At least 11 dead, 6 hospitalized in a mass shooting at Virginia Beach

Does America not see these mass shootings as a problem and try to rectify it

14 dead now apparently

My thoughts and prayers are the best thoughts and prayers.


Thoughts and prayers.

ThomasFlynn wrote: »

Not been confirmed by any of the big news sources yet. Still says 11.

yeah still unconfirmed

InTheShadows wrote: »

Mental health is a massive issue in America that is often overlooked when these shooting take place. Think i read once that Switzerland and Canada have more guns per capita than the US yet have virtually none of the same issues.

I don't think that's true.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estimated_number_of_civilian_guns_per_capita_by_country

It might be true that there are more gun-owners per capita in those countries but there are specific reasons in each case and these lead to vastly different gun cultures.

Insane.
Was watching psych evaluations of James Holmes, the Aurora theatre shooter, on YouTube (there's hours of it up there) to get an insight into their mindset.

This guy was an exceptional neuroscience grad student but decided to throw it all away and go on a killing spree.

Obviously varies but it makes you wonder how much of it is access to guns and how much of it is part of an American mindset.

I lived in the States for 12 years, my wife (a US born citizen) has had guns in her life for pretty much all of it until we moved back to Ireland. She was trained carefuly from her early years and has had to fire it twice, both in warnings and both where it was 100% warranted. I went from a gun hater to an understander in my relationship with her, not a proponent that everyone should have one but that those that are of stable mental and emotional health should have the choice. There are a few different factors in the horrific stories from the states and gun availability is just one though it is by far the worst, a sign of the endemic corruption of that political system in that an organisation comprising at best 5% of the population dictates gun law to the other 95%. And please remember that is a true statistic, despite stereotyping the NRA claims a membership of just 5% of the population of the US. Where they have been able to amplify their influence is not just in the financial lobbying but also in linking any threat to their business to the reasonable desire for the average person to be able to defend themselves and their family. They love when their opponents decry anyone with a gun as a nut job, it then sets the reasonable who do have them as allies for their entire cause rather than a disassociated reasonable sense of self preservation - this in itself is no different from when they try to link these incidents to gaming because the perpetrator played GTV at some point. Their saying that 'Guns don't kill people...people do' is absolutely true, the criminality here is that their lobbying actions put those guns into the hands of people who should not be trusted with them. This is horrific, but not because of gun availability to the general populace but because simple self evident protections ensuring the power is handed to whose who understand and can deal with the responsibility are not met.
America does not suffer these issue because they are all gun tot'ing assholes, they suffer it because their politicians are bought and paid for by a dedicated self interest, the only difference to ours is the product. Not everyone who has a gun or believes in freedom to own one is a nut job. Personally I believe everyone should be able to own a single hand gun (any caliber) for use in their own home, with incredibly harsh punishment for possession outside of it. The amplification of that freedom in the US to the point where assault rifles are considered (by law) self-defense is the real issue, and that is purely marketing and PR (with a helping hand from ex-military PTSD).

lastly since statistics were thrown out above. They have roughty 70x our population, add up the numbers of people shot here and extrapolate, it's not as far off as you think.

Deleted User wrote: »

mass shootings of civilians by civilians is the relevant comparison, dont you think?

I think, to those affected, death is death.