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Dear Americans .... what are your suggestions on appeasing the gun crime in USA?

This is not about the politics because in the paste years you have had both Republican and Democratic leaders that have not managed to tackle the issue.

Here are some stats for you, based on 2022 alone:

In this year there have been 609 mass shootings, from which there have been 637 deaths (around 58 per month) and 2552 people injured.

There has not been a single week without a mass shooting.and in fact only 83 days this year have been free from a amass shooting.

More children have died in a school shooting than police officers on duty.

I find this shocking but the apathy towards change even more so.

Is it time to give up the guns?

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JesseInTX · 51-55, M

The issue is not the guns. The issue is the person. I own many guns and they don’t fire unless I pull the trigger. A person who wishes to kill will find a tool that will kill.

The mass shooting statistics are also skewed. An incident where 3 or more people are shot is considered a mass shooting by the FBI.

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JesseInTX · 51-55, M

@NerdyPotato so honestly you don’t live here and you’re entitled to your opinion. @SW-User @InOtterWords do not live here and they are entitled to their opinion. In my opinion yalls opinions don’t matter. This is our nation. Do we have faults? Of course. Does your nations have faults? Of course. It always makes me laugh though that everything is wrong with us, yet this is the place people want to come and want our money.

SW-User

@JesseInTX for what it's worth, I like America and it's people. My opinion is my opinion and I don't want to batter USA. Oh boy, do we have faults here in the UK and you are perfectly welcome to voice any opinion on our home too. Enjoy your day mate.

NerdyPotato · M

@JesseInTX well, nobody said we don't have problems too or that living in the USA doesn't have any benefits, so you're arguing points nobody made. That's why I don't think we're going to get any other comments on topic at hand, so I'll leave it at this. Have a nice evening.

BlueVeins · 22-25

The vast majority of gun crime is economic in nature. We need policies to help alleviate the poverty such as universal healthcare, more federal K-12 education funding, mass-scale zoning reform, alternative transit, universal housing, and a PBI. Universal mental healthcare would, of course, be included in universal healthcare, thus some of our crazy gun nuts could receive help before it's too late. Zoning reform and alternative transit would also address mental health and strengthen community bonds, since suburbanism and car dependency are disastrous for the American psyche.

Moreover, fraud laws should be expanded to encompass disinformation, broadly. We should have freedom of expression -- not freedom of deception -- along with an entire branch of accountable and transparent government tasked with identifying verifiably false claims and taking whatever action is necessary to eliminate them. Alongside that, we should have ranked choice voting on all levels of government, so such as to prevent this tribalistic two party system which amplifies extremists and consolidates far too much power in far too few hands.

Gun licensing could also help reduce crime as well, but it shouldn't be the main thrust of our solution. A society where people only abstain from slaughtering each other for lack of capability is not a very good one at all.

caPnAhab · 26-30, M

I think it should become much more difficult to attain a gun. Thurough checks on background, mental health, training, etc...

But then there's the question of people that already own one. And I think if someone can't get one, they'll just steal it from someone else.

This is a head scratcher I really don't know how to answer

InOtterWords · F

@caPnAhab surely any sensible and legal gun owner would accept the checks

caPnAhab · 26-30, M

@InOtterWords I would think so too

bijouxbroussard · F

That’s not going to happen. It really isn’t. And it’s not really the issue, believe it or not. We’ve always had guns, since the country was founded. We haven’t always had mass shootings. Guns are legal in Canada— but they’re not constantly shooting each other.

You know how people were saying “Trump is the symptom, not the disease ?" Definitely true about the guns. This will never be a gun-free society.

The very best that we might hope for is being rid of military style assault weapons and not being able to build arsenals. That all goes beyond basic self-defense or hunting needs.

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InOtterWords · F

@bijouxbroussard but are they more stringent with who can buy a gun? America gun ownership is so much higher per capita, it is possibly not the amount but maybe that they let anyone have a gun. To be honest, for the number of deaths that are caused by guns i am sure there is some pretty extensive research happening , and if not why not?

samueltyler2 · 80-89, M

@InOtterWords the US Congress has refused to allow CDC funding for that sort of research

bijouxbroussard · F

@bijouxbroussard How guns are sold is regulated state-wide. It’s been a major "state’s rights" issue to the gun-nuts, and allows them to avoid stringent gun control laws. A popular fiction among the right has been that of more gun deaths occuring where there’s strict gun control. In Nevada (with very lax gun laws) the Las Vegas shooting that left 59 dead and 527 wounded put that myth to bed. And I’ve seen a few even comment that "shootings only happen during Democratic administrations" The Nevada shooting retired that mythology, too, by occurring in 2017. (under Donald Trump). But considering that shooters don’t generally ask political party before opening fire, it’s frustrating that that would be their focus.

