• Jim Hermanson

    Passing more gun control laws will not solve the problem of gun violence. We have passed laws to make many things illegal – yet those last keep being broken. Speeding, for example, is illegal yet people still speed. Consider the approach MADD took against drinking and driving. It was a social movement that produced dramatic results. it is worth investigating.

    • You’re funny, but wrong. Please examine how many mass shooting deaths have occurred in

      Australia since their gun ban. We don’t have adequate regulations. The regulations we DO have are regulated.

      “The CDC isn’t allowed to pursue many kinds of gun research due to the lobbying strength of the National Rifle Association.”

      http://www.businessinsider.com/cdc-nra-kills-gun-violence-research-2013-1?op=1

      Don’t pretend we have any sort of reasonable restrictions designed to prevent mass-scale violence. You’re only kidding yourself. Or possibly, just lying.

      • Jim Hermanson

        There are 2 separate issues – everyday gun violence and premeditated mass shootings/bombings. We can reduce the level of gun violence through an approach like MADD used. The 2nd Amendment protects the right to possess guns. It will not be repealed nor should it be.

        Communities can come together to reduce everyday gun violence. We need to do that to protect our communities. Premeditated violence is a separate issue entirely. It is a cancer that we may not be able to entirely destroy but we must make the effort.

        • What was MADD’s approach?

          The 2nd amendment doesn’t guarantee the right to automatics, which never existed at the time of its drafting. When lasers guns and plasma rifles are invented, the 2nd amendment doesn’t guarantee the right to those either. And it’s a false dichotomy to suggest an all or nothing approach to gun control/2nd amendment. 30K gun deaths a year is horrific. The status quo has demonstrably, catastrophically failed. The NRA has had it their way for too long. It’s time for reasonable control: smaller clips. No autos. Universal background checks. Help/screening for the mentally ill.

          The NRA really gets a lot of bang for their buck. They buy out most of congress, and half the intelligence of the voters. What a despicable organization.

        • Hmm, just found out there have been 355 mass shootings this year, for calendar day 337. It seems there’s not much of a distinction between “everyday gun violence” and “premeditated mass shootings/bombings.”

        • Just for extra info:

          “1,052 mass shootings in 1,066 days”

          http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2015/oct/02/mass-shootings-america-gun-violence

          With 300 million guns in the US, it’s clear the handicapped regulations we have in place are pretty ineffective. But let’s do the TSA and Patriot Act, etc, because terrorism.

    • embo66

      Actually, I tend to agree that taking an approach like MADD would probably wind up being far more effective in actually reducing gun violence. NOT because I don’t think gun regulation would work, but because I don’t think it is possible to pass truly meaningful (read sweeping, widespread, and enforced) regulation in today’s political environment.

      Frankly, I’m not even sure any MADD movement would do much, either. After all, MADD gets so much credit because it led directly to 1) lower legal limits for alcohol consumption, 2) higher age limits on who could legally consume it, and 3) MUCH, MUCH stronger penalties for being caught drunk driving, etc.

      So that anti-violence movement would have to revolve around raising awareness of how much America suffers from this gun scourge AND a simultaneous argument to make gun sellers and gun owners responsible for not just following the law but also making sure their weapons don’t wind up doing harm. In other words, take the “Guns don’t kill people; people kill people” argument to its logical conclusion.

      But it would be a lot easier to accomplish even this if there were already some liability to selling a terrorist or a mentally ill person a gun; if there were penalties when someone’s handgun was used in a crime or a suicide . . . Not even MADD started at square one in that regard.

  • Misleading Onion

    Yes, let’s just appeal to invisible imaginary supernatural beings to solve our problems. That’s always worked before.

  • KarenSez

    Maybe the invocation of faith is taken as implicit advocacy of gun-crazed right-wing political beliefs because of the publication of book-like objects such as “God, Guns, Grits and Gravy” by renowned grifter Mike Huckabee, perennial right-wing presidential fake-candidate.

  • CJR

    Two hands hard at work can do more than a thousand hands clasped in prayer.
    Stop praying and start working.

  • noice

    There was nothing wonky in the linked article. Sara, please use better examples next time, and move this kind of flamebait articles to Political Wire where we expect them.

  • gildersleeve

    Yes sir, the dim-rats call for more action. Bring in more islamic shooters and attack anyone that disagrees as a racist. Muslim in the white house demands more refugee’s from Syria.

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America’s Map of Mass Shootings

Philip Bump uses data from ShootingTracker.com, to show that "mass shootings — defined as incidents in which four or more...

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