SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
A new, government-backed study [PDF] answers a question that has been on the minds of some Americans amid this summer's headlines from Charleston, Chattanooga, and Lafayette. According to the research, mass public shootings are indeed occurring more frequently than ever before in the United States.
The findings, published by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) last week, show that the average rate of mass public shootings has increased from one incident per year in the 1970s to 4.5 incidents per year from 2010 through 2013. The numbers corroborate a 2014 report from Mother Jones. Scholars from the Harvard School of Public Health and Northeastern University independently analyzed data that Mother Jones had collected, and the results showed a marked rise in the frequency of mass shootings in the last three decades. Notwithstanding the recent cluster of high-profile incidents, the CRS report also finds that over the past 14 years, the rate of increase has tapered off.
http://www.thetrace.org/2015/08/mass-shootings-congressional-report/
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 06 2015, @04:38AM
That last example is a huge stretch. Cops, with a warrant, exceeding their authority to enter a private residence (as determined ex post facto by a judge) doesn't even come close to qualifying as a "mass shooting."
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Sunday August 09 2015, @01:16AM
It doesn't? The guy had his whole family at home, and the cops even intentionally shot at the childrens' bedrooms. Sounds like an attempt at a "mass shooting" to me.
Honestly, I think the idea of civilians carrying around guns to deter "lone wolf" wackos like these theater shooters is silly. Jared Loughner (sp?) shot Gabby Giffords and others in Tucson, Arizona, an open-carry state that's chock full of gun nuts. I believe some bystanders there even had guns; it didn't help much.
However, it seems to me the real reason people should have guns is to keep the cops in check. They're the real threat to society, and a clear and present danger to the health and safety of every citizen living in it.