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Would US gun control be more likely if...

..the media didn't censor and sanitize mass shootings to avoid "disturbing" viewers. What we see is clean, routine outside shots of police and others walking around the scene, blurred images (if any) of victims, etc., when the reality of today is made up of the screams of terrified children and adults, the bullet-savaged bodies of 18 children lying in pools of their own blood and their classmates' blood on school floors, the pain of the survivors being rushed to hospital. A mass shooting is a horror and we should be forced to confront that horror and not allow it to be hidden from view to prevent America from being "upset" by reality. :'(

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RedBaron · M

Gun control laws would do nothing to prevent gun violence, just like drug laws do nothing to prevent drug use.

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JonLosAngeles66 · M

@RedBaron why are we the only country where this happens regularly?

justanothername · 51-55, M

@JonLosAngeles66 You are the ONLY country were it’s considered a persons “God given right” to own a gun.
You even look at taking that right away from gun lovers and they will send the lynch mob out to hang you from the nearest tree.

RedBaron · M

@justanothername I am not a country, nor am I responsible for everything wrong in the world.

luckranger71 · 51-55, M

@JonLosAngeles66 He's going to ignore the F out of your question because there is no good response to it.

luckranger71 · 51-55, M

@RedBaron What a mind blowing concept you're onto: laws outlawing homicide have been on the books in this county from the beginning and haven't prevented murder. I mean I haven't heard from JFK or John Lennon recently, so I'm presuming they haven't worked. Laws against stealing haven't prevented thievery. Let's just have a free for all!

ChipmunkErnie · 70-79, M

@RedBaron Yeah, right, keep repeating that BS and maybe someday it will become true.

RedBaron · M

@ChipmunkErnie It is true. It's why Prohibition and drug laws didn't work. It's not BS unless you can prove it is. Black markets ALWAYS develop to meet demand in the absence of legal markets. It's basic economics, which you would have learned if you had any kind of education.

RedBaron · M

@luckranger71 You also lack knowledge of black markets and basic economics. How did you get weed to smoke until recently? You're old enough to not be so naive.

ChipmunkErnie · 70-79, M

@RedBaron Just look at other civilized nations and learn how it works. As to be "old enough" -- yes, but I never knew anybody who could grow semi-automatic weapons and body armor in a damp toiler paper roll in their closet.

RedBaron · M

@ChipmunkErnie What works in some countries and cultures doesn't work in others. There's no one-size-fits-all system or solution. Your naivete is totally amazing.

luckranger71 · 51-55, M

@RedBaron Black markets exist everywhere in the world. Your ignorance of what happens outside of the United States is typical of your ilk.

RedBaron · M

@luckranger71 My ilk? You just repeated my point about black markets and basic economics. You display unthinking ignorance typical of your ilk.

luckranger71 · 51-55, M

@RedBaron Great. We’re in agreement. There’s zero reason the gun policies employed by every other industrialized nation wouldn’t also work in the US.

RedBaron · M

@luckranger71 Only the population for starters. More people means greater demand and black market opportunity to render legislation ineffective.

luckranger71 · 51-55, M

@RedBaron The EU has 447 million people compared to the US's 332 million. Over Europe goods flow freely through borders by land. Germany has 83 million alone so we would expect to see a quarter of the gun homicides there that we do here. But we don't. Same applies in smaller scale to every other Western nation. Even when adjusted to population there is nowhere near the gun violence.

In short, population has little to do with this discrepancy. I'll agree demand is greater here, which is part of the issue. We're armed to the teeth as a society in essence and yet it has made us less safe.

RedBaron · M

@luckranger71 And there's no simple, overnight solution, if there is one at all.

luckranger71 · 51-55, M

@RedBaron On that we agree. But we can learn from other countries and apply some of the lessons and legislations and make incremental progress. The status quo is untenable.

RedBaron · M

@luckranger71 I googled in what countries are mass shootings most common, and I found a study for 2009-2015 that showed 10 countries, including Belgium, Finland, France, Norway, and Switzerland, had more deaths per million people from mass shootings than the US.

luckranger71 · 51-55, M

@RedBaron Fun with statistics. I'd also notice that your limited time frame includes the Breivik massacre in Norway where a right-wing anti-immigrationist murdered 77 mostly teenage activists. A complete outlier for Norway's history. Nothing like it before or since. Let's expand the timeframe.

JimboSaturn · 51-55, M

@RedBaron I am for gun control, but I agree with you; the problem is deeper than gun availability.

RedBaron · M

@luckranger71 Your time frame is also limited. No information is flawless.

luckranger71 · 51-55, M

@RedBaron My time frame encompasses more information so of course it’s superior to a 6 year snapshot. Go find data going back to Charles Whitman in 1966. The results will be more stark.

RedBaron · M

@luckranger71 Well, whoopee-dam-doo for you!

luckranger71 · 51-55, M

@RedBaron Thanks man. I am pretty smart 😎

RedBaron · M

@luckranger71 At least you think so.

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