Did you know that, as of last year, firearms are the leading cause of death for children in the United States

[Tuesdayvibes]

Nothing will done, though, will it?

My sister lives in the states. She cares. She volunteered for the Dems and supports anti-gun legislation. But she is one person, or one of a few, and therefore powerless in the face of the NRA.
I worry about her and her children so much. She is in a red state, too. She owns no guns.

The gun culture in ingrained at a very early age in the USA, as well as hunting. Nobody dare take a stand because it will very unpopular. It's like they're brainwashed.
Get rid of the guns, get rid of the problem.

Sadly I am not surprised.

One small step I would have is not to allow into the UK any senator or representative who votes against measures of gun control. Seek the EU to do the same. After all, if they had assaulted a child and been convicted, their entry would probably be denied.

Saturday Night Special and all that. (And Lynyrd Skynrd were conspicuously anti gun for Alabamans. (?).

What you might call the first mass US shooting arguably happened in 1966

https://www.texastribune.org/2022/06/01/texas-tower-shooting-myth-good-guy-with-gun/

So there have been 57 years to sort things out.

I'm wondering if you could get even more of a bonus if siblings are killed. Since it's obviously there's no intention to sort things out someone else may as well profit, rather than just the gun manufacturers.

If making it illegal to shoot people doesn't work, why would making it illegal to own a gun work?

It does work.
Australia had a huge number of gun deaths and when ownership was restricted deaths fell hugely.

The amount of shootings being reported now seems like the country is at war!
Apparently you can buy rucksacks that are bulletproof but only from one type of gun not others at a cost of approx $300
Fucking insane
I will never go to the states and would impress on my children strongly never to move there either!

Also you’re assuming that everyone owning a gun will be completely sensible, will never have or develop mental health issues, will never go through a crisis, will never forget to lock it away, will never suffer rage and do something stupid, will never lend it to someone else etc etc

Humans are flawed- that’s the problem, so the only solution is to restrict access.

I saw a statistic at the start of Covid that was something like

March 2020 was the first March since 2002 that had no school shootings in the states.

Depressing as fuck.

The 2nd amendment means that the process of restricting gun ownership is very very difficult. Even being a convicted felon isn't enough in some states.

If making it illegal to shoot people doesn't work, why would making it illegal to own a gun work?

People who want to shoot other people will always get hold of guns, but restricting gun ownership, and requiring guns in the home to be stored safely, as in the UK, might at least reduce the number of 'accidental' shootings, such as the one referred to above, when a child finds a loaded gun that's been left lying around.

I don't understand how people armed worth guns are getting access to schools?

Well, they do and are. Frequently.

Because the teachers don't have guns, of course.

I also fear things have gone too far for anything to change.
The problem with lots of people having guns is that even more people will want guns, to defend themselves against the many people who have guns. You'll probably end up with a whole country armed and NRA laughing all the way to the bank.

Well it seems to work everywhere else ,ye's there will alway,s who want to.wreck carnage ,but if they can't have access to guns,and access to firearms are tightly controlled,then it will massively limit who can have firearms .

Yes, I knew this. I’ve got a lot of family in the States - some pro gun, some anti gun. One of my cousin’s children on the anti gun side is now so anxious about a school shooting that he’s refusing to go. But on the pro gun side they trot out ‘Cain killed Abel with a rock but we don’t ban rocks…’ and such like.

If the right to bear arms is so precious to the Americans, and enshrined in the 2nd Amendment, why not simply ban the sale of ammunition?

Yes it’s not just men

No nothing will be done op

As long as Americans are honest and accept that mass shootings are the price they are happy to pay to keep their precious seconds amendment, it shouldn't be a problem.

I spent a weekend with a couple who were members of the NRA and I know understand how America is so screwed up. You could not talk to them about gun control etc.

I went to their local supermarket. I had to show Id to buy a bottle of wine but if I wanted to buy a gun I did not.

I agree that Sandy Hook is when a lot of people realised that there is no hope of real change.

If a country can see 20 five year olds literally torn into pieces by a semiautomatic, and not do anything, then nothing will ever change. Not significantly anyway.

The Republican-packed courts are a big problem. I used to live in a city that had a very restrictive gun law that was cancelled by the Supreme Court. How is that democracy? Shouldn't people be able to decide they don't want guns in their own community?

Any sane person could read the 2nd Amendment and see that it allows restrictive gun laws but as long as the courts rule differently, then nothing will change.

This has to be one of the most ridiculous things I've read anywhere.

People do dangerous, harmful, and criminal things for all sorts of reasons. It could be because they don't care, because they've acted on impulse due to rage, fear, or illness, or they do it because they're mentally unwell and believe it the right thing. There are more reasons.

If you take away the guns noone can act on impulse. Noone can shoot anyone by accident. Noone acts out of fear because you have no reason to assume that the other person has a gun.

Of course, if you're very cold and calculated you will find ways to acquire a gun for criminal purposes but that's the same with anything illegal. It will, however, make it easier to find said criminal because there are fewer guns and retailers to choose from.

This. I see them up in horror, crying about mass shootings but the majority will not give up their guns. The people that refuse to give up their guns are simply stating their right to own a firearm is more important than their own children's lives or any child's for that matter.
I mean a young boy was shot twice in America because he rang on the wrong doorbell. Once when he was on the ground. Yet the family is having to fight to try and get the homeowner charged.
The majority simply don't care about peoples lives as much as weapons.

Another aspect to this is that the majority of gun deaths inn the USA are suicides (many of them children/adolescents). Of course people can take their own lives without guns, but an attempt with a gun is very likely to be successful. My understanding is that most of those who unsuccessfully attempt suicide later say they are grateful to still be alive. Access to guns makes that a lot less likely.