Gun Control & RKBA
Related: About this forumWhy number of US mass shootings has risen sharply
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Different definitions exist for what constitutes a mass shooting, but non-profit the Gun Violence Archive - which counts shootings where four or more people are killed or injured, excluding the gunman - has tracked 40 such incidents in the US since the start of the year.
It is the highest number of mass shootings on record for any January, according to the organisation that publicly tracks gun-related deaths and injuries in the US.
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Data shows that all types of gun violence - from homicide to suicide to mass shootings - are on a mostly upwards trajectory in the US.
In 2019, the total number of gun-related deaths in the US was 33,599. In 2022, the number of deaths rose to 44,290 - a 31% increase. Most of these deaths are suicides by a firearm, followed by homicides.
While mass shootings often draw alarm, they make up a small fraction of gun-related deaths - in 2020, mass shooting victims made up 1.1% of overall firearm deaths.
Still, active shooter incidents have seen a sharp rise in recent years - nine of the 10 deadliest mass shootings in the US occurred after 2007.
Link - https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64377360
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I don't have the answer to solve this but it is an epidemic that must be dealt with and the sooner the better. It is simply too damn easy to get guns in America. Perhaps that is the place to start. Make harder to get one.
bucolic_frolic
(46,823 posts)For the longest while I thought moms, wives, girlfriends would stem the tide, appeal to peace and prosperity and future and career. That idea went up in a blaze of gunfire.
The shooters are angry, inhumane, disconnected from empathy, love, relevance, and life-sustaining purpose.
Have many or any of them sought mental health treatment? We don't know. Are psychologists failing, or out of the loop?
Are drugs usually involved? Any studies?
Praying to God and vibing warm thoughts ain't working. Especially after the fact.
In my view at this moment, this issue needs outside interpretation. And by that I mean a high level psychological and sociological study, with a heavy weight of professional opinion from academic and clinician circles OUTSIDE the U.S.A. Because we ain't getting it done.
AndyS
(14,559 posts)prevented any gun related study 'for the purpose of gun control'. That was interpreted to mean ANY study of guns and violence. Academia halted all studies into guns for fear of losing all funding for all studies Only in the last few years has that amendment been loosened somwhat.
It still has a very detrimental effect on any scientific look at causes and remedies to gun violence.
It is the Dickey amendment.
Jrose
(1,332 posts)Notice that the huge wave in shootings over the past several months coincides with the reinstatements of racist, anti-Semitic, fascistic accounts to Twitter and Facebook.
nightwing1240
(1,996 posts)Very good observation on your part, thank you.
Jrose
(1,332 posts)As clearly shown by Trump's loud, angry, lie-filled incitement of the Jan. 6, 21 mob attack, words broadcast over the air, on social media and in large gatherings can have dire consequences.
Paladin
(28,734 posts)But blaming words will make you very popular in this region of DU.
Irish_Dem
(56,330 posts)Demonize various groups to make them targets.
This makes for a numb, docile, apathetic populace.
Perfect setting for the GOP to achieve their goal of permanent power.
Welcome to DU!
Scrivener7
(52,564 posts)getting opportunities.
And each mass shooting eggs on the other radically conservative mediocre white guys and makes a mass shooting seem really keen to them, so they go out and do it.
Figuring this out is not rocket science. The media just won't say it.
AndyS
(14,559 posts)25% were motivated by far right ideology and the remainder almost entirely a personal grievance.
25% is a big number.
ancianita
(38,369 posts)to the toxic online environment, whether it's mainstream media or favorite FUD sites, reinforced randomly in social settings, even in healthy arenas like sports; chronic elevation of adrenaline addiction & cortisone elevation at the physical levels, across live and media environments.
Thinking becomes incapacitated and continually validated by others' incapacitated communications. It's unsustainable. The only choice seems to be to desperately end it, inflicting death either on those nearest, 'foreign' others, or one's self.
Mix guns and conflict driven news environments with no other ways and means to sort things out, a murder/suicide solution becomes front and center as the only way through it all.
Studies have shown that red flag laws help save lives. But the breakdown across red flag and non-red flag states needs more public exposure, even if gun owners in non-red flag states seem too far gone.
It would be more helpful to everyone if studies were done on the common biochemical cause(s) between the 25% and 75%. Then make direct recommendations to state institutions, lawmakers, & public. I'd bet is such studies they'd prove that gun deaths, for either reason, are now a national public health crisis. That should be outside the purview of the Dickey amendment. With media coverage of such pronouncements, money that's been cut off for medicaid and institutional help in red states might re-appear.
Just my lurker opinion.
usonian
(13,581 posts)How about a psychological test for gun buyers?
Could start with a simple question: "Who is President of the United States?"
That would rule out a lot of deranged people right away.
P.S. Here's an article on psychological screening for cops.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/cop-doc/201709/pre-employment-psychological-screening-cops
yagotme
(3,816 posts)I'm getting tired of the news reports of someone murdering someone, and their name is followed by the statement "Who has a lengthy police record". Ask New Yorkers about the effects of the catch and release program they currently have. Violent assaulters are getting out before the ink is dry on the police report. If some of these violent individuals get away with one thing, well, then, why not move on up the felony ladder? They weren't "punished" for their priors, so why not???