How To Prevent Future Mass Shootings Toward Any/All People
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While U.S. flags across the country are still half-staffed (until sunset on March 22, 2021), in mourning for eight victims (of which six were Asian female) of Atlanta shooting on March 16, 2021, while the country is still debating whether the Atlanta shooting was racially motivated, another massacre occurred at the King Soopers store in the city of Boulder, CO, on Monday afternoon, March 22, 2021, leaving ten dead (mostly or all Caucasians, including a store manager and a police officer). The suspect for Boulder, CO shooting is also a 21 year old male, as in the case of Atlanta shooter. As more facts have surfaced about both of these cases, Windermere Sun cannot help but arrive at the conclusion that in order to stop violence of mass shootings for/toward all people, we need: 1. more research and better understanding in gun ownership in relation to intentional homicides or mass shooting in order to encourage better national gun law . 2. need to close the loophole in Florida gun law with regard to background checks and 3 business day waiting period at private gun sales. 3. need to have some form of standardized gun law applicable to all 50 states so no one can simply purchase gun from one state with laxed gun laws to travel cross the state line to go on mass shooting at another state. 4. stop equating sexual drive to sin, start teaching young people how to become better partners and parents, encourage some young people to consider marriage earlier.
NBC News’ Dasha Burns looks at mass shootings and gun deaths in the United States and how they compare to other areas of the world, in the video published on Aug. 7, 2019, “How U.S. Gun Deaths And Mass Shootings Compare To Other Countries, NBC News Now“, below:
Mass shootings dominate the gun violence debate in America, even though they account for less than 0.3% of gun deaths. The Economist’s Open Future festival in Chicago, three leading campaigners against gun violence explored the problem and what should be done to stop it, in the video published on Jan 2, 2020, “What does gun violence in America look like? The Economist“, below:
Chris Hayes of MSNBC commented on mass shootings in the U.S., including the Atlanta spa shootings and Boulder grocery shootings, “An unbearable normal. An avoidable normal. An all-too American normal.” in the video published on March 23, 2021, “‘An Unbearable Normal’: Chris Hayes On Mass Shootings In The U.S., All In, MSNBC“, below:
In this video published on March 23, 2021, MSNBC’s Ari Melber traces the origins of the weapon used in Colorado shooting, “AR-15 style rifle”, a weapon explicitly meant for going on offense rather than defense. The death toll from Colorado shooting may be unusual in most countries, but common in the U.S. because of the alleged killer using an “AR-15 style rifle”, in “Here’s Proof That AR-15s Are Weapons Of War, The Beat With Ari Melber, MSNBC“, below:
The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on gun violence prevention on Tuesday, March 23, 2021, which was scheduled before two recent mass shootings in Atlanta and Colorado. The Morning Joe panel discusses if any legislation can pass in the Senate, in the video published on March 24, 2021, “Background Checks Do Not Infringe On Second Amendment Rights, Morning Joe, MSNBC“, below:
- We need to seriously re-examine our nation’s gun law (excerpt below, from wikipedia, in italics): The United States has had the most mass shootings of any country.[25][26][27][28][29] In one 2017 study published in Time magazine by criminologist Adam Lankford, it was estimated that 31% of public mass shootings occur in the US, although it has only 5% of the world’s population.[30] The study concludes that “The United States and other nations with high firearm ownership rates may be particularly susceptible to future public mass shootings, even if they are relatively peaceful or mentally healthy according to other national indicators.”[31] Criminologist Gary Kleck criticized Lankford’s findings, stating the study merely shows a proportional relationship, but fails to prove that gun ownership causes mass shootings. Kleck claims that Lankford has been unwilling to share a list of his cases, provide a list of the number of attacks per country, or even list his sources so that others can check his numbers. [32] Backlash from economist and gun rights advocate John Lott also raised objections to Lankford’s methodology and refusal to share his data. He speculated that Lankford had overlooked a significant number of mass shootings outside the US, which if accounted for would adjust the nation’s share closer to 2.88%; slightly below the world average. [33][34] Adam Lankford has since followed up on his research, clarifying that although the United States is not significantly more likely than most other countries to have mass shootings that are committed by more than one person, such as the university massacre in Kenya, the United States from 1998-2012 did in fact have more than six times its global share of public mass shooters who attacked alone.[35] Using the data from Lott and Moody’s 2019 study of mass shootings,[36] Lankford explains that “41 of all 138 public mass shootings by single perpetrators worldwide were committed in the United States. That represents 29.7%. Because America had in those years approximately 4.5% of the world’s population (according to Lott and Moody’s calculations), this indicates that based on their own data, the United States had more than six times its global share of public mass shooters who attacked alone (29.7/4.5 = 6.6).[37]
