One more example of our sick gun culture
 

Ten more people, 8 of them students gunned down in Texas. A sad statistic, more American children have been murdered at school than US service members have died in Afganistan and Iraq this year.

More than double the people killed on 9/11 die every year due to gun violence. And the same lame refrain, "guns don't kill people do". No, selling high quality military grade firearms to mentally ill people kills people.

We don't need to fear ISIS or al Qaeda, we do a very good job of butchering our own children. To quote" Pogo, we have met the enemy, and he is us"

The alternative is to live in a tyranny where only the state and criminals are armed. Taken to the extreme you get Belfast, but Manchester is bad enough.

A few things to consider now I have more time and am not writing on my phone at the gym.

I predicted 12 years ago that vehicles would become the spree killers weapon of choice any where that guns were hard to get hold of. I was correct. Do not think for a moment that taking guns out of the equation will make your school children safe. The week before last several hundred schools in the UK were locked down after some one sent e-mails to them threatening to run over children outside at the end of the day.

Honduras has a higher per capita gun crime rate, despite having less guns per capita, than the US.

Londons murder rate so far this year is higher than New York, most of these killings were done with knives.

People DO kill people. Guns are inanimate objects, with absolutely no ability to do harm, until a human picks it up, loads it, points it, and squeezes the trigger. If you're going to ban anything, ban Americans, because they are the ones with a gun culture that involves spree killing of unarmed teachers and children. Alternatively, where teachers are comfortable with it, allow them to carry weapons, undergo proper training. Same with older children. I'd imagine for example, a teacher that was willing to die shielding their charges from bullets, would be equally happy to shoot a killer dead.

I'm not advocating banning gun ownership. Just common sense regulations on the type of weapon that can be sold, and tightened background checks that prevent disturbed individuals from getting their hands on a lethal weapon.

a few recent examples:

Feb 2018 Parkland Florida, 17 dead, weapon AR15

Nov. 2017 Sutherland Texas, 26 dead, weapon AR15

Oct. 2017 Las Vegas 58 dead, weapon AR15

Dec. 2015 San Bernardino Calif. 14 dead, weapon AR15

Dec. 2012 Newtown Conn. 27 dead(primarily 7 and 8 year olds) weapon AR15


Any one see a pattern here? Any cars or knives on the list? If you want a pistol for home defense, fine. Rifles and shotguns for hunting fine. There is no legitimate reason for civilian ownership of a weapon such as an AR15 or its derivatives. Its a military weapon designed to kill people quickly and efficiently.

As to arming teachers, there have been mass shootings at churches, nightclubs and restaurants. So let's arm the pastors, waitresses and bartenders too?

Two police women amongst the dead after a former convict STABBED them, took their guns, and shot them, in Liege, Belgium, yesterday.

One person killed, multiple injuries, outside a nightclub in Manchester at the weekend. Following a fight, it would seem the attacker drove his car in to the crowd. This is a common occurrence, especially in the Greater Manchester area.

As we can see from these incidences, the common factor here is humans, not guns. A ban on assault rifles will only reduce the incidence of kill sprees with assault rifles. It may even save a life or ten. It wont stop kill sprees. It wont stop criminals obtaining guns from criminals. It wont stop terrorists obtaining guns.

You need to remove the human element.

In the two examples above, would the death toll have been higher or lower if the persons responsible had been able to stroll into a local sporting goods store and purchase an assault rifle with unlimited ammunition?

I’ll consult my chrystal ball shall I?

In the fake assassination of the Russian journalist in Kiev yesterday, would more people have died if his non-existent killers had been armed with assault rifles with unlimited ammunition?

Kinda lost me on that last one. No clue what your point is.

Sarcasm. Russian journalist, critical of Vlad, faked his own assassination in Kiev on Tuesday. It has been all over the news here, died on Tuesday (shot in the back as he climbed stairs to his apartment), news conference Wednesday.

I have just been reading about a shooting in Ann Arundel county, Maryland. (I once lived in Ann Arundel county.) Under so called "red flag" laws, police can confiscate firearms on the hearsay of any one that claims a person presents a danger.

So this week, at around 5am, police went to a 60 year old mans home, following a family argument, to seize his guns. In the resulting fight, the police shot and killed an innocent man, who had no criminal record, no history of mental illness, and they were there simply on the word of a disgruntled family member.

In Nazi occupied Europe, and Soviet Russia, innocent citizens were similarly murdered on the hearsay of other citizens.