SumKindaMunster · 51-55, M

Dear Britons...please stop judging America and fix your own problems...

You think if Americans wanted to fix this, they wouldn't have done so already?

We accept it because the alternatives aren't better, we see how it went in Australia and Great Britain. There is NO WAY we are going to allow the government to take them away.

How many traffic fatalities could be eliminated if we capped the speed limit at 25 mph?
Apparently quite a bit.
But we aren't going to reduce the speed limit to 25 mph just like we aren't going to ban guns in America.

Are there compromises? Of course there are, but that is not the political environment we live in.

I'm sorry you were made to feel bad about children dying in America but sadly children die everyday, all the time, all over the world.

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SumKindaMunster · 51-55, M

@InOtterWords It does actually, it demonstrates to you the offense and annoyance that I, and other Americans feel, when disconnected foreigners who know nothing of America, arrogantly demand we respond to your satisfaction about what we should do about our problems.

Did you appreciate it?
Did it make you feel unfairly judged and accused?

i volunteer with a number of children's charities in the UK and am part of a task force that reports online pedophilia to the authorities

Do you? Do you really? What is this volunteering you speak of? You actually go out, and spend your free time assisting children's charities? Or are you part of some online forum, just like this one where you go around demanding everyone think and do what you say?

but this has nothing to do with the fact that you clearly do not care about the 3 children that die from gunshot wounds every day in the USA

It doesn't, you are correct about that. Just like this doesn't have anything to do with my comments, nor my feelings, nor my beliefs.

You just want to judge and shame Americans as some sort of pathetic way to feel better about yourself. You should be spending more time assisting those children you are volunteering for. You expect me to believe you couldn't do more? What if you used all the time you use here arguing dumb issues and spent it volunteering for children? Maybe you wouldn't care so much about a country thousands of miles away that you have no idea about.

InOtterWords · F

@SumKindaMunster

Did it make you feel unfairly judged and accused?

No...because it is something that i was angry about, its just you are discussing what action i took on something that happened decades ago and only came to light after the man was dead.... but i would want people all over the world to comment on a story like this as it was disgraceful but the whole cover up was just as bad.....there is no shame in me if people are finding deplorable things deplorable.

Do you? Do you really? What is this volunteering you speak of? You actually go out, and spend your free time assisting children's charities?

Yes i do! I won't go into it vecause you probably won't believe me and i won't give evidence because i need tonsafeguard those kids....but yes i work hard at supporting kids

You just want to judge and shame Americans as some sort of pathetic way to feel better about yourself

I have family with young kids in america .... none of this is about making me feel better....and yes i do hope that those americans who ignore the level of gun violence will eventually wake up and say enough is enough

SumKindaMunster · 51-55, M

@InOtterWords I appreciate your relevant response.

No...because it is something that i was angry about, its just you are discussing what action i took on something that happened decades ago and only came to light after the man was dead.

Regarding Saville? I'm not sure you guys didn't know about it, a lot of people did, its just that they were shamed and ignored because of his status. It was only after he died that your culture allowed discussion of it and acknowledged his crimes.

Yes i do! I won't go into it vecause you probably won't believe me and i won't give evidence because i need tonsafeguard those kids....but yes i work hard at supporting kids

Good, keep it up. They need you and I would imagine its very fulfilling to do so.

We may, but I assure you browbeating us on social media forums is not the way to go about making a difference.

I appreciated knowing what you do, and that you put time into your passions. That made way more of an impression on me than anything you said before that. It's inspirational. If others are out there trying to make a difference, why shouldn't all of us?

Pretzel · 61-69, M

see that's the problem "give up the guns"

who's going to give them up?
law abiding citizens that hate the violence

but not the hunters to whom firearms are a lifestyle

certainly not the criminals that use them to make a living

so that leaves confiscation - and we've seen how well that worked with drugs and booze

I think it's built into the US psyche - and we'll just have to deal with it

strong laws for using them illegally son't stop people from using them where I live

(and before some of you morons accuse me of being pro-gun - I don't own one and haven't pulled the trigger on one since high school)

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InOtterWords · F

@Pretzel there is a solution let them have their guns make ammunition almost impossible to buy

Pretzel · 61-69, M

@InOtterWords funny you should say that
there was an old tv show called The Smothers Brother's Comedy Hour - and a guy by the name of Pat Paulsen ran a presidential campaign with that as one of his ideas.

the problem of course is that there are milions of rounds in existence right now in people's homes. there would be a black market in it.

in the US fireworks are illegal but people manage to get their hands on them as well.

bottom line - people will possess what they want to possess.

LeopoldBloom · M

@InOtterWords It’s very easy to make your own ammo. Many people who shoot frequently make their ammo themselves to save money.

