[Discussion] Mass Shootings - Yeah, we need a thread just for this...

This year is the deadliest year ever in terms of mass shootings. In a political climate of polarization, it becomes harder to suss out legitimate information from the misinformation propagated by those with political agendas. Complicating this more is the continual resistance of 2nd amendment advocates to allow for political talk surrounding these massacres. This will involve political discussion to see if there are ways we can all agree might be good ways to prevent mass shootings.

This discussion should involve the details of any current, or future mass shooting, and how they compare to past mass shootings. How are they the same? How are they different? Do gun laws have an impact? Does the race of the shooter affect how we treat them? What makes one a hate crime and one an act or terrorism? Are these shootings the price of freedom?

Thanks Putin!

Baron Of Hell wrote:
thrawn82 wrote:

Kinda sounds like AMQ knew their target audience better than NRA leadership TBH

I only seen support for it from NRA members.

Yeah this smells distinctly of “We had no idea it was this bad we tried, honest! We’re not racists; we have black friends!”

AMc meets the bus. And probably got a kickback for it.

muraii wrote:
Baron Of Hell wrote:
thrawn82 wrote:

Kinda sounds like AMQ knew their target audience better than NRA leadership TBH

I only seen support for it from NRA members.

Yeah this smells distinctly of “We had no idea it was this bad we tried, honest! We’re not racists; we have black friends!”

AMc meets the bus. And probably got a kickback for it.

According to The Trace "the NRA and Ackerman McQueen have become so intertwined that it is difficult to tell where one ends and the other begins."

Personnel from one organization would often be hired by the other organization and vice versa. Senior NRA executives gave their board memos last year that said about a quarter of all NRA employees were managed by someone who was a former AMc employee and those relationships created "financial conflicts of interest" for the NRA.

And AMc most definitely got a kickback or shady business arrangement. But so did virtually every NRA senior executive and board member. It's a horrendously corrupt organization.

AMc might want to update their homepage:

Brands were supposed to be advertisers, not news outlets. Journalism schools laughed at our philosophy, local stations thought it was cute and the media refused to see these brands as peers.

WE HAVE FOUND OURSELVES AT ODDS WITH MANY IN OUR INDUSTRY.
Those who crave mass impressions, viral videos or short-term results have never understood the lasting value of this type of media investment. Those who believe in this concept see it as the most efficient and unique means by which to build influence over time.

As we waited for the media industry to catch up, we honed our craft. We built media companies on behalf of theme parks, indigenous cultures, personal legacies, the Second Amendment to the Constitution and more. Each of these endeavors didn’t grow their influence through full-page spreads, social media posts or TV spots alone. They recognized that there was white space in a narrative that they could control with years-long dedication to owned storytelling.

I, literally, had someone say to me "Sure, the NRA took money from the Russians. They took money from a lot of people. Even Americans." unironically like it was okay for them to do what they did.

This is Idiot America.

School shooting reported in Santa Clarita

At least five people were shot, according to an L.A. County deputy. The shooter is believed to still be at large

The only thing that push impeachment off the front page of CNN

Another mass shooting, another ho hum from US politicians. Pathetic. Though I will say, until the US public as a majority says enough is enough, this will unfortunately continue.

whispa wrote:

Though I will say, until the US public as a majority says enough is enough, this will unfortunately continue.

Until the shrinking minority of Americans who own guns accept that their right to own a bang bang doesn't supercede other people's right to live, this will unfortunately continue.

Nearly All Mass Shooters Since 1966 Have Had 4 Things in Common

The stereotype of a mass shooter is a white male with a history of mental illness or domestic violence. While that may be anecdotally true, the largest single study of mass shooters ever funded by the U.S. government has found that nearly all mass shooters have four specific things in common.

A new Department of Justice-funded study of all mass shootings — killings of four or more people in a public place — since 1966 found that the shooters typically have an experience with childhood trauma, a personal crisis or specific grievance, and a “script” or examples that validate their feelings or provide a roadmap. And then there’s the fourth thing: access to a firearm.

Funny as I read the article I also see another similarity.

- white male -

Experts have long cautioned that there is no single profile for a mass shooter. But the Violence Project researchers found some personal characteristics often align with certain types of locations targeted by shooters, and created five general categories:

K-12 shooters: White males, typically students or former students of the school, with a history of trauma. Most are suicidal, plan their crime extensively, and make others aware of their plans at some point before the shooting. They use multiple guns that they typically steal from a family member.
College and university shooters: Non-white males who are current students of the university, are suicidal, and have a history of violence and childhood trauma. They typically use legally obtained handguns and leave behind some sort of manifesto.
Workplace shooters: Fortysomething males without a specific racial profile. Most are employees of their targeted location, often a blue-collar job site, and have some grievance against the workplace. They use legally purchased handguns and assault rifles.
Place of worship shooters: White males in their 40s, typically motivated by hate or domestic violence that spills out into public. Their crimes typically involve little planning.
Shooters at a commercial location (such as a store or restaurant): White men in their 30s with a violent history and criminal record. They typically have no connection to the targeted location and use a single, legally obtained firearm. About a third show evidence of a “thought disorder,” a term for a mental health condition, like schizophrenia, that results in disorganized thinking, paranoia, or delusions.

