Mass Shootings Are a Bad Way to Understand Gun Violence – FiveThirtyEight

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/mass-shootings-are-a-bad-way-to-understand-gun-violence/?ex_cid=story-twitter

by rbanffy • 9 years ago

18 30 9 years ago

Gun violence isn’t one problem, it’s many. And it probably won’t have a single solution, either.

Actually there is a single solution, just because it may be difficult doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Look at what Australia did after the Port Arthur Massacre or the UK after Hungerford and Dunblane. There is an easily identified solution but most US politicians are either too cowardly (want to be re-elected), too corrupt (taking lots of money from NRA) or too stupid to make the connection.

throwawayknecht2• 9 years ago

Unfortunately, it's not just the politicians. Key to the making the buyback work was that people were willing to sell. If you tried it in America you'd get white militias in standoffs - think a new Cliven Bundy every week - and cops slaughtering any black person hesitant to turn over their weapon.

ianai3• 9 years ago

I do wonder how other countries do with racial equality. Maybe the AU and UK are the nearest comparison. I know the Us isn’t the only place to have a hate issue.

nnfy5• 9 years ago

Why? Why immediately turn this into a racial issue?

You dont think there will be minorities clinging to their guns?

Dont you think your comment is a bit racist?

celticninja3• 9 years ago

Amazing that other first world countries can do this sort of thing without resorting to more killing and violence.

ianai3• 9 years ago

It’s a deeply ingrained cultural belief in the US. Plus a practical necessity in the Southwest and probably all rural parts of the US. What the US really needs is a way to unify the employment opportunities between the cities and rural areas.

c0nducktr• 9 years ago

What the US really needs is a way to unify the employment opportunities between the cities and rural areas.

Could you elaborate on this? How would they be unified, and what would be the impact on gun violence?

BadassFractal3• 9 years ago

Yes, gun violence is a problem, however:

How do you remove 400 million active firearms from the entirety of the nation? The situation with Australia is not analogous, you cannot map that one solution to a completely different context.

Constituents do not want to have their firearms taken away, the politicians aren't corrupt in this situation, they're doing exactly what they were elected to do. NRA's contributions to politicians aren't that impressive, what's impressive is that the organization has millions of members who very actively vote for their interests.

How do you explain a Breivik that happened in a heavily regulated country like Norway?

What do you want to do about trucks? Should we ban them too?

jopsen4• 9 years ago

How do you explain a Breivik that happened in a heavily regulated country like Norway?

One can't say much good about Breivik, but he was committed. Most of the mass shootings in the US are done by some "looser" who a semi automatic from his mom.

You can't prevent murder, but you can make it harder.

Locks don't stops theft, but they sure make it harder.

nnfy5• 9 years ago

Perhaps the solution is a little bit more nuanced; or do you seriously believe that half of the country is totally irrational?

I suggest you look into the stastics of shooting deaths in the U.S.. You'll quickly see that banning "assault" rifles is statistically insignificant, especially when considering the benefit of arms.

jopsen4• 9 years ago

or do you seriously believe that half of the country is totally irrational?

Do you require evidence? :) haha

- sorry, for bashing the US, but you make it so easy..

burkaman• 9 years ago

Those are solutions to a different problem. Australia's buy-back and new legislation only worked because the public overwhelmingly supported them:

In an Age poll of 2058 Australians taken on 3-5 May 1996, 90 per cent of those surveyed supported a national ban on all automatic and semi-automatic firearms, 88 per cent supported firearms registration, 73 per cent thought that gun owners should pay an annual registration fee for each gun they own, and 69 per cent thought that gun owners should be required to store their guns at an armoury or with the police.

- http://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departm...

Gun bans and buy-backs are much less successful if people won't willingly cooperate.

LyndsySimon3• 9 years ago

New York has had about 5% compliance with the registration requirement of their "SAFE Act".

RightMillennial• 9 years ago

The only sure thing banning guns would do is reduce the fraction of gun deaths due to accidents. The deaths from suicide would likely shift to the next most convenient method. I highly doubt we'd see significant reduction in homicides. I'd be curious to know the numbers on homicides committed using legally vs illegally obtained guns though. Excluding accidents, these issues run far deeper than access to guns. Banning or restricting them will only mask the symptom, not cure the root causes.

pwinnski• 9 years ago

Suicide research suggests that ideation is very limited in duration. If a suicidal person can't kill themselves in the next ten minutes, the urge often passes.

Reducing the number of guns could have a significant impact on suicide rate by lowering the ability of people to end their lives within that brief window.

LyndsySimon3• 9 years ago

The simple fact of the matter is that you cannot ban firearms in the US. There are too many of them and too many people who would choose violent confrontation over compliance should it come to that.

Forget "politically", gun confiscation cannot be successful on a practical level.

actsasbuffoon• 9 years ago

That fascinates me. Large numbers of Australians voluntarily handed over their guns when Australia’s gun control laws went into effect. Why would Americans be so much more resistant?

thisisit• 9 years ago

John Oliver's coverage during his time on Daily Show on gun control: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pOiOhxujsE&list=PLOKWcH1zBl...

BadassFractal3• 9 years ago

https://i.redditmedia.com/qkF5x4YvGmByK2jjWYbn56QolZTrvBK9Qj...

Mass Shootings Are a Bad Way to Understand Gun Violence – FiveThirtyEight

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