A data-based solution for America’s bloody gun epidemic

 

A data-based solution for America's bloody gun epidemic (nypost.com)  "Tighter background checks. Red-flag laws. An assault-weapons ban. Bans on high-capacity ammunition magazines. 

""Democrats push the same set of policy prescriptions after each horrific mass shooting like Tuesday’s massacre of 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Each time, Republicans claim that the problem isn’t guns, take umbrage at infringing upon Americans’ Second Amendment rights and stymie any move to even try to prevent future carnage.

""But as we suffer through yet another anguishing episode in our epidemic of gun violence, unique to the US, it’s time for a new idea — one based in evidence and data. Age-based restrictions that keep guns away from young men offer our best hope for addressing a genuine crisis and saving lives.

""There is one glaring connection between the Uvalde massacre and the racist shooting of 10 at a Buffalo supermarket on May 14: Both shooters were 18-year-old men. And this isn’t unusual. The shooter who killed 17 at a Florida high school in 2018? A 19-year-old man. The killer who ended nine lives in a Charleston, SC, church in 2015? A 21-year-old man. And it was a 20-year-old man who took 26 lives at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut in 2012, only months after a 24-year-old man killed 12 and wounded 58 in Aurora, Colo. 

""This pattern isn’t limited to mass shootings. While those between the ages of 14 and 24 constituted a little more than 16% of the population between 1980 and 2008, they were responsible for over 48% of the murders. Overall, those 18 to 24 consistently had the highest offending rate over the 28-year period. And the overwhelming majority of those responsible for homicides were male.

"The rate of suicide attempts is also highest between ages 14 and 21.

" 'There are good reasons for these statistics: The frontal lobe and other parts of the brain responsible for impulse and emotional control and judgment do not fully mature until roughly age 25 or 26. Additionally, 75% of people who develop psychiatric disorders will do so by 24, while the peak onset of psychotic disorders in men is just under 25.". . .

Our greatest public health crisis? The angry young American male (nypost.com)

Seeking an effective argument FOR gun control - December 18, 2012

 Seeking an effective argument FOR gun control (tunnelwall.blogspot.com)

This is a column I posted in Dec 2012 in grief and anger over the Sandy Hook school shooting that killed so many innocent children........The Tunnel Dweller

Seeking an effective argument FOR gun control

Here, two respected writers discuss the case against taking away individual firearms from Americans. Yes, it is true that if guns did not exist everywhere in this nation those little children in Sandy Hook would be living right now and I only wish that were the case. But it is not and there are violent people out there in their thousands and they are armed; willing and lusting to watch innocent people die in bunches by their hands. How, exactly do you gun-control advocates plan to remove those weapons from their blood-thirsty hands?
I will honestly look for a reasoned argument FOR gun control that contains effective means for keeping us safe from those who carry weapons illegally and are willing to do us harm. Cartoons showing crazed, wild-eyed gun owners don't wash.
As yet, I have seen only politically correct, emotional responses to the issue that have no value other than simply making a politician look as if they are doing something. TD

Get Rittenhouse!

Ann Coulter....Editor's note: This column contains graphic language.

"In his prosecution of Kyle Rittenhouse, Kenosha County Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger drew so many well-earned rebukes from the judge that some speculated he was intentionally going for a mistrial.

"Nope. He was fighting like a banshee. He just has a really bad case.

"Of course, it was his own decision to charge the then-17-year-old Rittenhouse with murder for shooting three psychopathic criminals who were attacking him at the BLM/antifa riots in Kenosha last year. (That, by the way, is a more accurate summary of the evidence than anything Binger said.)

"In his closing argument, Binger decided to ignore his loser case and argue an entirely different case, for which no evidence had been adduced. Binger posited that Rittenhouse was an "active shooter" -- like at Sandy Hook Elementary or Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

"Forget that Rittenhouse was not at a grade school, but in the middle of a riot that did $50 million in damage to the town of Kenosha. Forget that rioters were beating up random people they encountered, including a 71-year-old man protecting a mattress store from being looted, who had his jaw and nose broken by a water bottle filled with concrete -- hurled by "unarmed" protesters.". . .

Breaking: Supreme Court Allows Sandy Hook Lawsuit To Proceed, Major Blow To Gun Manufacturers

The Connecticut Supreme Court ruled 4-3 in March that Remington can be sued because of the way the AR-15-style Bushmaster rifle was marketed. The families’ lawsuit contends that Remington glorified the gun in advertising aimed at young people, including in violent video games.The Sandy Hook killer, Adam Lanza, was 20 when he shot and killed his mother at home, then went to the Newtown school and gunned down first-graders and educators. Lanza then killed himself.