SW-User

I obviously am not American and I have the opinion that "the right to bare arms" has been taken totally out of context,. It makes no sense, it's so ingrained in their society that they can't even explain it

SW-User

@SW-User I obviously am not American

samueltyler2 · 80-89, M

@SW-User unfortunately, the US Supreme Court, SCOTUS,b set the definition of what the right to a militia is. That is "settled law.". That reverse that the left needs to spend at least 15-20 years to pack the judiciary and SCOTUS and that would seem unlikely, but, that is exactly what the religious far right did and got the settled right of every woman to control her health.

Lostpoet · M

I don't own any weapons and i don't think you can convince those that do carry to give up that freedom. Although, this is a strong reason why you shouldn't have weapons around especially if you have children or you have a mental predisposition towards violence.

SW-User

I'm English but I want to throw in some thoughts. My take on it is that there are a huge number of American gun owners who simply don't want to give up their guns, regardless of the statistics. Not only do they like guns and see them as a constitutional right, which they are, but they also firmly believe that to do so puts them at the mercy of the state and particularly of a tyrannical state should that ever come to pass. So no amount of stats will sway them and that is as much the case now as ever before, if not moreso, when they perceive no end of threats to their way of life coming from the political opposition.

If those Americans don't want to give up their guns then it's logistically implausible to take them by force, not to mention extremely dangerous. Furthermore, if enough Americans would vote that they want to keep their guns then there is little scope to take them away anyway. That vote, and the lobbying that supports it, is too powerful.

I must admit that, whilst it may be pedantic, I'm not comfortable with the definition of a mass shooting. As it stands, a mass shooting is defined as where four people other than the shooter are shot. Four people is not a mass of people, nor is four a mass of anything. This is just an issue of terminology though, it doesn't detract from the main issue of gun violence. I mean, if four people were stung by bees I wouldn't describe it as a mass stinging event.

InOtterWords · F

@SW-User I'm British too and i have been debating gun crime since i joined sw but i have seen it just worsen.

I am trying very hard to hear what solutions can be offered but none ever are.

4 people in one shooting seems high enough to me

SW-User

@InOtterWords Sure, I get you. I don't think that there is a solution that doesn't involve the majority of gun owning Americans deciding to give them up.

I definitely agree that four people shot is enough to be a tragedy by any definition, it just doesn't fit the definition of a mass. A mass as an adjective is defined as a large number. As I inferred though, this is just an aside rather than detracting from the issue at hand.

OldBrit · 61-69, M

Just read this

The World Health Organization (WHO) has defined violence as “the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community, which either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment, or deprivation.”2 Violence occurs at an alarming rate in the United States.3 Among Americans aged 15 to 34 years, two of the top three causes of death are homicide and suicide, and many of these deaths involve firearms.4,5 In a given year, more U.S. children will die from gun violence than will die from cancer, pneumonia, influenza, asthma, HIV/AIDS, and opioids combined.6 According to the Children’s Defense Fund, “U.S. children and teens are 15 times more likely to die from gunfire than their peers in 31 other high-income countries combined.”7

From https://www.aafp.org/about/policies/all/violence-media-entertainment.html

InOtterWords · F

@OldBrit that is so sad.

OldBrit · 61-69, M

@InOtterWords isn't it. Whilst I never looked at it like that way that's why I flew across the Atlantic so many times rather than moving my kids over there.

InOtterWords · F

@OldBrit 🤗

eMortal · M

Like Bijou was saying, we just need a ban on assault rifles and stop people from buying more than 1 gun. We also need to create some kind of title transfer system like we do with used cars. If you sell your gun in private, you need to let the government know who is the new owner, otherwise everything that happens next could be pinned onto you.

SUPERVlXEN · F

In some cases stats are telling...

[image/video deleted]

Dino11 · M

I like the UK method.

Jimthere4fun

I personally think the acceptance of violence has been ingrained in those via violent videos games that they were raised on.

InOtterWords · F

@Jimthere4fun other countries play the same violent video games and do not have the same issue

Jimthere4fun

@InOtterWords then I got nothing 🤷‍♂️

InOtterWords · F

@Jimthere4fun nothing?

samueltyler2 · 80-89, M

Appeasing? No single statistic can explain the root cause of crime or senseless killing. Hatred and lack of tolerance for others are part of the problem. But, the problem goes deeper.

OldBrit · 61-69, M

[media=https://youtu.be/4aJOTOFDmw4]

pancakeslam · 41-45, M

we should probably do something about the disenfranchised people. forget the guns. our society seems to be a bit savage

uncalled4 · 56-60, M

I have no answers, which probably will get me thrown off of the Internet.

Bang5luts · M

Shoot all corrupt officials. Js

DDonde · 31-35, M

I have no idea.

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