Biden, Assault Rifle Ban

Shame that the Americans are more concerned with abortion laws than people being shot. Why can’t they keep their children safe in school 😞

We have some very good American friends, we agre on most things but not guns. They get terribly angry if we dare to say guns should be banned . " guns don't kill people, people kill people " is their mantra. My response is " but people with guns kill people "

Sure, banning assault rifles is a no brainer. However in the longer term popular consciousness must include consciousness of the paranoia that makes so many of us exclude certain social groups from status as full human being.

This true because most if not all of these shootings are caused by feelings of resentment.

I find a huge 'disconnect' with those God-fearin', bible-thumping, right-wing Christians who proselytise about abortion because of the belief in the-right-to-life of a foetus, calling those who undergo the procedure "murderers", but become enraged when a mother or father who's lost their child to yet another senseless gun massacre, campaigns for tighter gun-controls.
And I'm sick of hearing "people kill people, not guns". Even more sick of the trope that if teachers, etc, were armed, these tragedies could be prevented.
Can you imagine the scenario? An individual starts firing randomly at anyone and everyone, teachers and other staff run in the general direction of the sound and everyone takes out their guns - how the heck - in such a dramatic moment - do you work out who is the perpetrator when everyone is running around with a gun in their hands? Does everyone immediately recognise each other as an employee or teacher - especially in those large schools? And the culprit might actually be one of the staff.
Utter madness.

I’ll believe it when it happens!
I was horrified by this news last night. It’s too awful.

Any step, is a step in the right direction as long as they keep walking

I'm so tired of hearing about children in schools, it's too awful

Better background checks is probably the best that is likely to happen, even then if assault rifles were banned there are so many guns in circulation it would be easy to get an illegal weapon.
We should be thankful we have a well regulated system in the UK and few illegal weapons available.

Maggiemaybe

Yet another school shooting tragedy. And according to the Washington Post, here is the congressman who represents this area of Nashville toting a gun on his family Christmas card.

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/03/27/tennessee-congressman-mass-shooting-school/

Beyond words.

OMG !!! That Christmas card is horrific!

There are a lot of comments on Twitter, around photos of various politicians’ gun-toting family Christmas cards (it must be a trend ), to the effect that if only these families and their guns had been at the school, or if the teachers had had their own guns with them, they could have stopped the shooter.

I just can’t get my head round that mindset.

Is the US a paranoid society?

Why does the right to carry arms have to include assault rifles for goodness sake? As you say nanna the fact we are no longer surprised by these stories coming out of America demonstrates how shocking it is.

Unfortunately nothing will happen, the gun lobby is far to powerful in the USA.

I thought Biden was known for having shares in weapon manufacturers. In which case he will do absolutely nothing.

The number of firearm deaths in the U.S.A. in 2022, excluding suicides, was 20,138. Of these, 648 were mass shootings. So every day, an average of 55 people were shot to death. Tens of thousands more were injured. Whilst banning assault rifles would be a welcome move, although yet to be approved by Congress, it' would be rather like providing an Aspirin when major surgery is required. Any major improvement in the statistics is unlikely, given the strength of the pro-gun lobby, backed by the powerful National Rifle Association. So the prospects for any real progress are still depressing.

What would it take ? You wonder. It is no longer surprising which is a shocking state of affairs.

Yet another school shooting tragedy. And according to the Washington Post, here is the congressman who represents this area of Nashville toting a gun on his family Christmas card.

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/03/27/tennessee-congressman-mass-shooting-school/

Beyond words.