Oh, I so wish I could comment on the FaceBook thread that popped up on my feed today--the one where gun fans are bemoaning the lack of morality and good parenting skills that lead to all these mass shootings by young people. But since it's a "friend of a friend" posting, I could only share it. No thanks. But I'll comment briefly here.
I would really like to ask these folks: so which country should we turn to, to emulate their morality and parenting style? England? Germany? Japan? Sweden? Australia? Canada? Any of the other countries that have a) young people, b) mental illness, c) video games, d) crime, --but nothing like the amount of gun violence we have in the US--because there are many.
Seriously, which should we turn to? Because I have a feeling when we go hat in hand to Australia to ask how on earth they manage to avoid mass shootings, they're not going to talk about parenting skills or morality. They're going to say, "It's your f***ing guns, you idiots."
I haven't commented on the Santa Barbara shooting on FaceBook. Since I'm venting a little bit, I thought I'd bring my comments here. But there's much that could be said, and I feel for Richard Martinez as he voices the outrage and grief that many of us have felt as we witness one horrific shooting after another.
I do think there's a discussion to be had about the shooter's mental state and how he was able to be so well-armed after being so troubled. But it's not poor parenting skills that lead to close to 300 people being shot every day in the US. There's something else in the equation. And we all know what it is.
You want to watch a very uncomfortable 2:15 of video--watch the video below. You want to be ashamed of what some people in this country have become? Read the comments on the YouTube page below the video.
5 comments:
Another common tactic: "It's not the guns, it's the mental illness!" Good idea! Maybe we should have some sort of screening process before people buy guns, and a waiting period to allow a background check. That's an idea the pro-gun crowd would support, right? Right?
A very emotional appeal, my heart goes out to this man and the families of the other victims. It does of course take more than emotion to solve complex social issues. I wonder if there is data on the frequency and severity of mass shootings over time. We tend to look at history from our own perspectives. I have done some cursory research and if my small amount of research is correct, the frequency of these incidents has increased over a relative short period of time. This would indicate that there is something else going on here outside of our ‘F’ing Guns’. The first major federal regulation of firearms began in the 1950s, my research suggested that before the 1950s mass shootings were rare at a time when there was far less in the way of regulation. Of course since that time regulation has been expanded and yet these incidents persist. It would seem there is more to this issue than gun regulation, call it bad parenting, lack of morals, the breakdown of the family. In my opinion it’s likely a complex combination of all of these things.
I appreciate your comments, but again, if it were these kinds of things: bad parenting, breakdown of the family, why does it only happen in the US? The rest of the world is immune to these problems? To me, it's kind of ridiculous to suggest that mass shootings are *caused* by gun regulation (and I'm not sure if you're seriously suggesting this)--if anything, the anecdotal evidence suggests that as we've weakened gun control laws, mass shootings have increased. To say that we have "regulation" of guns in the first place is to give regulation a bad name. We have a patchwork of poorly-coordinated laws, which have been weakened considerably by the NRA and their congressional allies over the past 20 years.
On the other hand, I agree that it's a complex problem and we need to look at more than guns to find the solution.
Izzy/SW
There are, to be sure, multiple factors...but I would point to a couple that "Anonymous" does not mention. First, our increasingly polarized political environment (and http://m.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/05/dysfunction/371544/ outlines that clearly) means that "pro-gun" folks feel compelled to amp up their defensiveness, resisting not only thorough proposals to restrict guns (if there are any) but also nearly any sort of impediment to anyone carrying any weapon anywhere at any time. And...sadly, it's become glaringly apparent that the election of Obama has caused a lot of submerged racism to emerge...and along with it, a wave of irrational intolerance of all sorts. The apparently immunity of the right to, you know, reality, and facts, and proof - evident in everything from "birthers" to slurs about Obama's religion, to the repeated claims that "Obama's coming to get your guns" (zero evidence for that) - is probably part of it too.
Short version: A lot of people on the right have totally lost their shit - and some of them are violent. And mental problems or no, many of these shooters have had connections to right-wing groups.
Ok the Blogspot mobile app sucks, I’ve been trying to respond for days. Venting rant over. BTW this is Rob I’m trying to find my latest log in for the site.
Well you gentlemen both get credit for maintaining the script but while you were busy attacking the NRA and Conservatives in general you certainly missed my point. Using Wikipedia as a source, if you look at the frequency of these incidents from the 1800s a pattern of increase is noted particularly since the 1990s. I believe it was the 1950s when the first serious federal regulation was passed and regulation has increased since. I am not suggesting that regulation is responsible for the increase, it is obvious the it has had little to do with an increase or decrease. This leads me to believe there is something more at work here. The explanation that recent changes have increased these incidents is not supported by the facts, ie the Sandy Hook shooter stole his firearms, this recent shooter passed the background checks, and the assault weapons ban was in full force for Columbine, etc. This has to do with acts not access, sorry to sound like a broken record, but I am willing to if the evidence is there. Extra credit for the comparison to the last 20 years but if you keep going back there is a different picture painted and there’s little explanation if you are trying to say expanded CCW or the expiration of the assault weapons ban is responsible. This is due to changes in our society and it really has little to do with gun ownership. There has always been gun ownership in this country and there are countless communities with high per capita gun ownership rates with little crime and violence.
As for racism Mr. N, well you have the right to believe what you want. My issues with Mr. Obama are related to his policies, his disregard for the effects they have on the economy, and his disregard for the Constitution. I don’t care if he is black and I’m pretty sure that I, for the most part, have my sh%# together. :)
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