Another Shooting, 14 students, 1 teacher dead
14 students, one teacher killed in Texas elementary school shooting
This is like a plague which keeps growing in intensity.
“The suspected shooter, who might have had a pistol and a rifle, was fatally wounded in the law enforcement response. The attack was at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, about 83 miles west of San Antonio.”
“It is believed that he abandoned his vehicle, then entered into the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde with a handgun, and he may have also had a rifle,”
“Weapons promoter” and Governor Abbott said in a news briefing.
It sounds like many children, etc. were also wounded.
They still won’t do anything and neither will SCOTUS.
Scalia really was an asshole.
18 children. Not that the numbers matter. This is obscene.
Joel:
22 dead now. 18 students.
19 children and two adults are killed in a Texas elementary school shooting, the authorities say
NY Times – May 24
(Plus the shooter.)
The FBI released a report showing a steep rise in ‘active’ shooters on Monday
NY Times – May 24
(In our country where there are more privately-owned firearms than there are people, and gun-ownership is a cherished Constitutional right, this is just going to go on and on. Consider it a curse.)
After all, far more US people don’t get killed by firearms every day than DO get killed.
So that at least is something.
Hmmm. Is this anything?
Guns Now Kill More Children and Young Adults Than Car Crashes
Scientific American – May 5, 2022
A Change in the Leading Cause of Death among US Children
NEJM – April 21, 2022
https://www.britannica.com/event/Port-Arthur-Massacre
Port Arthur Massacre
Australia [1996]
Port Arthur Massacre, mass shooting in and around Port Arthur, Tasmania, Australia, on April 28–29, 1996, that left 35 people dead and some 18 wounded; the gunman, Martin Bryant, was later sentenced to 35 life terms. It was the country’s worst mass murder, and it led to stricter gun controls, notably a near ban on all fully automatic or semiautomatic firearms.
At the time of the attacks, Bryant was 28 years old and living in New Town, a suburb of Hobart. He was intellectually disabled, with a history of erratic behaviour. He left school early and later received a disability pension following a psychiatric evaluation. In 1987 he began working as a handyman for Helen Harvey, a lottery heiress, and the two became close friends. In 1992 she died in a car accident that left Bryant severely injured. Some speculated that he caused the crash, since he was known to grab the wheel while Harvey was driving. However, he denied any wrongdoing. As the sole inheritor of Harvey’s estate, Bryant became wealthy. After his father committed suicide in 1993, Bryant traveled extensively and allegedly began to stockpile guns.
On April 28, 1996, Bryant drove to the Seascape Cottage (also called Seascape Guesthouse), a nearby inn that his father had once tried to purchase. Police believe that it was at this point that Bryant killed the owners. He then drove to the historic site of Port Arthur, a former penal colony that had been transformed into a popular tourist destination. After eating at a café, he pulled a semiautomatic rifle out of a duffel bag and began shooting. Within approximately two minutes, 20 people were dead. He continued his killing spree as he escaped in his car. He later stole another vehicle after killing its occupants at a toll booth, and he stopped at a gas station, where he fatally shot a woman and took a hostage. Bryant then returned to the Seascape Cottage. Once police arrived, they surrounded the inn and tried unsuccessfully to negotiate with Bryant, who shot at them. On the morning of April 29 he set the building on fire and was apprehended when he fled. Investigators later found three bodies inside.
Even before Bryant’s capture, talk had begun about tightening Australia’s gun laws. Less than a month after the massacre, federal and state legislators—led by Prime Minister John Howard—crafted the National Firearms Agreement. It created extensive licensing and registration procedures, which included a 28-day waiting period for gun sales. In addition, it banned all fully automatic or semiautomatic weapons, except when potential buyers could provide a valid reason—which did not include self-defense—for owning such a firearm. The federal government also instituted a gun-buyback program, which resulted in the surrender of some 700,000 firearms. Although gun-related deaths dropped dramatically, the new rules were sharply criticized by gun-rights advocates.
Bryant, who never provided a reason for the massacre, pled guilty in 1996. He received 35 life terms as well as various other sentences for additional charges.
Oddly enuf, the right to bear arms is apparently rooted in English ‘common law’; i.e. it appears in the English Bill of Rights (1689). However, for good reason, both Australia & New Zealand have made huge ‘adjustments’. Canada also?
We have it in our Bill of Rights ostensibly because the Brits have it (Protestants only?)
Passages of Arms: The English Bill of Rights and the American Second Amendment
… Historical and legal ambiguity and nuance adhere not only to the circumstance of the 1689 Bill of Rights but also to its Article VII in which the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and the Commons, declared that their rights and liberties included “[t]hat the Subjects which are Protestants may have Arms for their Defence suitable to their Conditions, and as allowed by Law.” …
Canada Bans Assault Weapons in Wake of Deadly Mass Shooting
NY Times – May 1, 2020
It isn’t really in the “English Bill of Rights”. There are all kinds of restrictions on gun ownership in Great Britain. Lots of scholarly arguments on the subject but the reality is what it is.
But it is, actually. Ok, ‘Protestants only’, BUT only ‘as allowed by Law’, so they enact restrictions as they see fit. More than US presumably.
“Protestants may have Arms for their Defence suitable to their Conditions, and as allowed by Law.”
