Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #957 - Gun violence - Gun Homicide Rates by State

Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #957 - No More AR-15 - Gun Homicide Rates by State

Hi Mom,

I am still trying to wrap my head around another mass shooting, and the astounding fact that it's the eighteenth such shooting of the year and it's only mid-February.

This is a catch all post. I am not going to write too much in the way of original content because I can hardly do better than many of the articles I am linking. Mainly, this is a place to post resources and a guide for me to come to terms with this horrible situation and what is to be done. "Thoughts and prayers" has become a tired, hackneyed, and empty platitude. Not that hearts are not shared with those who lost loved ones, but the sympathies are not as useful and powerful as action. And yet calls for action are cried after each tragedy, and then, before anything happens (if anything of significance ever will), there's another mass shooting.

And among all the material to read and ponder as the actions that need to happen are considered and debated (too much debate), one things bothers me especially much, and I find it difficult to get it out of my head. In his usual petty and churlish manner, Trump used his message of condolence to make needless commentary, to get in a "dig" on his agenda about immigrants, terrorism, and the alleged might and right of America by writing that "no child, teacher, or anyone else should feel unsafe in an American school."

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/trump-after-florida-shooting-no-one-should-ever-feel-unsafe-in-an-american-school/article/2649120

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/15/dont-look-to-trump-for-leadership-after-the-florida-school-shooting

One student from the school called Trump a "fucking piece of shit" in response to his message on Twitter.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/florida-shooting-latest-updates-trump-twitter-condolence-tweet-piece-shit-parkland-school-student-a8211896.html


Some dispute these statistics: see DETRACTORS. Some vary mass shootings in general versus those in schools. But does debating these numbers matter? Can we really argue that there is not a problem because the numbers are in dispute by people who want to deflect from the issue that America has a gun problem and it's hardly a new problem.

ABOUT THE NUMBERS:

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/14/florida-school-shooting-brings-yearly-tally-to-18-in-2018.html

https://www.abc15.com/news/data/mass-shootings-in-the-us-when-where-they-have-occurred-in-2018

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/feb/14/school-shootings-in-america-2018-how-many-so-far

DETRACTORS:
http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2018/feb/15/jeff-greenfield/mostly-false-18-us-school-shootings-so-far-2018-an/

Gun homicide rate map of America

https://boingboing.net/2018/02/15/gun-killings-map-of-america.html


 / ROB BESCHIZZA / 5:59 AM THU FEB 15, 2018

At r/DataIsBeautiful, academiaadvice posted this map of U.S. gun homicidesper 100,000 residents between 2007-2016.

Source: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - https://wonder.cdc.gov/ucd-icd10.html - Tools: Excel, Datawrapper. Rates are expressed on an annual basis, covering the years 2007-2016. Raw CDC data

By comparison, here's gun ownership rates:

Idaho's relatively low gun homidice rate (about 1.2 per 100k) still outstrips those of heavily urban democracies like the UK (0.23) and Japan (0.1). The variation within U.S. regions conceals the general scale of the killing on a whole (5.3 per 100k). And that particular number excludes about half the gun deaths in America—gun deaths that are as less likely elsewhere as the homicides are. One we decide to ignore the obvious correlation -- absolute thresholds of gun owenership and availability -- the more significant obscure ones become.



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SNAP MAPS take viewers inside Parkland High School

Snapchat's coverage of the school shooting provides another example of how easily accessible, location-centric curation can add to public understanding of the news. But with such a sensitive topic, both created and viewed by a typically young user demographic, it also raises questions about how a company that started as a playful photo sharing app can ethically, safely, and accurately report on a national tragedy.

PARKLAND, FL - FEBRUARY 15: Kristi Gilroy (R), hugs a young woman at a police check point near the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School where 17 people were killed by a gunman yesterday, on February 15, 2018 in Parkland, Florida. Police arrested the suspect after a short manhunt, and have identified him as 19-year-old former student Nikolas Cruz.

From the "no big surprise department":

TRUMP CONTRADICTS HIMSELF ON GUN VIOLENCE AND MENTAL ILLNESS

And also no big surprise:

PRO-GUN RUSSIAN BOTS FLOOD TWITTER

Public awareness that antagonistic bots flood the Twitter debate hasn’t stopped them from achieving their goals of ratcheting up the vitriol—even amid a live tragedy like the Parkland shooting. The goal, after all, isn't to help one side or the other of the gun control debate win. It's to amplify the loudest voices in that fight, deepening the divisions between us.


And yet sadly, a "cure" for MASS SHOOTINGS MAY NOT EXIST - REASON.COM

Outrage is an appropriate response to the carnage in Parkland, but it's not an answer. Those demanding dramatic action accuse those who disagree of enabling murder. But it's no sin to reject false remedies.


and

Mass shootings are a horrific problem that is peculiarly resistant to solutions. To a great extent, public policy is impotent. Until the advocates of new restrictions can make the case that they would make a difference, little is likely to happen.

What answers do they offer? One is reinstituting the federal ban on "assault weapons" and high-capacity magazines that was in effect from 1994 to 2004. Another is expanding the federal background check system to cover private sales. Another is to make it easier to flag people with mental health problems and bar sales to them.

These are not necessarily wrong, but they are unpromising. Though an AR-15 may be particularly useful for mass shootings, there are many substitutes that fire just as rapidly and use equally destructive ammunition. A ban on high-capacity magazines would be a puny impediment to someone like the killer in Parkland, Florida.

People want simple answers. It light of a tragedy of this scope and when considered along with all the other tragedies in schools and out (Las Vegas concert and Orlando nightclub as two of the worst), many people want more gun control, believing that it will magically solve the problems that cause these shootings to happen. Also, people against gun control often argue simplistically about the Constitution and the need for weapons to overthrow the government, unwilling to bend, unwilling to even consider that America has a gun problem, clinging to weapons, as Charlton Heston announced in a famous proclamation for the NRA that would have to be "pried from my cold, dead hands."

The answer may lie in the causes not the guns.

When someone compares US school shootings or even mass shootings with those in other countries, it does not matter what the numbers are and if they are exact or accurate. It's more accurate that this problem does not exist in any other countries (excluding war torn ones with separate issues) in the numbers seen in America. These countries have different cultures and national sensibilities. They have different health care systems and different values. Perhaps the answers lie in those ways of life. Because what we have seen so far in our country is hate, anger, and rage. And before I lay the blame for that at the feet of this so-called president, the problems were already there, the new administration has only made some people more bold about expressing their hatred, bigotry, and rage.

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Reflect and connect.

Have someone give you a kiss, and tell you that I love you, Mom.

I miss you so very much, Mom.

Talk to you tomorrow, Mom.

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- Days ago = 959 days ago

- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 1802.17 - 10:10

NEW (written 1708.27) NOTE on time: I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of your death, Mom, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of your death, Mom. I know this only matters to me, and to you, Mom.