Young Conservative  "Tuesday, The Supreme Court refused to protect a major firearms manufacturer from possible liability in the horrific Sandy Hook shooting in 2012. The terrible event left 26 students and teachers dead in Newtown, Connecticut.
"The justices’ newly found decision will allow the lawsuit filed by parents of Sandy Hook Elementary victims to move forward with the allegation of Remington Arms Co. marketing the rifle used in the mass shooting.

"The lawsuit will continue at the state law." . . .

After this mass murder I posted the following in the Tunnel Wall:
"Nothing has hit me as hard as the Sandy Hook children's massacre after which I wrote this:"
"Seeking an effective argument FOR gun control (Posted here after the terrible Sandy Hook massacre) " 

The Tunnel Wall; Tuesday, December 18, 2012 Here, two respected writers discuss the case against taking away individual firearms from Americans. Yes, it is true that if guns did not exist everywhere in this nation those little children in Sandy Hook would be living right now and I only wish that were the case. But it is not and there are violent people out there in their thousands and they are armed; willing and lusting to watch innocent people die in bunches by their hands. How, exactly do you gun-control advocates plan to remove those weapons from their blood-thirsty hands?I will honestly look for a reasoned argument FOR gun control that contains effective means for keeping us safe from those who carry weapons illegally and are willing to do us harm. Cartoons showing crazed, wild-eyed gun owners don't wash.As yet, I have seen only politically correct, emotional responses to the issue that have no value other than simply making a politician look as if they are doing something. TD

Later in 2018 I posted this in the Tunnel Wall:

"Let's talk about gun control, shall we? "

After Sandy Hook, I hated guns and my emotions cried for them to all disappear; the image of terrified children being, well, you all know. But we know, too, that peaceful people and shop owners - the Korean store owners during the LA riots protecting their businesses comes to mind - will be the first to lose their protection. Those with children serving as policemen would dread the thought of them entering dangerous areas of cities like Chicago to try taking those guns away.This nation has a myriad of evil people with guns who have no qualms about killing others because of the color of their skin or their clothes, their politics, their shoes, or, well, just because it's a certain day of the week.I cannot help but blame the liberal left (redundant, perhaps) for creating a society  where we need weapons to protect ourselves and knowing now they want to take away that protection.Tell me again why the coach / security guard in the school at Parkland had no gun. The Tunnel Dweller

Trump Hits Back At Media After Accusations Of Inciting Two Mass Shootings

Did the press blame Obama for the horror of Sandy Hook?

Daily Wire  "President Donald Trump hit back against the news media on Monday after he was consistently blamed for causing the pair of mass shootings that occurred over the weekend."  . . . 

Donald J. Trump

✔@realDonaldTrump

The Media has a big responsibility to life and safety in our Country. Fake News has contributed greatly to the anger and rage that has built up over many years. News coverage has got to start being fair, balanced and unbiased, or these terrible problems will only get worse!

"The president’s remarks come on the heels of two recent mass shootings that took place less than one day apart. On Saturday, a gunman opened fire in a Walmart shopping complex in El Paso, Texas, murdering at least 20 individuals and injuring more than two dozen others. A second attacker took the lives of nine people and injured nearly 30 others after he gunned down people in a Dayton, Ohio bar early Sunday morning.

"Democratic lawmakers and the news media have repeatedly accused the president of stoking racism and inciting violence since taking office. Only hours after the first shooting garnered national attention, the left-wing of the aisle began to point fingers at Trump for causing the tragedy." . . .

Never trust CNN: School shooting survivor: CNN told me to stick to script
"Parkland, Fla. student Colton Haab says he pulled out of a CNN town hall on gun control because producers re-worded and wrote out his question for him"

Jeremy Richman: Sandy Hook Victim’s Father Dies by Suicide

Heavy  "Jeremy Richman, 49, of Newtown, Connecticut, was found dead by an apparent suicide Monday morning.
Richman was the father of Avielle Richman, a first-grader killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary shooting. The massacre took the lives of 26 students and staff.
According to one report, the body of Richman was reportedly found in the stage area at Edmond Town Hall that is undergoing renovations." . . .

. . .

"According to The Middletown Press, police found a note at the scene, but have not said what was in it." . . .

. . . “The death appears to be a suicide, but police will not disclose the method or any other details of the death, only to state the death does not to appear to be suspicious,” police said in a Facebook post." . . .

