Gun Control America’s tragic labour pains

[webfact]

Gun Control America’s tragic labour pains
Produced by Beatriz Beiras



WASHINGTON: -- Many mass shootings, crucially including children as the targets, have scarred the United States during President Obama’s time in office, like the latest on 2nd December. The killing of 14 people at a holiday party in a social service centre in San Bernardino, California, was considered a terrorist attack.

Just one month later, not far away, the Crossroads of the West Gun Show organisers said trade was up, and that people were concerned about their personal safety. The day after Obama said he would tighten control, believers in the right to bear arms written in the 1791 Second Amendment of the US Constitution defied him.

“You are going to take guns away from law-abiding citizens and the criminals are going to still have guns. Look at drugs: drugs are illegal, you know, [but we] still have those.”

After eight students and a teacher at a community college near Roseburg, Oregon, were shot dead last October, some people were also convinced that general weapon ownership can guarantee their security.

A shaken student said: “I think that there should be more guns in the area and that everybody should be protected and know how to use them and protect themselves, because this could have very easily been avoided.”

The year 2012 felt especially tragic. There was the Aurora, Colorado, massacre of 12 movie-goers in July. And then in December, 20 children and six adult staff at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, were killed.

Advocates supporting tighter control policy again spoke out.

“Twenty children are dead, our laws are broken, and it could happen again tomorrow!” said one university student, while another added: “Normalising guns, normalising violence in an educational setting is a terrible idea. I’m totally against arming students, arming faculty.”

Obama signed a bipartisan plan on background checks for selling and owning guns in 2013 but in the Republican-dominated Senate it failed to pass, by six votes.

Obama said: “I’m putting forward a specific set of proposals based on the work of Joe’s task force [Vice-president Joe Biden], and in the days ahead I intend to use whatever weight this office holds to make them a reality.”

In Obama’s final year in office, critics have said his unilateral action to expand gun control shows weakness.

Still he insists America must not give up the fight to end gun tragedies.


-- (c) Copyright Euronews 2016-01-06

[Pinot]

The NRA owns the Republican party. I see no tipping point for stopping gun violence. Mass shootings are an acceptable occurrence for the wingnuts.

Second Amendment, Man. Republicans need their weapons. Cowards.

[tigermoth]

America is laughed at by the rest of the civilised world who have strict gun controls like no handguns, automatic and semi automatic weapons and do not have the colossal carnage that happens in USA. It is endemic in their thinking being raised with the thought that more guns means more safety where in fact the very opposite applies. Quoting the 2nd ammendment of the constitution which was enacted in 1791 is ludicrous and actually incorrect. That legislation was enacted when America was a young developing nation and it was every persons responsibility to defend their country. This situation no longer exists. What are the deaths by shooting in the USA in 2015 other that suicides. All I see quoted are mass shootings quoted all the time.

[SOUTHERNSTAR]

I am not an American so may not understand the whole issue, but can someone explain to me why further laws are needed ? and why these laws are needed when there are no correlation between the strictness of existing laws and the gun homicide rate in specific states and the gun homicide rate have been stable or to the decreasing side, rather than increasing. Lets say the US bans all fire arms and every fire arm owned by citizens must be given in at the police (most extreme scenario) will the gun murder rate go to zero or even decline ? If fire arm ownership are banned are you not then creating a huge illegal market, the same what happened with the war on drugs ? If you don't ban fire arm ownership but make it more difficult to own a fire arm (most probable scenario) will you not also increase demand for illegal fire arms and directly stimulate theft of legal fire arms ?

http://www.factcheck.org/2015/10/gun-laws-deaths-and-crimes/

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/10/21/gun-homicides-steady-after-decline-in-90s-suicide-rate-edges-up/

[Baerboxer]

America is laughed at by the rest of the civilised world who have strict gun controls like no handguns, automatic and semi automatic weapons and do not have the colossal carnage that happens in USA. It is endemic in their thinking being raised with the thought that more guns means more safety where in fact the very opposite applies. Quoting the 2nd ammendment of the constitution which was enacted in 1791 is ludicrous and actually incorrect. That legislation was enacted when America was a young developing nation and it was every persons responsibility to defend their country. This situation no longer exists. What are the deaths by shooting in the USA in 2015 other that suicides. All I see quoted are mass shootings quoted all the time.

Yeah right. We can all rely on our honest caring politicians and civil servants to care for us and protect us from cradle to grave.

Good to see in whatever country you come from that the need for citizens to protect themselves has been eliminated.

Ban guns, ban drugs, ban crimes, ban robberies, ban violent thugs. Problem solved

[mopar71]

America is laughed at by the rest of the civilised world who have strict gun controls like no handguns, automatic and semi automatic weapons and do not have the colossal carnage that happens in USA. It is endemic in their thinking being raised with the thought that more guns means more safety where in fact the very opposite applies.

Americans see what strict gun laws can result in from San Bernadino to Paris, where defenseless people are gunned down and the killing stopped only when the terrorists ran out of bullets or left the scene.

Americans also saw what happened in Garland, Texas recently when two heavily armed ISIS lovers thought they were going to shoot up 200 Americans and a "draw Mohammed" contest. Dead terrorists, two. Dead innocents, zero.

Americans know what would have happened on that train in Europe if not for the Brit and young Americans who jumped the terrorist with the AK-47. If the shooter knew what he was doing they never would have had a chance and another hundred innocents would be dead.

The rest of the "civilized world" can laugh all they want. If they are scared of being shot in America, go holiday somewhere safer like Paris, Brussels or the beautiful beaches of Tunisia.

[jerome2]

I woulnt call 911 they are too dangerous anyway... more than the threat last week a mother call for her boy who get crazy ... result mother and son shot dead

[OMGImInPattaya]

America is laughed at by the rest of the civilised world who have strict gun controls like no handguns, automatic and semi automatic weapons and do not have the colossal carnage that happens in USA. It is endemic in their thinking being raised with the thought that more guns means more safety where in fact the very opposite applies. Quoting the 2nd ammendment of the constitution which was enacted in 1791 is ludicrous and actually incorrect. That legislation was enacted when America was a young developing nation and it was every persons responsibility to defend their country. This situation no longer exists. What are the deaths by shooting in the USA in 2015 other that suicides. All I see quoted are mass shootings quoted all the time.

Is that why the USA is number 1 or 2 in the number of foreign tourists visiting our shores annually, the top destination worldwide for foreigners seeking higher education, and also the top choice of people considering emigrating from their country of birth! Can you square those facts with your anti-American rant?

We'll keep our guns, and you're welcome to your gunless existence and geo-political irrelevance.

Edited January 6, 2016 by OMGImInPattaya