GRcade

BBC News wrote:Three people have been killed and 15 injured after a gunman attacked a food festival in California. The gunman was shot dead by police shortly after he began firing, although police are investigating reports that a second suspect may still be at large. The Gilroy Garlic Festival was about to end for the weekend on Sunday evening, when shots were fired at the site.

Click for source.

Regrettably, the frequency of shootings in America can often make us quickly pass over stories like this. But then you see the stats:

...It was the 246th mass shooting in the US this year, according to US tracking website Gun Violence Archive.

...In total, it estimates that 8,434 people have died as a result of gun violence in the US in 2019 so far.

Absolutely incredible; totally shocking.

Rest in peace.

Sadly I think it will be a long, long time before America starts to fix its problems.

There’ll be another civil war in America before they start to sort themselves out.

As I said in the US Politics thread, it's a shame something like this has happened again, but the outcome is the best result one could have really hoped for in a scenario such as this, and with the safeguards available to them. Guns aren't going anywhere, there's no plan to even attempt to decrease them, and I think most people have probably long since accepted this by now, so you have two or three options on the table. Arm yourself and hope for the best, don't arm yourself and hope somebody else is - whether that be the police or a member of the public - or choose a gun free zone that as far as you're aware is properly policed and 'fenced off', as this one was on both counts. It just so happened this bloke(s) decided to use bolt cutters or whatever to get in.

Corazon de Leon wrote:There’ll be another civil war in America before they start to sort themselves out.

Depends who wins it...

Garlic is srious bidness

(Can we take the number of dead out the topic title please)

They didn't do anything after Sandy Hook - so they're never going to do anything.

America made its bed.

It's rather sad that even the deaths of loads of kids isn't enough for a nation to decide that gun culture may need a change.
I think it has to do with how many american people are told they're in constant threat of being attacked so they need protection at all times. I've seen quite a few video's of people from America who move to the UK and they comment about how nice it is to walk about and not feel like they need to worry about safety all the time.

Yeah I cannot fathom the sequence of events that would be required for the US to actually do something tangible about guns.

More than 10,000 people are murdered each year in the US with guns. More than double that commit suicide with a gun. Is that not enough?

As Peter Crisp says the excuse seems to be that the average US citizen believes that without guns thousands more would be killed by evil people wishing to destroy them. But there is zero evidence from any other nation that restricted firearms access will result in such a situation.

The idea that things have got so bad that some schools have regular drills about what to do in a shooting situation should tell them something isn't right.

Hexx wrote:They didn't do anything after Sandy Hook - so they're never going to do anything.

Thats it in a nutshell, if the slaughter of 6 year olds is not enough to prompt a change nothing will be enough. Nothing short of a revolution or civil war will change things at this stage.

Rax wrote:revolution

jawafour wrote:But then you see the stats:

Just to point out - there were 14 mass shootings in the US in the last week

One with higher fatalities,

Jenuall wrote:Yeah I cannot fathom the sequence of events that would be required for the US to actually do something tangible about guns.

It would require the draining of dark money from the political system. Starting with a Supreme Court decision in the 1970s, money has been steadily corrupting the country's political system ever since. As a result, many politicians, particularly on the right, but also in the Democratic party and in other, smaller groups, are entirely beholden to their donors.

That's why, when voting machine manufacturers donate to Mitch McConnell, he shuts down election security bills.

Many wealthy corporations have a stranglehold on legislation now, that should have no place anywhere near it.

I'm fairly certain that, without the corrupting influence of money, you'd see a marked decline in political polarization, and a renewed drive to regulate industry and protect the country's elections.

Sadly, it'll take Democratic supermajorities to convene a Constitutional Convention to amend the Constitution and get rid of dark money, and I don't think that we'll ever see that happen.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-49158979

That country is so broken and beyond repair.

America: oh no, there's been another shooting in our country.
Also America: the second amendment still exists

If any other country had the same rate of shootings as America, Trump would call them a shithole.

Cheeky Devlin wrote:https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-49158979

That country is so broken and beyond repair.

That story is just shocking and, were that not enough, the final line reports:

Authorities say 48 people were shot in Chicago over the weekend, with eight fatalities.

Not a new thought, I know, but... America's relationship with guns is incredible. Sure, it's people, not guns, that make decisions to attack / kill other people, but surely something has to change when you consider the huge number of injuries and deaths occurring.