Just a side note…..this is my 9000th post……now I know why I have arthritis……LOL
There many things that we Americans waste…food, time, money, sanity…..some of it we do willingly….which is just sad.
I was not going to do a post on the latest shooting and the reactions simply because anything I had to say would be just another fart in the wind….but after listening to all the back and forth…I felt compelled to comment…..
The recent Paris attacks were unspeakable in their scope and the California killings were indescribable….and as usual after each of the attacks the same issues come to light….some sort of gun control….time for all that to stop it is a waste of valuable time…..
I have noticed that there seems to be a major debate going on about what is or is not a mass shooting…..I read an op-ed along those lines and thought all concerned might like to read it also……
Were you floored by the finding that we’ve had more mass shootings than days this year? So was Mark Follman. According to Mother Jones, where Follman is an editor, there have been only four mass shooting this year—including the one in San Bernardino—and only 73 since 1982. Why the discrepancy? “The answer is that there is no official definition for ‘mass shooting,'” Follman writes at the New York Times. The popular shootingtracker.com, for instance, labels a mass shooting as any incident involving four people who have been injured or killed—meaning that a late-night shooting in Savannah, Ga., that injured three and killed one on the same day as the San Bernardino massacre is included. But Follman says that’s problematic. “While all the victims are important, conflating those many other crimes with indiscriminate slaughter in public venues obscures our understanding of this complicated and growing problem.”
That’s why Mother Jones‘ tally includes only attacks in which four or more people were killed, like the FBI’s. However, it excludes murders linked to robberies, domestic abuse, and gang violence. This outline helped Follman realize that “the more narrowly defined mass shootings have grown more frequent, and overwhelmingly involve legally obtained firearms,” he says. “Everyone is desperate to know why these attacks happen and how we might stop them—and we can’t know, unless we collect and focus on useful data that filter out the noise.” Jodi Upton at USA Today offers a similar view. “The problem is one of definitions, sometimes used sloppily and interchangeably,” she writes. “The result: a very confused, and possibly hyperventilating public.” Read Follman’s full piece here and Upton’s here.
Once the conversation starts then the situation degrades into the typical bullshit of for political gain….this needs to stop because not a damn thing is accomplished….for one the NRA ones the GOP and about half of the Dems…..two…. once it devolves in an attack on the Constitution any logical debate has ended………
The argument becomes about political stands not issues of safety…..no amount of cogent argument will be sufficient to move this conversation forward. The conversation will never forward as long as Dems present ideas….from that point on it turns into a silly sideshow. Only the Repubs can move this conversation forward and in today’s world that is just no gonna happen.
Stop! wasting time……nothing will be accomplished….all the media can do now is leave space for the next attack.
So please stop wasting time on pretend concern…….
Turn The Page!
