Chaos in USA

[boing]

Well, here we have the status and future of the Democratic Party neatly summarised by one of their own supporting media sources.

"INSIDE A BIDEN WHITE HOUSE ADRIFT"

I particularly like the use of expressions such as "sub-optimal" when they mean totally screwed up.


https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/31/inside- ... drift.html

.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Interesting article, in its total lack of analysis of the problems.
It implies they were all happenstance, or out of the US Government's control.
Zero suggestions for or even hints at any change in policies, from anyone.
All emphasis on the rearranging of deckchairs, or changes in presentation.

Dead government walking....

[OFSO]

Do Americans realize how steeped in violence this country is? So far this year, there have already been 27 school shootings nationwide and we have only just reached June. Move beyond the perimeter of a school and you’ll discover that there have already been 213 mass shootings in 2022. To put that in perspective, that’s about three mass shootings for every two days. (Guardian, today)

[llondel]

Do Americans realize how steeped in violence this country is? So far this year, there have already been 27 school shootings nationwide and we have only just reached June. Move beyond the perimeter of a school and you’ll discover that there have already been 213 mass shootings in 2022. To put that in perspective, that’s about three mass shootings for every two days. (Guardian, today)

Someone went and shot up a hospital, including killing his doctor, too. In some ways it probably needs to get worse so the pressure to fix it gets better, and we all have to hope that we're not the ones who get to pay the price.

[OFSO]

Two US ladies murdered today in Iowa by a bloke who then shot himself. Another double shooting in Wisconsin at a funeral. Hardly worth reporting.

[PHXPhlyer]

Iowa gunman kills ex-girlfriend, another woman, then himself in church parking lot, sheriff says

https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/03/us/iowa- ... index.html

Two college students were shot to death Thursday evening in a church parking lot in Ames, Iowa, police said, before the shooter fatally turned his gun on himself.

The shooting at the Cornerstone Church was the result of a “domestic situation” between the shooter, a 33-year-old man from the city of Boone, and one of the women, said Story County Sheriff Paul Fitzgerald at a news conference Friday.

Both women, ages 22 and 21, were students at nearby Iowa State University, he said.

A third woman escaped unharmed, he said, adding the shooter used a 9mm handgun.

“This is a very tragic event for our community but I think also nationwide as we experience violent incidents nationwide, and it only seems to increase,” said Capt. Nicholas Lennie of the Story County Sheriff’s Office.

The shooting came the same night President Joe Biden addressed the nation on the need for stricter gun laws. Gun massacres have left the country shaken and prompted new discussions about how to prevent them. The most recent incident was just a day earlier, when a man bought an AR-15 style rifle and attacked an Oklahoma hospital, killing four people and then himself.

In Iowa, authorities got a call of shots fired in the parking lot at 6:51 p.m., they said.

The shooter arrived in a pickup truck “and the chaos began,” Fitzgerald said.

“He went right into action when he got there,” he said. “He was there for a specific purpose, which he accomplished.”

The shooter had been arrested May 31 on charges of third-degree harassment and impersonating a public official, all related to his recent breakup with one of the victims, Fitgerald said. He posted bond, Fitzgerald said, and was scheduled to be back in court June 10.

The shooting happened during the first summer night of a youth Bible study program, Fitzgerald said. About 80 high school and college students were in the church auditorium.

The shooter made no apparent effort to go into the church, Fitzgerald said.

It was a “targeted act of violence,” he said. The shooter approached the women as they walked toward the church, fired “several rounds” and the two were dead “in a matter of seconds.”

The shooter appears to have acted alone, he said.

At the shooter’s home, authorities found an AR-15 rifle with ammunition that “played no part in this event whatsoever,” Fitzgerald said. In the shooter’s vehicle, they found more 9mm ammunition he bought an hour before the shooting.

“Our hearts break for all involved, and we are praying for everyone affected,” Pastor Mike Vance said in a statement. “Our Ministry staff are available to support all those impacted, and we will continue to fully cooperate with authorities as they complete their full investigation.”