Nothing has hit me as hard as the Sandy Hook children's massacre after which I wrote this:

Seeking an effective argument FOR gun control (Posted here after the terrible Sandy Hook massacre)  

The Tunnel Wall; Tuesday, December 18, 2012 Here, two respected writers discuss the case against taking away individual firearms from Americans. Yes, it is true that if guns did not exist everywhere in this nation those little children in Sandy Hook would be living right now and I only wish that were the case. But it is not and there are violent people out there in their thousands and they are armed; willing and lusting to watch innocent people die in bunches by their hands. How, exactly do you gun-control advocates plan to remove those weapons from their blood-thirsty hands?I will honestly look for a reasoned argument FOR gun control that contains effective means for keeping us safe from those who carry weapons illegally and are willing to do us harm. Cartoons showing crazed, wild-eyed gun owners don't wash.As yet, I have seen only politically correct, emotional responses to the issue that have no value other than simply making a politician look as if they are doing something. TD

Later in 2018 I posted this in the Tunnel Wall:

"Let's talk about gun control, shall we? 

After Sandy Hook, I hated guns and my emotions cried for them to all disappear; the image of terrified children being, well, you all know. 
But we know, too, that peaceful people and shop owners - the Korean store owners during the LA riots protecting their businesses comes to mind - will be the first to lose their protection. Those with children serving as policemen would dread the thought of them entering dangerous areas of cities like Chicago to try taking those guns away.
This nation has a myriad of evil people with guns who have no qualms about killing others because of the color of their skin or their clothes, their politics, their shoes, or, well, just because it's a certain day of the week.
I cannot help but blame the liberal left (redundant, perhaps) for creating a society  where we need weapons to protect ourselves and knowing now they want to take away that protection.Tell me again why the coach / security guard in the school at Parkland had no gun. The Tunnel Dweller

LA May Make Businesses Disclose NRA Ties

Brentwood Patch

The LA City Council will consider a motion requiring businesses wishing to contract with the city disclose their ties to the gun lobby.

"Saying the National Rifle Association is one of the biggest roadblocks to gun safety reform, a Los Angeles city councilman introduced a motion Friday that would require city contractors to disclose any ties they have to the organization.

"Councilman Mitch O'Farrell's motion, if passed into law, would not ban NRA-connected contractors from doing business with the city, but require them through a new ordinance to disclose any contracts or sponsorships they have with the gun rights advocacy group.

"The City Council approved a similar ordinance last year that requires contractors or prospective contractors to disclose that they have placed bids on President Donald Trump's border wall. Although it did not place a ban on them working with the city, the ordinance sent the message that Los Angeles would be unlikely to hire a contractor with ties to the wall.

" 'The National Rifle Association (NRA) has been one of the most significant roadblocks to sensible gun safety reform at every level of government across the nation," O'Farrell's motion states. "In Congress, next to nothing has been done due to the NRA's stranglehold and propaganda machine. According to an audit obtained by the Center for Responsive Politics, the NRA's spending on political activities from 1998-2017 aggregated to over $200 million."

"The motion says the city of Los Angeles historically has enacted ordinances in support of gun safety.

"The motion notes there have been more than 1,600 mass shootings in America since the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting in 2012, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which quantifies a mass shooting as when four or more people are wounded or killed in a shooting, not including the shooter." . . .

Let's talk about gun control, shall we?

After Sandy Hook, I hated guns and my emotions cried for them to all disappear; the image of terrified children being, well, you all know. 
But we know, too, that peaceful people and shop owners - the Korean store owners during the LA riots protecting their businesses comes to mind - will be the first to lose their protection. Those with children serving as policemen would dread the thought of them entering dangerous areas of cities like Chicago to try taking those guns away.
This nation has a myriad of evil people with guns who have no qualms about killing others because of the color of their skin or their clothes, their politics, their shoes, or, well, just because it's a certain day of the week.
I cannot help but blame the liberal left (redundant, perhaps) for creating a society  where we need weapons to protect ourselves and knowing now they want to take away that protection.
Tell me again why the coach / security guard in the school at Parkland had no gun. The Tunnel Dweller

Did the Progressive 'Broward County Solution' Cost 17 Student Lives?

" 'We're not compromising school safety.  We're really saving the lives of kids," boasted Michaelle Valbrun-Pope, executive director of Student Support Initiatives for Broward County Public Schools, in August 2017.

"Valbrun-Pope was referring to what an article by Jeffrey Benzing in Public Source calls the "Broward County Solution."  As Benzing relates, Broward County used to lead the state of Florida in sending students to the state's juvenile justice system.  County leaders responded with a perfectly progressive solution: "lower arrests by not making arrests.' " . . .

. . . In July 2012, the Obama administration formalized the pressure on school districts with an executive order warning school districts to avoid "methods that result in disparate use of disciplinary tools."  . . .

