beliefs, be part of radical groups and so on. In many places like Germany certain religions are outlawed.
"America has the world’s highest rate of prescription psychotropic drug useAmerica has the world’s highest rate of untreated mental illness"
This is a big one and the question is why? Is due to large corporations pushing drugs, big pharma, is something about the culture that makes people crazy? To many BigMacs, chemicals?
"America has the ugliest manmade structures in the world, creating urban environments that are alienating and dehumanizing"
This one is a bit weak, it should be easy to test just compare a city like Charleston SC to say Chicago, and you have a case. Now compare SF to Los Vegas and it kind of falls apart.
"America is one of the most pornography-riddled countries, and also one of the least sexually active countries"
This is interesting, I am not sure it is true. It could be connected to too many crazy people that cannot make connections to other people.
"America has one of the highest divorce rates in the world"
This is the lack of families. Another question is why is this true?
"America has one of the lowest marriage rates in the world"
Again single families and bad family lives are correlated with many of the mass shooters. Once again why is that?
One theory is corporations encourage this since single parent households the parent needs to work which means a better economy and more people working.
"America has the highest rate of children living in single-parent homes"
This is just version of the above two points.
"America has the least social cohesiveness as a result of being the most diverse country in the world"
This is actually true and was famously examined "Bowling alone". The better question was this always true or something that arrose
recently.
"Perhaps most importantly: America has a mass intelligence apparatus with a well-documented history of running utterly amoral psychological operations against their own population"
This is conspiracy land, but I suppose something like this is possible and the reason people are so crazy?
The other is the mental illness one. I would like to know how many mass shooters where on psychotropic drugs. The mass use of putting large segment of the population on mental health drugs started in the 90s which is when the big uptick in mass shootings started so this could be a driver.
5/30/2022 11:37 AM
It isn't the mentally ill that are on drugs, it is the undiagnosed mentally ill that are not on drugs but should be. Those who are diagnosed are supposed to be reported by their mental health practitioner to NICS, but most aren't. This negligence needs to be criminalized.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/30/world/canada/canada-gun-buyback.html
OTTAWA — Most owners of what Canada calls “military-style assault weapons” would be required to turn over their firearms to a government buyback program under legislation introduced on Monday, which would tighten the country’s already stringent control of firearms.
The Canadian government also announced new regulations that will ban the sale, purchase, importation or transfer of handguns. “We are capping the number of handguns in this country,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Monday.
Once again Canada shows how it should be done. How is that Canada can just put this into effect while the US cannot?
"It isn't the mentally ill that are on drugs, it is the undiagnosed mentally ill that are not on drugs but should be."
I seem to recall some reports a few years about that the number of mass shooters that are on psych meds was over 85%
selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI). This would indicate that it is such meds could be correlated. All these meds state that
they could have severe side effects.
A good question is why does the US have the highest percentage of people on these meds? Other nations are 5 to 10 times less. Could it simply be some merge of corporate and state groups like big pharma that simply push this or is that people in the US are just so crazy that we need everyone on. North America, in particular the US is the highest overall use of psych drugs, Asia the lowest with 30 times less use.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34801129/
For some numbers 17% of people in the US on on psych med right now, up 35% have been on them at some time. That was in 2019 with Covid it now close to 24%. Young people are the highest at 25%.
So if these diagnosed mentally ill people were not on drugs they'd be better behaved? If so why were they diagnosed mentally ill in the first place?
So if these diagnosed mentally ill people were not on drugs they'd be better behaved? If so why were they diagnosed mentally ill in the first place?
5/31/2022 6:11 PM
Psych meds can under some circumstances make things worse, this is a known factor and why all these meds have warning labels. If it works well in 99% of the cases and in 1% where it makes things worse. If you have 40 million people on this stuff that is 400k that it goes wrong, we only have a about 3 or 4 of these mass killing every year. In fact mass killings of 5 or more only account for about 30 people every year which is around 1% of all the murders every year. More than half of the rests are inner cities gang violence. Mass shootings make the headlines but are not really where all the numbers are. Also I doubt many gang members are on psych meds. If you remove certain demographics from the gun violence murder rate the US drops by a large margin and is not too far off from what
you find in other Western Nations. Also the amount of guns per people does not make much since when compared Finland and Switzerland so just gun ownership alone is not the sole reasons for high crime rates. Again Mexico has vastly stricter laws than the US but the murder rate is 5 times what the US is.
Off track again. The US cannot possibly afford the mental health care cost of treating every Republican.
The US can easily make ownership or sales of military assault weapons as illegal as ownership or sales of hand grenades.
The President can mobilize the National Guard to stand watch over our public schools during this emergency.
The States can easily make the minimum age for ownership of a weapon the same as the legal age for drinking and voting.
But don't expect any of that to happen while more than half of the governing politicians in the US are in the pay of the military arms industry.
6/04/2022 4:40 PM
I agree with what you are saying, you are the voice of reason in this madness.
"The US cannot possibly afford the mental health care cost of treating every Republican."
That is close to 100 million people and that would cost a lot of money. Not to mention you have have to get psychiatrists to agree that just being a republican makes you mentally ill, which I am thinking they will not due. So you have to make an executive order that all republicans are mentally ill and would need to pay for their own treatment. Also some psychiatrists may actually also be republicans. Well maybe not after all republicans do not go school. I do not think there has even been a republican who has ever graduate Harvard. Now there are plenty of Democrats NMSU.
"The President can mobilize the National Guard to stand watch over our public schools during this emergency"
States have some say in this so it is not as straightforward as you think. Not to mention in may not work and it is kind of odd to have soldiers in you schools. Also most most kids killed in schools are still with hand guns and are gang related.
"The US can easily make ownership or sales of military assault weapons as illegal as ownership or sales of hand grenade"
"The States can easily make the minimum age for ownership of a weapon the same as the legal age for drinking and voting"
Not true.
This make total sense as well as all mass shootings have been done with 'military assault weapon" could you give a definition of what one is?
'But don't expect any of that to happen while more than half of the governing politicians in the US are in the pay of the military arms industry."
Oh, yes that is the only reason. By the way did you think about anything you posted? You are a true Midwit
Midwit Described by Vox Day as "individuals of above average intelligence, yet not too far from average".
Generally found in the 105-120 IQ range. These are the people who are considered "gifted" in primary school and perhaps "honors" in high school. In the same vein, they either think of themselves as "smart but lazy" or perform well in school yet do poorly/mediocre on standardized testing. May attend a low-tier university or none at all. Almost always very online, with strong opinions that lack nuance.
Midwits are truly cursed to be neither blissfully dumb nor reap the benefit of being of superior intelligence or a genius. They can grasp general concepts, but are less capable of digging deeper, understanding nuance, or adapting quickly to complex problems, leading to an entire middle class of perpetually unhappy, often vaguely angry people.
Midwits are truly cursed to be neither blissfully dumb nor reap the benefit of being of superior intelligence or a genius. They can grasp general concepts, but are less capable of digging deeper, understanding nuance, or adapting quickly to complex problems, leading to an entire middle class of perpetually unhappy, often vaguely angry people.
6/05/2022 12:16 AM
Excellent arguments for maintaining the status quo, and not upsetting the lifestyle of all the pols paid off by the manufactures of weapons meant for only one thing, killing and maiming as many people as possible as quickly as possible.
Relax, nothing will come of the latest slaughter, the Dimocrats are too busy trying to pass yet another taxpayer funded giveaway
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