Yesterday Morning, a Holiday Party in Southern California Turns Deadly: A man who worked as an environmental inspector for the county health department in San Bernardino left a holiday party held at the Inland Regional Center, which provides services for people with developmental disabilities, in anger after a dispute.
He Returned with His Wife, Assault Rifles, and Handguns, Wearing Masks and Body Armor: The couple then shot and killed 14 people and injured 17 more in what turned out to be the deadliest mass shooting since Newtown three years ago. Hours later, police killed them in a shootout. (I’m not naming them because.)
In Response, President Obama Called for Tougher Gun Control Legislation—Again: “The one thing we do know is that we have a pattern now of mass shootings in this country that has no parallel anywhere else in the world, and there’s some steps we could take to make America safer,” the president said in an interview.
Obama Is Right—Mass Shootings Occur on Average More Than Once Per Day in the United States: Since January, there have been at least 354 cases in about 220 cities in 47 states in which four or more people were killed or wounded, according to shootingtracker.com.
Meanwhile, Republican Presidential Candidates Offered No Solutions, but Prayers: Just as they did after the recent mass shooting at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs.
Our prayers are with the victims, their families, and the first responders in San Bernardino who willingly go into harm’s way to save others
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) December 2, 2015
Praying for the victims, their families & the San Bernardino first responders in the wake of this tragic shooting.
— Jeb Bush (@JebBush) December 2, 2015
My thoughts and prayers are with the shooting victims and their families in San Bernardino.
— Dr. Ben Carson (@RealBenCarson) December 2, 2015
And Background Checks for Gun Sales Soared to Record Levels on Black Friday: The FBI processed about two firearm background checks per second—185,345—a “strong indicator” of how many guns were sold.
[Jon Vernick, co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research] said anecdotal evidence suggests that such political messages increase gun purchases. But he said the main driver of gun sales is fear of everyday violence, including mass shootings. The National Rifle Association and other gun rights supporters have promoted the idea of weapons as protection.
If you feel “desensitized,” here’s a photo from the Inland Regional Center’s holiday party yesterday. pic.twitter.com/3JwHQTg5cX
— Carey O’Donnell (@ecareyo) December 2, 2015
We all know why you won’t name the suspects, even though you had no problem doing so in the roseburg attacks.
http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/we…
I’m definitely in favor of gun control, so I was excited about this research paper – the ‘soundbite’ is that, in the last ten years, there have been more deaths from guns in the United States than there were combat deaths in WWII.
That’s a great argument for gun control, but unfortunately the details could be used to argue the other way. About 2/3s of those gun deaths were from suicide, and they found that the homicide rate is steadily decreasing every year.
Just sharing because I thought it was interesting.
http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.11…
Kudos to the police. They did what should be done to any terrorist: Riddle them with bullets till they are dead. No trials, no long time imprisonment. All for the price of a few bullets. Huzzah
Nine out of ten mass shooters are taking SSRIs. These drugs kill more people by overdose than heroin crack and meth combined. Fuck gun control. That’s like saying we need “car control”. What about “pharm control”? Just saying…