Attribution to RCraig09 – Own work

A new year and same old story Three weeks in and there have already been 39 mass shooting in the US. There have been two in California resulting in 18 dead so far. There were other mass shootings as well, in the last couple of days, but they were pretty well buried under the weight of these two news stories.

The US has more mass shootings than any other country in the world. The graph above pretty much says it all. More than 50% of “pro-life” Republicans believe that greater gun ownership reduces crime. Even though the evidence blatantly says differently. Republicans will say greater gun control does not work. They will say California has strict gun controls and look what happened. The gun in the Monterey Park shooting is illegal in California. Gun control measures are not strict in neighbouring states such as Arizona. Not hard to transport a gun across states A number of gun crimes in Canada are related to guns smuggled in from the US. It is a lot easier transporting guns across state lines than it is borders.

Republicans will say that they have passed “red flag” laws. These are laws that allow courts to take away guns from persons deemed to be a danger to themselves or others. The man in Monterey Park had issues, He has had issues for a number of years. Yet he had weapons. Mental health issues affect at least 20% of us. Try to imagine the reaction in the US if guns were taken away from 20% of the population. Try to imagine the bureaucratic red tape in determining who should be deemed as being a threat.

Republicans will say that the only way to stop a gun crime is with another person who has a gun. BS to this as well. The shooter in Monterey Park was disarmed by a man without a gun.

Republicans will fall back to the responsible gun owner ploy. Gun death is the leading cause of death for children in the US. I am sure many of the adults (parents) related to those deaths considered themselves as responsible gun owners.

I could go on, but why should I. Nothing is going to change. Just freaking pathetic.