Mass shooting in my state

[Terramirabilis]

Another mass shooting in the US and this one is close to home. Local media are saying 13 students dead and 20+ injured. When are people going to see sense on gun control. I just don't understand this.

twitter.com/hashtag/UCCShooting?src=hash

Well that's just ridiculous hyperbole on his part Roussette. People here live their lives as normal and in general do not live in fear. Yes, shootings happen more frequently but the odds of being caught up in one are still extremely low. The average person does not carry a gun or even own one.

Personally I don't answer the door because it's usually bible bashers, I'm not scared of being shot.

I absolutely would refuse to work in the US and send my children to school there, if anyone is asking.

The risks still may be relatively small but they are enormous compared to just about any other country in the world.

I thought Obama's speech was excellent and so moving.

If only a gun were as easy to regulate as a uterus .....

I get what you're saying AHypnotist and I'm only saving secondhand, but one thing is sure, percentage wise the odds are far higher over there. I've never lived in the States, so I honestly don't know what daily life is like, I just know figures.

It's getting pretty common now & TBH, I'm not sure why the UK media feel the need to cover it in such depth,

I'm sure there must have been some massacres in other countries this week (children setting off bombs in Nigeria and killing 15 for example) - but it doesn't tug the heartstrings like someone crying in your own language I suppose...

"NinjaLeprechaun, I don't buy the 'guns don't kill people, people kill people' argument."
That's not really what I was trying to say.
This: "I truly think that there is something deeply wrong with American society that makes people see mass killing as an option for them. It's more than just availability of guns IMO." Is what I was trying to say.

Absolutely there should be limits and restrictions on gun ownership - there's no need at all for assault rifles or handguns, to begin with - but an outright ban is not only impossible, it's impractical for a number of reasons.
So, given that a ban is not going to happen - although I certainly hope that something will - the most important question is how to fix the societal problem.

Salon's take on it

So far they've recovered 13, yes 13, weapons connected to the killer. How? What madness is this - to be able to get one weapon is bad enough, but 13?

When Dunblane happened, I was 3 months pregnant with my now 19 yo DD. No one at work knew I was expecting, and I remember weeping over the photocopier for those little children... those were innocent days, and that was an atrocity that etched itself into Britain's psyche. So many years later and America has suffered so many more school shootings.

I think there should be a ban on ammunition sales unless people can prove why they need the bullets. Guns can be made via 3D printing, but I dont think ammo can?

there haven't actually been 45 school shootings this year. Not in the sense that most people would understand anyway.

This is one of the 'shootings':

www.nbcmontana.com/news/student-shoots-gun-into-montana-tech-apartment-floor/35565358 (gun went off accidentally)

And this

www.wcnc.com/story/news/crime/2015/09/22/central-elem-on-lockdown-after-reported-shooting/72630324/ (woman shoots her husband outside of a school, injuring him)

UK homicide rate:

• white victims 0.80 per 100,000
• black victims 3.3 per 100,000

US homicide rates:

• white victims - 0.74 per 100,000
• black victims - 6.40 per 100,000

So black people in both the UK and US are much more likely to be homicide victims. In the US blacks are 8.5 more likely to be killed, and in the UK 4.1 more likely.

However, the fact is that the average (i.e. white) American has a LOWER risk of being murdered than the average (i.e. white) Briton.

So anyone saying that there is 'enormous risk' in the US, is talking nonsense, frankly.

John Oliver did a Daily Show piece on gun control comparing the US to Australia where tighter control was placed on guns after a mass shooting. It is available on youtube and is very interesting especially his interviews with gun lobbyists.

So sad. I was heartened to see Obama reported as saying that things must change though.

One of the scariest things I saw in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook shooting was a facebook post from an otherwise rational, compassionate, perfectly normal friend from the US.

She wrote: 'when will America realise that they only way to prevent these tragedies is to arm our teachers'

I just can't get over a national psyche that sees armed teachers as a more obvious and preferable solution to gun control.

'It's getting pretty common now & TBH, I'm not sure why the UK media feel the need to cover it in such depth, '

I don't think anything will change within my lifetime. Or that of my children.
The only positive that I can see is that th USA provides continuous first-hand evidence that armed citizens with free access to very heavy-grade weapons are a bad idea, and that if we (the rest of the 'advanced countries' as Obama put it) want to avoid decending into the same insanity, we'll continue to restrict gun ownership.
Every time citizens might think otherwise, there's another mass shooting to remind us all what the consequences will be.

shows how many shootings there's been this year

Interested in your figures Rockroll.

The firearm related death rate per 100,000 of population are...
US 10.64
UK 0.26

There's no getting away from the fact that the Oregon shooting is the 994th mass gun shooting in the last three years. 300 have occurred this year. A mass shooting is classed as 4 or more people killed. Apparently there are many many more with for instance 3 killed and many with life changing injuries.

Whilst the organisation National Rifle Association exists, nothing will change, I fear. They bankroll the politicians and the gun industry funnel millions of $ to the NRA. They have huge influence over Washington and are a hugely wealthy organisation with immense power. They censor government data about gun crime, I don't think the public know half of it. They've blocked the renewal of the ban on assault and military weapons being available and have pushed for laws allowing the public to carry weapons openly. They and the gun industry are co-joined, so the NRA are there to protect the freedom of the gun industry to manufacture and sell any weapons they want to whoever they want.

So Kinder eggs are illegal in the US but a 26 year old can effortlessly buy 13 weapons and go and murder.

Apart from the length of it, the worse thinking about that list is the number of
"Unknown" there is for the name of the gunman. :(

So anyone saying that there is 'enormous risk' in the US, is talking nonsense, frankly.

OK, factor in death by shooting and see how those stats change.

If the UK had gun controls to compare to the USA's lack how would those figures then change?

Sorry - missed Roussettes post....

Murders by shooting in the UK:
Gun Murders in England, Scotland and Wales 2011/12
There were 640 Murders / Homicides in Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) in 2011/12 (10.43 per million population)
Of these 640 Murders / Homicides, 44 involved a gun or firearm as the main weapon. Gun murders in Britain in 2011/12 represent 6% of the murder cases, (0.72 gun homicides per million population).

In 2013, in the USA
Firearm homicides :
Number of deaths: 11,208
Deaths per 100,000 population: 3.5

So per million, that's 35 USA compared to 0.72 UK

Your figures are totally different to mine Mischief upthread. What I read said this..

The firearm related death rate per 100,000 of population are...
US 10.64
UK 0.26

My heart leapt into my throat when I first heard the news. My darling niece attends university in Oregon. My thoughts and prayers are with those who have lost loved ones.

Statistics are very fluid, it depends on the year and who is counting what.

Rousette and mischief, the difference (i'd guess) between your figures is 35/0.72 per 100,000 homicide rate, vs 10.64/0.26 per 100,000 death rate (Including accidental death etc)

Oh bollocks, i got the homocide rates wrong, they're the numbers per million. Point still stands though