Not to belittle the research, but the point about access to firearms is kind of a canard - it's like saying drunk drivers that get into accidents are notable for having access to alcohol and a vehicle.

Jonman wrote:

Not to belittle the research, but the point about access to firearms is kind of a canard - it's like saying drunk drivers that get into accidents are notable for having access to alcohol and a vehicle.

Well I mean you could remove the access to firearms.

Jonman wrote:

Not to belittle the research, but the point about access to firearms is kind of a canard - it's like saying drunk drivers that get into accidents are notable for having access to alcohol and a vehicle.

Exactly. Counting the number of drunk drivers who never get in a vehicle and drive somewhere is about as useful as counting mass shooters who never are able to get hold of a firearm.

I mean, you could do it, but it's kinda hard to do any sort of analysis on a set that has as a requirement a condition that prevents anything from being in the set.

farley3k wrote:

Funny as I read the article I also see another similarity.

- white male -

To be fair, "white" is only about 3.5 out of 5:

K-12 shooters: White males...
College and university shooters: Non-white males...
Workplace shooters: Fortysomething males without a specific racial profile....
Place of worship shooters: White males...
Shooters at a commercial location (such as a store or restaurant): White men...

So not all, but still pretty bad. "Male" is a definite commonality, though.

I thought we already knew that, something like 96% of shooters being male. Remember seeing that several shootings ago.

Stele wrote:

I thought we already knew that, something like 96% of shooters being male. Remember seeing that several shootings ago.

Curious if there are any significant differences between mass shootings and firearm violence in general. I would not be shocked to find out the percentage of male mass shooters is simply a reflection of the percentage of all shooters.

Jonman wrote:

Not to belittle the research, but the point about access to firearms is kind of a canard - it's like saying drunk drivers that get into accidents are notable for having access to alcohol and a vehicle.

But there is something different - intent.

Most drunk drivers are not wishing to get into accidents. Most mass shooters are wishing to shoot people.

I think if there was a group of people who intentionally drove while drunk specifically to hurt people we would restrict that groups access to vehicles.

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/uMftjPA.png)

This ad. I do not think it means what they think it means.

Suspected Pensacola shooter is in Saudi military

A gunman killed at least three people at the Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida. Others were injured in the shooting.

It is horrible and sad but I can't help but wonder how republicans will spin this because trump and the party in general is very cozy with Mohammad Bin Salman Al Saud and had to do a lot of spin when he had that journalist murdered.

I am betting on the "lone wolf" dismissal. Same as they use with all white male shooters. It will just be interesting to see them apply that to a non-white.

Maybe they’ll use it to add some more majority Muslim countries to the travel ban list, which for some reason still won’t include Saudi Arabia itself.

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/NLfsooI.png)

We should obviously invade Iraq in retaliation.

They already had their turn. Iran is next in line.

I mean we should definitely be training more Saudis to fly planes in Florida.

...

Clumber wrote:

Curious if there are any significant differences between mass shootings and firearm violence in general.

There are very significant differences. Shooting homicides in the United States are overwhelmingly black men shooting black men in very specific, localized areas - i.e. gang violence.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features...
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...

Mass shootings and terrorism are statistically insignificant. Suicide is a much bigger problem than all the other gun-related deaths combined.

Most firearm violence is with pistols and most mass shooting are with "insert name here of larger gun with more bullet capacity". Obviously you can't solve everything with one change but different things could be targeted.

Aetius wrote:
Clumber wrote:

Curious if there are any significant differences between mass shootings and firearm violence in general.

There are very significant differences. Shooting homicides in the United States are overwhelmingly black men shooting black men in very specific, localized areas - i.e. gang violence.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features...
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...

Mass shootings and terrorism are statistically insignificant. Suicide is a much bigger problem than all the other gun-related deaths combined.

weird you felt it was important to point out that homicide is majority black, but that mass shootings are "insignificant" instead of "overwhelmingly white"

it seems like any effort to solve and problem of mass shootings, or even highlight the things about mass shootings that are unique (such as the weapons used and the ideology of the people doing them), are side tracked to either a "lets persecute the mentally ill" direction, or an attempt to refocus to issue to gun violence and suicide as a whole, and then throw up hands about how many guns are already out there and how it's really just too big a problem to try to solve so why bother.