Gov. Kim Reynolds released a statement on Facebook.

“Tonight’s act of senseless violence took the lives of two innocent victims at their place of worship,” she said. “We ask that Iowans pray for the victims and their families, the members of Cornerstone Church, and the entire Ames community.”

Ames is about 30 miles north of Des Moines.

Would a "Red Flag" law have helped here?
PP

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Approx 0.9 per 100,000 population of US females are killed by intimate partners. The rate is half that of Africa, where guns rally aren't used.
30% more women are murdered in India in dowry murders alone. Then you can add the massive rate of family honor killings in Africa and Asia (which about doubles the totals there, but is very low in the USA).

The problem is not guns. They would simply be killed another way.
More data here
https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-an ... _girls.pdf

Note also that Australian suicides have been basically unaffected by the gun ban - people (almost exclusively males) just kill themselves another way.

..and all those female deaths are basically negligible compared to the number of female foeti aborted in Asia.

[John Hill]

Nothing new under the sun.... 2001..

From: Ed Chenel, a Police Officer in Australia.

Hi Yanks,

I thought you all would like to see the real figures from Down Under.

It has now been 12 months since gun owners in Australia were forced by a new law to surrender 640,381 personal firearms to be destroyed by our own government, a program costing Australia taxpayers more than $500 million dollars.

The first year results are now in: Australia-wide, homicides are up 3.2 percent; Australia-wide, assaults are up 8.6 percent; Australia-wide, armed robberies are up 44 percent (yes, 44 percent!). In the state of Victoria alone, homicides with firearms are now up 300 percent. (Note that while the law-abiding citizens turned them in, the criminals did not and criminals still possess their guns!)

While figures over the previous 25 years showed a steady decrease in armed robbery with firearms, this has changed drastically upward in the past 12 months, since the criminals now are guaranteed that their prey is unarmed.

There has also been a dramatic increase in break-ins and assaults of the elderly. Australian politicians are at a loss to explain how public safety has decreased, after such monumental effort and expense was expended in "successfully ridding Australian society of guns."

You won't see this data on the American evening news or hear your governor or members of the state Assembly disseminating this information.

The Australian experience proves it. Guns in the hands of honest citizens save lives and property and, yes, gun-control laws affect only the law-abiding citizens.

Take note Americans, before it's too late!

[Dushan]

gun owners in Australia were forced by a new law to surrender 640,381 personal firearms

You know what they call 640,381 personal firearms in US? Good Saturday sales figures.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

https://news.wttw.com/2022/06/06/5-kill ... ago-police

5 killed, 27 wounded, including a 3yo girl.
A pretty normal weekend in Chicago. 24 separate shootings.
For early June that is, numbers are typically double that in the dog days of August.

Bear in mind that Illinois, and Chicago in particular, already has the firearms laws that are being proposed for elsewhere.

Also bear in mind that the vast majority of shooters in Chicago are breaking at least 5 major firearms laws even before they pull the trigger.

Still, with only 800 or so homicides a year, Chicago is 30x safer per capita than the top 100 homicide cities in America.

Almost none of their shooters follow any of the laws either.

But let's just ignore all that, as everyone does every week, and talk about one shooting in Iowa.

[llondel]

https://news.wttw.com/2022/06/06/5-kill ... ago-police

5 killed, 27 wounded, including a 3yo girl.
A pretty normal weekend in Chicago. 24 separate shootings.
For early June that is, numbers are typically double that in the dog days of August.

Bear in mind that Illinois, and Chicago in particular, already has the firearms laws that are being proposed for elsewhere.

Also bear in mind that the vast majority of shooters in Chicago are breaking at least 5 major firearms laws even before they pull the trigger.

Still, with only 800 or so homicides a year, Chicago is 30x safer per capita than the top 100 homicide cities in America.

Almost none of their shooters follow any of the laws either.

But let's just ignore all that, as everyone does every week, and talk about one shooting in Iowa.

