More mass shootings

What surprises me is the level of support among Americans for the right to own a gun. We have discussed this over the years with Americans we have met on holiday and so many seem to feel safer with guns in the house.

One man even said he felt safer when he was away from home on business knowing his wife at home could use a gun if need be.

When visiting relatives in Alabama my husband's aunt (80+) showed us her handgun in the drawer of her bedside cabinet. She said she had the right to protect her home!

This latest event has shown up the fallaciousness of the 'self defence' argument. Where were all these gun-carrying people in Texas yesterday while their fellow citizens were being murdered?

Exactly SueDonim

All these shootings in the country whose racist president suggested that 4 members of the House of Representatives of non-American origin “.....go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.

Pot calling the kettle black?

'Adding to its pattern of mainstreaming toxic extremism, Fox News regularly echoes and sanitizes the dangerous white supremacist conspiracy theory that non-white immigrants represent the threat of “replacement” to white populations. This racist talking point has already inspired massacres and hate crimes around the world.'

A relative in the US is 82, has advanced Alzheimers, 2nd generation from a very poor part of Italy, made good- very good. And racist - totally taken by the above and Fox News.
Hated Obama.

He still has many guns at home and access to them

9 killed, including the shooter's sister, and 27 injured in Ohio-

Ohio is a concealed carry state, pushing for constitutional carry law where no training or permit would be required to purchase and carry firearms-

The shooter used an assault rifle and was armed with another gun- He was wearing body armor- He supposedly wrote a manifesto which has yet to be released-

If the police didn't take this shooter out as quickly as they did the outcome would have been catastrophic because he had enough ammo kill many, many more-

Absolutely nothing will be done to halt the progression of violence in the US- They shoved it out of one community into another, it's now widespread, no place is safe or sacred- Violence has fans, no different than sports- It has support-

I hear you, Jura. An American friend has a brother who is a veteran of five tours in Afghanistan, has PTSD and is an alcoholic yet he is still allowed as many firearms as he wants. She caused a family rift when she said she didn't want his guns in her house with her children.

If guns are a political problem, smugness and expressed rejection and mud are slung from both sides of the isle in Washington and news channels-

Racism is a problem.
But we should get off the merry go round of racism and concentrate on the real problem here - guns and gun laws.
It matters not one jot to the victim if he/she is killed for racist reasons or because the shooter is mentally unhinged or because the shooter bears a grudge against something. What matters to the victims is that there are too many guns in America and anyone and his dog are allowed to own them, carry them, and use them. Therein lies the problem. The gun lobby and presidents who have failed to stand up to it. This will happen again and again until someone, presumably a president, has the guts to stand up against the gun lobby.
Day6 made some excellent suggestions as the way to go. America needs a president who will stand up and be counted. A president who is prepared to be unpopular and probably not gain a second term.
Does anyone truly think that is likely to happen?

Yes, there have been mass shootings in the USA before Donald Trump became President.

However, in the first 216 days of 2019 there have been an incredible 251 mass shootings.

Since 2016 hate crimes in counties where Donald Trump has held rallies have increased by 226%.

In March this year the House of Representatives passed a bi-partisan bill (HR8) on background checks for gun ownership. Mitch McConnell has consistently refused to put the bill to the vote in the Senate – it is now August and there were two, possibly three mass shootings in the past 24 hours.

The perpetrator in El Paso, not far from the border with Mexico, stated that he wanted to "kill as many Mexicans as possible".

It seems likely that Donald Trump's blatant racism, loudly spewed at all his rallies, the GOP's silence about his bigotry, the Senate's refusal to respond to mass shootings with anything more than "thoughts and prayers", the increase in hate crimes and mass shootings, and the NRA's massive financial investment in the Republican Party all contribute to this terrible state of affairs. Of course, no one can predict where the next mass shooting will happen or who the shooter will be – that is random. That there will be another mass shooting is only too predictable – and in the current political climate it is certain.