7 dead in Californian Shooting

Foxhound38 wrote: »

How often does this stuff happen in other industrialized nations?

How often does it happen in the US?

A quick comparison is all that is needed.

In the meantime, in Belgium this same day... (And I see no thread on it)

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27558918

A gunman has shot dead three people at the Jewish Museum in the Belgian capital Brussels, and fled the scene, officials say.

A fourth person was seriously wounded, emergency services said.

Though in this case, he seems to have escaped. Perhaps to try again later.

Foxhound38 wrote: »

How many times does some unhinged nutcase need to shoot up a school before the US does something about its gun culture?

It's not the gun culture which is the problem. It's the violence culture, and the anti-gun culture which attempts to deal with the issue by platitudes and not the realities of life in the US. Excellent case in point this week: Known anti-gun restaurant owner opens a new restaurant in Durham, North Carolina. Puts up a custom-designed "No guns in this restaurant" sign at the front door for all the customers to enter disarmed. Armed robbers come in the back door the week he opens.

Detroit's Chief of Police is getting in for some flak this month for some interviews he did in which he basically said the obvious: We can't have a cop on every street corner to prevent every crime. Let citizens defend themselves, and instead of dealing with law-abiding folks and their guns, why don't we focus on the issue of criminals with guns instead?

Firearms are out of the bottle in the US. You can't get rid of them, you can't stop people from having them, no matter what the political will. One has to deal with the reality that they are out there, and start figuring out how to get people to stop wanting to shoot each other to begin with. This is, however, a tad more difficult and expensive, requiring lots of effort in anything from education through mental care, and is far less politically expedient than blaming the guns.

Nwm2 wrote: »

Doesn't matter how often this happens, because this is what NRA/Gun nuts will say: It is more evidence that everyone should be armed. The answer to gun violence is more guns. Banning guns means the criminals will still be able to get guns (given >100 millions guns existing in the wild), only the law abiding citizens will be prevented from doing so. To prevent gun violence at high schools etc, arm the teachers and have armed cops/security guards permanently on-premises.

And guess what? We're right. There's plenty of evidence to show it. (For what it's worth, the armed security at schools these days tend to be called "School Resource Officers", damned if I know why.)

As long as owning a gun is part of the US Constitution these appallingly sad events will continue.

It's in over 40 of the State Constitutions as well. (Though, granted, not California's). Even if the Federal Constitution is changed, which is highly unlikely, according to, for example, Article 1 of the Delaware Constitution "A person has the right to keep and bear arms for the defense of self, family, home and State, and for hunting and recreational use."

I'm not sure foreigners truly understand the legal background to firearms in the US. Too often they point at "fixing" the Federal 2nd Amendment as a panacea.

NTM