In other words, it isn’t. As you know, gun ownership and possession is highly regulated in Britain. It’s nothing vaguely like the Scalia version of the 2d Amendment. In the U.S. its adoption had more to do with putting down potential slave rebellions than anything else.
Seriously?
Since the US has gun restrictions also, the 2nd Amendment isn’t really in our Bill of Rights either. That’s good to know.
One can be a gun rights advocate without also being a gun rights idiot. I own a 0.22 revolver (for rats and snake), a double barrel 12 gauge (for ducks if I ever have the opportunity again), and a lever action 0.22 rifle for squirrels and varmint. If I resided in a zip code that had me concerned for home defense, then I would also have a 12 gauge pump shotgun with the plug removed from the magazine. (Yes – I know a big dog is even better, but they are also more trouble for seniors that travel often to care for – dumbass. Thanks for worrying for me.) In the military all weapons were automatic except for my 0.45 which was semi. In civilian life there is no such need. If some crazy government takeover or invasion occurs, then all that is needed is bolt or lever action high powered rifles with scopes. Then if assault weapons are needed they can be taken off of the growing numbers of dead insurgents.
“…In the military all weapons were automatic…” OK, not all – just handheld firearms and then still excluding the LAW and M-79 and RPG, if you had one. But really just in reference to rifles and pistols, which have civilian equivalents.
The M4 carbine is extensively used by the United States Armed Forces and is largely replacing the M16 rifle in United States Army and United States Marine Corps combat units as the primary infantry weapon and service rifle.
The M4 has semi-automatic and three-round burst firing modes (like the M16A2 and M16A4), while the M4A1 has semi-automatic and fully automatic firing modes (like the M16A1 and M16A3). …
The M4 carbine
As a non-combat US Army veteran, perhaps the closest I ever came to being shot was on a firing range in basic training, for M-16 training. (I was held up in an on-base armed robbery about a year later.)
There’s supposed to be considerable care taken to avoid accidents on such ranges. Guns not loaded until just before firing, etc.
However, on this particular day, about 30 feet ahead, on-line. waiting (as one often does in the military) to fire, a full clip of .223 rounds were unintentionally fired by a young trainee who had loaded his M-16 and taken it ‘off safe’ & pulled the trigger. Utter silence followed a moment or two later, then all hell broke loose.
He had pulled the trigger while pointing the rifle towards the ground, having left the selector in the full-auto position, so only managed to dig a fairly large hole near his own foot. But that was sort of a wake-up call for me and others.
Y’know, there are so many AR-15 (M-16, M-4 equivalents) out there among the gun-loving public, it’s really hard to imagine how they could all be seized. Generally, when this is even mentioned, demand for such firearms skyrockets.
This is why it’s a curse, actually.
It’d be better to just figure out how to educate people to the credo that performing unprovoked violent acts with firearms is flat-out immoral, reprehensible, vile, unacceptable behavior.
In fact, make that a crime: ‘illegal use of a firearm’.
Or maybe it would have to be just a misdemeanor:
‘Inappropriate use of a firearm.’
New Zealand Ban on Most Semiautomatic Weapons Takes Effect
NY Times – Dec 20, 2019
The 2024 Dem Senate candidate from AZ goes off.
” In a series of coarse tweets reflecting the raw outrage at the slaying of at least 18 children and a teacher in Uvalde, Texas, Gallego, D-Ariz., also alluded to an infamous 2021 trip to Cancun, Mexico, Cruz took as his state grappled with massive blackouts following a winter storm.
“F— you @tedcruz you care about a fetus but you will let our children get
slaughtered. Just get your ass to Cancun. You are useless,” Gallego wrote on his personal Twitter account. Twenty-one minutes later, Gallego doubled down on the message: “Just to be clear f— you @tedcruz you f—— baby killer.” Gallego did so in response to remarks by Cruz reported by CNN….
Gallego also ripped Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., after she condemned the shooting….
“Please just stop.. unless you are willing to break the filibuster to actually pass sensible gun control measures you might as well just say ‘thoughts and prayers,’” Gallego responded.”
https://www.azcentral.com/s…
Thanks and well said.
However, I do sort of get Ted Cruz’s take on gun rights. Cruz looks to be quite the candy ass. So, I guess that Ted could not handle a firearm that did not do most of the work for his sissy self.
EM
In time I will get to Senator Sinema like I did with Michigan politicians. I have other issues for now.
I worked for Sinema in 2018. Only two words help with my grief: Martha McSally.
I put up a post in this thread pointing out that last year gun-related deaths among young people finally surpassed automobile accidents as a leading cause of death. Moderators rejected it this post apparently.
‘Guns Now Kill More Children and Young Adults Than Car Crashes’
Scientific American – May 5, 2022
So much for the argument that automobiles should be disallowed before gun ownership is.
The Stupefying Tally of American Gun Violence
NY Times – May 25
The Supreme Court is likely to prohibit most restrictions on carrying firearms. That’ll help stop the bloodbath, won’t it?
Jack
The attitude will only change when “someone takes a shot at them. Then it will be we need guards and bullet proof vests. More than likely it will be one of those people from the other side of the political spectrum.
And the GOP refuses to even talk about gun control. Tell me again how we need to work with them on real world problems?