. . . "A secondary motive was to protect Obama's misbegotten quest to achieve racially statistical "equity" for youthful offenders by not arresting them for very real crimes." 
And Democrats think "President" Kamala Harris won't give us more of this?

All the Laws in the World Aren’t Going to Cut It  Just a bit of philosophical ruminating .

Democrats Rush to Politicize Florida School Shooting  And while the bodies of the victims were still warm and many parents of victims were still . . . "awaiting news about their children, Democrats, predictably, began calling for limits on gun ownership and blaming Republicans for the violence that ensued at the school.

"Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) was first out of the box, slamming Republicans for not passing legislation to prevent individuals on the terrorist watch list from purchasing guns. He called for a "debate" on gun control." . . .

Texas Sheriff Who Trains Teachers to Carry Guns: “Day of Doing Nothing is Over” . . . "After the shooting in Parkland, Florida, many people are saying we have to “do something” but few people know exactly what that is. One school system in Argyle, Texas decided to make changes after Sandy Hook. They dedicated a police force to their schools and began training teachers to carry guns.

"Sheriff Paul Cairney of Argyle appeared recently on MSNBC and explained how it works." . . .

We are going to see more of this approach. A Republican congressman from Colorado named Patrick Neville is a survivor of the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School. He is pushing for more concealed carry in schools.

Discussions on this latest murdering head case

Thomas Lifson:  Florida school shooter in custody may offer an opportunity to explore role of medications in school massacres
. . . "Or...maybe we should examine the widespread use of psychotropic stimulant drugs, such as Ritalin, on male pupils in schools, which began to be used on a  wide scale in 1996.  Particularly when the drug use stops, there may be undesirable consequences.

"I am not suggesting that anyone knows with certainty that there is a relationship, but rather that this is a factor that should be studied closely.  Now that a shooter is alive and capable of talking to authorities, his drug use should be examined, as should the use of pharmaceuticals by other shooters."

This one should offend numerous people:  Teachers At Texas School Have Come Up With A Brilliant Way To Protect Their Students From Shootings

Nothing has hit me as hard as the Sandy Hook children's massacre after which I wrote this:

Seeking an effective argument FOR gun control (Posted here after the terrible Sandy Hook massacre)  

The Tunnel Wall; Tuesday, December 18, 2012 Here, two respected writers discuss the case against taking away individual firearms from Americans. Yes, it is true that if guns did not exist everywhere in this nation those little children in Sandy Hook would be living right now and I only wish that were the case. But it is not and there are violent people out there in their thousands and they are armed; willing and lusting to watch innocent people die in bunches by their hands. How, exactly do you gun-control advocates plan to remove those weapons from their blood-thirsty hands?I will honestly look for a reasoned argument FOR gun control that contains effective means for keeping us safe from those who carry weapons illegally and are willing to do us harm. Cartoons showing crazed, wild-eyed gun owners don't wash.As yet, I have seen only politically correct, emotional responses to the issue that have no value other than simply making a politician look as if they are doing something. TD

NRA influence: Another lying Democrat lie
. . . "You want to talk about influence?  My pick for most at fault is the terrifying and dangerous Democrat indoctrination of our youth, pervasive throughout virtually every industry in America – from media to technology to anti-Second Amendment groups, most notably Everytown for Gun Safety, led by Michael Bloomberg, New York's former mayor.

"If the Democrats and the DMIC who poison our children's minds and lie with impunity don't keep you up at night, what will?" .

'I’LL DO WHAT HE DID' Florida shooting gunman Nikolas Cruz ‘vowed on YouTube video LAST YEAR to commit massacre… but nothing was done despite being flagged to the FBI’ Video testimony of man who saw the kid's post and reported it.

"THE Florida school shooter left a chilling comment on a YouTube video about another mass shooting last year promising a copycat attack, it has been claimed."

From 2017: Mass shooters want fame. Here's why we should stop giving it to them.  . . . " 'While there's a spike in shootings following an incident, there's an even bigger spike in reported plots," Newman said. "This is because people are vigilant and come forward with their suspicions and concerns." 

"So how can the press cover these events and not give killers the attention they may crave?" . . .

CNN Trashes Trump Response to Shootiing

It Would Have Been Nice If The FBI Had Interviewed Nikolas Cruz After He Announced His Intentions…  . . . "But we don’t arrest people for criminal thoughts. It takes criminal action to get you off the streets.

"In a better world there would be a way to intervene in the life of a Nikolas Cruz before he ends the lives of others. But this case shows we don’t have a competent enough authority to identify a Nikolas Cruz much less to give him the help he needs. The FBI had him on a silver platter and couldn’t stop him." . . .