Mass shootings have also been observed to be followed by an increase in the purchase of weapons, but does not seem to create an increased feeling of needing guns in either gun owners or non-owners. [38]
At this point, I would like to share the experience and data from another developed nation with similar size as United States, Australia, in dealing with mass shootings, in italics, below:
- The National Firearms Agreement (NFA), also sometimes called the National Agreement on Firearms, the National Firearms Agreement and Buyback Program, or the Nationwide Agreement on Firearms,[1] was an agreement concerning firearm control made by Australasian Police Ministers’ Council (APMC) in 1996, in response to the Port Arthur massacre that killed 35 people.[2] Four days after the killings, the Australian Prime Minister John Howard told the parliament “We need to achieve a total prohibition on the ownership, possession, sale and importation of all automatic and semi-automatic weapons. That will be the essence of the proposal that will be put by the Commonwealth government at the meeting on Friday…”.[2] The laws to give effect to the Agreement were passed by Australian State governments only 12 days after the Port Arthur massacre.[3]
The NFA placed tight control on semi-automatic and fully automatic weapons, although permitted their use by a small number of licensed individuals who required them for a purpose other than ‘personal protection’. The act included a gun buy-back provision.
Negotiation and implementation of the Agreement was originally coordinated in 1996 by then-Prime Minister of Australia John Howard.[1] Since then the Agreement has continued to have support from both Labor and Coalition Federal Governments.[4][5] The Australian Police Ministers Council (APMC), comprising state and federal police ministers, meets at least every six months at which issues including the NFA are discussed. Changes to the NFA require the unanimous agreement of all governments. At a meeting on 21 October 2016 it was agreed to hold a firearm amnesty by mid-2017.[6]
A study found that there were no mass shooting deaths of five or more in Australia from 1997 through 2006, though the authors note that it is impossible to prove the agreement was the cause.[7]
Check out: It took one massacre: how Australia embraced gun control after Port Arthur
Based on Global Study on Homicide 2013: Trends, Contexts, Data, of the 230 nations’ data: among 53 Asian countries, only 7 has higher than and 46 has lower intentional homicide rate than United States. Of the 51 European countries, only 2 has higher than and 49 has lower intentional homicide rate than United States. Of the 19 Oceania countries, only 5 has higher than and 14 has lower intentional homicide rate than United States. Of the 57 African countries, only 33 has higher than and 24 has lower intentional homicide rate than United States. (For: List of countries by intentional homicide rate). In the 2010 Gun-related homicide and suicide rates in high-income OECD countries, United States took the lead (has the highest) in gun-related death rates due to homicide as well as due to suicide.
It is high time that we consider reviewing Gun laws of Australia and Gun laws in the United States by state, and gun laws of many other developed nations as well as developing nations that have much lower intentional homicide rate and lower mass shooting track record than that of United States and learn from the experience of other nations.
- Another point needs to be addressed: the fact that both Atlanta shooter and Boulder, CO shooter are 21 year old male is not entirely surprising. Men’s sexual drive usually peaks between age 18 to 22. Some men, if without women, can become extremely frustrated to the point of insanity, as the saying goes, “Men without women would care less if they live or die.” Such men may either learn to channel their frustrated energy toward extreme productivity, become very accommodating husbands or boyfriends, or manifest their frustration in extremely negative and harmful way for the society. It is also important to note that high sexual drive does not necessarily translate into violence. It is up to our society as a whole to recognize this fact and instead of equating sexual drive to sin, it is important to encourage our religious and various organization leaders to help young men with strong sexual drive to learn to channel their frustrated energy productively, and consider the possibility of settling down with women who would be willing to love and care for them, in what is called a marriage. It might also help for churches and various social organizations to provide opportunities for young men and women to meet in different social settings and provide workshops on teaching young people to become better partners or parents in the future.
Gathered, written, and posted by Windermere Sun-Susan Sun Nunamaker More about the community at www.WindermereSun.com
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