So far this year there have been 119 mass shootings in the US (4 or more victims) Houston leads the nation with 7, followed by Philadelphia with 6 and Chicago with 5. We really need stricter, not looser gun laws in this state and in this country. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mass_shootings_in_the_United_States_in_2021
Yeah right. I guess 20,000 deaths this year in Texas from Covid hasn't phased Abbott any more than mass shootings. Mr. no mask, no lockdown gun sanctuary State point of view.
Its good to know we are lowering the kill count down to get our mass shooting qualifiers up. Personally I think we should set it to 3. Once we set it to 3, we can then run the numbers to see how many of those long scary rifles cause the most deaths compared to pistols. Once we start running the statistics on single deaths, we will find the biggest shares of gun deaths are results of suicides using pistols. Maybe then we can start to understand we should focus more on mental health at this stage. Maybe less people will kill themsleves. Maybe less people will kill their spouses. Maybe less people will stop going on rampages.
Why not both? What is it about “focusing on mental health” that prevents us from engaging in gun control, too?
What is it about focusing on gun control that prevents us from engaging in mental health? Nobody in congress is putting forth actual plans on how to deal with mental health, but they are gung ho about banning weapons that a very small portion of overall deaths. Maybe I am too pragmatic and believe we can do better.
So we are in agreement that both are problems that should be dealt with? What do you think are solutions that Congress can enact to reduce shootings by those who are mentally ill, depressed, etc?
It's the same thing with homelessness. People (for example very certain people/person on this bbs) like to focus on the part of the problem that is flashy and gets attention, while ignoring some of the underlying issues. Unfortunately I'm in Texas, where guns rule and health (especially mental health) is just an afterthought.
Mental health is definitely a serious issue, and the neglect for proper treatment and care for those with problems in this state should be a much bigger priority than focusing on making it harder to vote, or making it easier to pack and carry. Too many people with mental health problems and guns in their hands either take their anger out on someone at a club, in a road rage, out on the streets, or in their own home. Whether it's murder, suicide, or an accident by one of their children getting their hands on their parents' gun, or someone who is handling one negligently, it happens too often. Every day we have gun murders/shootings in Houston. People with mental health issues, a history of violent behavior, abuse, and criminal behavior should not be allowed to own guns. Gun safety class requirements, and insurance should be mandatory, just like getting a license to get behind the wheel of a car.
They need to fix that bail problem where you can shoot someone and it would cost you a cheeseburger to get out
You can look at things to improve mental health. You can do whatever you want to attempt to help this problem. Some of them would certainly be valid. The thing is that one thing is clear there are a ton of guns in this country. It is hella easy to get one too to add to the amount that is already there. There is also a ton of violence committed with guns when compared to other developed nations. Nobody can refute either of those things. And they are damn well associated and correlated with each other as well.
Pistols, rifles, or any other gun are just getting into the hands too easily of mentally ill, people with anger issues, drug addicts and alcoholics, abusers, criminals, and people too irresponsible to own a gun in the first place. Sure you can gun down more people with the mass murder weapon of choice, the AR 15, but all it takes is a pistol in the hands of some guy with issues to kill his wife, or anyone else who pisses him off.
This study is 4 years old, but I doubt things are better now. The study used data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for 2016, the most recent year with complete statistics, and from the World Health Organization. According to the 2018 article, the odds that a child will be killed by a gun is 36 times higher in the U.S. than in other high-income countries. Suicide by firearm makes up more than one third of those gunshot deaths among adolescents. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-children-death-rates-idUSKCN1OI2OL
Or...Here's the list of Texas GOP Chairman Alan West's beliefs and priorities, seriously read this, it's hilarious (no non-commercial vehicle should be inspected after the point of sale, etc) and insanely horrifying at the same time (all of the page 3 stuff about the environment), yet does have a few good thoughts: https://www.texasgop.org/platform/