Part of the problem here is that if you can't get a gun in Chicago, it's trivial to go buy one somewhere else and bring it into the city. It works better in the UK because the whole country follows the same rules and it's harder (but not impossible) to casually go get one somewhere else. The water all round the place helps too.

You'll never get guns removed from US society because there are legitimate uses for most of them, but a few more checks and removal of loopholes would make some dent in the statistics. I still don't see the need for an AR-15 though. It's not a weapon for self defence in a normal city environment, and it's not a hunting rifle.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

I fundamentally disagree with the approach.
When one is facing a tiger, it makes no sense to turn your back on it and tread on an ant.

America, and every other country, needs to sort out organised crime, gangs, and mental health.

And if you look at the bits of America that largely don't have those problems, they also don't have a gun problem.

[Dushan]

I still don't see the need for an AR-15 though.

I saw very appropriate meme, recently.

Some TV personality stated the vey same "Nobody needs an AR-15"
and the comment continued:

"Nobody needs to hear your opinion, yet the First Amendment protects you and your right to express it."
"Gun owners have the Second Amendment in the same way to protect them."

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

“During my 12-1/2 years as a Member of this body, I have never believed that additional gun control or Federal registration of guns would reduce crime.
I am convinced that a criminal who wants a firearm can get one through illegal, nontraceable, unregistered sources, with or without gun control.
In my opinion a national register or ban of handguns would be impossible to carry out and may not result in reductions in crime.”

Joe Biden, 1985

https://www.congress.gov/bound-congress ... te-section
p18229, second column

[llondel]

I still don't see the need for an AR-15 though.

I saw very appropriate meme, recently.

Some TV personality stated the vey same "Nobody needs an AR-15"
and the comment continued:

"Nobody needs to hear your opinion, yet the First Amendment protects you and your right to express it."
"Gun owners have the Second Amendment in the same way to protect them."

But what protects everyone else from the Second Amendment?

[Karearea]

Nothing new under the sun.... 2001..

From: Ed Chenel, a Police Officer in Australia. ...

Is there a link to a mainstream news source for this pronouncement?

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

But what protects everyone else from the Second Amendment?

There are laws against crime, written by Congress, administered by Justice. Both are obviously failing badly.
The solution does not involve taking away the rights of the law-abiding.

And this applies in every country, and to an awful lot of crime, not just guns in America.

It's really simple.
Politicians are not prepared to make changes to policies that fail. Their answers are always the same. Remove rights from the law-abiding, and spend more on PR to either pretend the policies aren't failing, and/or that it's someone else's fault.
This applies to all major parties.
But people keep voting for them.

[John Hill]

But what protects everyone else from the Second Amendment?

They have a 'right' to buy guns too. Duh.

[John Hill]

“During my 12-1/2 years as a Member of this body, I have never believed that additional gun control or Federal registration of guns would reduce crime.
I am convinced that a criminal who wants a firearm can get one through illegal, nontraceable, unregistered sources, with or without gun control.
In my opinion a national register or ban of handguns would be impossible to carry out and may not result in reductions in crime.”

Joe Biden, 1985

What neither Joe nor apparently anyone else can explain is where these illegal guns come from? Do the factories sell them to criminals?

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

"It works better in the UK because the whole country follows the same rules and it's harder (but not impossible) to casually go get one somewhere else. "

Don't kid yourself.

About 12 years ago, I was waiting for an evening bus in the centre of Derby. It was raining. Two guys turned up at the far end of the shelter and started negotiating a gun deal. I did my best grey man bit with my earphones in, they ignored me, and with the music off I listened. It appeared the buyer was a first time user, as the dealer explained things. Mostly he did rentals, as people only wanted the guns for particular jobs. Machine pistols were cheaper because they carried higher sentences if caught. Ammo was extra - most didn't need it. Apparently that affected sentencing too. An AK47 was a thou. Pistols 400, machine pistols (MAC-10) 200. Ammo was another 20, or 100 for the AK. Apparently people who took AKs did want the ammo.
Renter and dealer agreed to meet somewhere else in 15 minutes to exchange weapon and cash.