The expected "grassy knoll" report

"Tomorrow's shooting": Sandy Hook Promise releases another chilling PSA

CBS News   "A video depicting a local news broadcast about a school shooting that has yet to occur is the latest public service announcement created by Sandy Hook Promise to help bring awareness to the warning signs often displayed by people who are at risk of hurting themselves or others.

"In the minute-long video, which was released just days before the fifth anniversary of the deadly shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, a reporter interviews people about "tomorrow's shooting" involving a 15-year-old boy who kills four students and two adults before committing suicide." . . .

. . . "The scenario in the ad then replays in slow motion — this time, focusing on a troubled student in the background who's reading a magazine about guns, refusing to interact with a fellow student, getting bullied by his locker, researching guns on the internet and posing with a weapon in a selfie posted on Instagram.

"More than 10 million people have watched the powerful PSA since it was released on the organization's YouTube channel on Dec. 2, 2016. Many viewers praised the group for bringing awareness to a serious issue."

Since the Sandy Hook shooter was from outside the school, this cautionary tale would apply mainly to his friends, neighbors, and his parents. 

Sad to say, but these mass murderers have affected our relationships with all those mentioned above.

Are mass murderers always insane? Researchers don't think so

UK Independent   File under "They know this because....?"  

" 'In almost all high-end mass killings, the perpetrator’s thinking evolves,' says one expert"

If what people do is any reflection of who they are, then Devin Patrick Kelley, who slaughtered 26 churchgoers on Sunday in Texas, surely was a madman.

Before the atrocity, he had attempted to sneak weapons onto an Air Force base after making death threats to his superiors, according to a local police report. In 2012, he had escaped from a mental hospital in New Mexico to which he had been sent after assaulting his wife and fracturing his stepson’s skull.

"A video of the church killing reportedly shows Mr. Kelley working his way methodically through the aisles, shooting some parishioners, even children, at point-blank range.

"But the rest of these murderers do not have any severe, diagnosable disorder. Though he was abusive to his wife, Omar Mateen, who killed 49 people in an Orlando nightclub, had no apparent serious mental illness. Neither did Stephen Paddock, who mowed down 58 concertgoers from a hotel window in Las Vegas."

"Ditto for Dylann Roof, the racist who murdered nine African-American churchgoers in South Carolina in 2015, and Christopher Harper-Mercer, the angry young man who killed nine people at a community college in Oregon the same year." . . .

"Adam Lanza, who in 2012 killed 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., exhibited extreme paranoia in the months leading up to his crime, isolating himself in his room."

Gun control laws either do not work or do not help

Even though I'm still sickened by images of the Sandy Hook carnage, I fear the conclusion I am forced to draw Is discussed below, TD

bloviatingzeppelin

From the Dec, 2012 Tunnel Wall:  Seeking an effective argument FOR gun control    Here, two respected writers discuss the case against taking away individual firearms from Americans. Yes, it is true that if guns did not exist everywhere in this nation those little children in Sandy Hook would be living right now and I only wish that were the case. But it is not and there are violent people out there in their thousands and they are armed; willing and lusting to watch innocent people die in bunches by their hands. How, exactly do you gun-control advocates plan to remove those weapons from their blood-thirsty hands?

I will honestly look for a reasoned argument FOR gun control that contains effective means for keeping us safe from those who carry weapons illegally and are willing to do us harm. Cartoons showing crazed, wild-eyed gun owners don't wash.

As yet, I have seen only politically correct, emotional responses to the issue that have no value other than simply making a politician look as if they are doing something. TD

Ezra Levant: “Obama is the best gun salesman in the world”: Why the liberal media’s firearms shopping spree after Orlando is backfiring

"Gun sales are sky-rocketing, as Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, the FBI, and pretty much everyone else in charge of America says two things: they can’t or won’t protect Americans from Muslim terrorists, but they want to take away the most effective tool for law-abiding Americans to protect themselves."

Gun Shop Owner Warned FBI Weeks Before Orlando Terrorist Attacked

"The FBI knew about this guy and did nothing. According to this former FBI assistant director, it’s because the White House is handcuffing the FBI."   

From Western Journalism Video

The Bizarro Morality of America’s Gun-Control Debate   . . . "The gun-control debate is a Bizarro World unto itself, one where activists, writers, and politicians — operating with an attitude of absolute moral superiority — operate according to their own “bizarro code” with three main tenets: Make up history, propose ineffective remedies, and mock proven solutions." . . .

. . . that all good people should respond to a mass shooting by supporting legislation that wouldn’t have prevented that mass shooting.

I will support these laws because I am sensitive and, well, just a really, really nice guy.