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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: 2) by PinkyGigglebrain on Thursday August 06 2015, @09:33PM
There's no good reason for private citizens to need even that many shots.
You've never spent the day at a range have you? Have you even fired a gun? I can only speak for myself so take it as you will. When shooting you want to get into that "zone" where the only thing you are focused on is hitting that target as close to the center as you can. You concentrate on controlling your breathing, keeping your heart rate down (at really long range you have to fire between heartbeats) and keeping your sights on the target. It can be a very Zen meditation sort of activity, kind of shooting hoops. When you get into your "zone" you don't want to stop to reload, especially when it might take you 8-9 rounds just to get to where you want to be.
Banning high-cap magazines is pretty useless, with a little practice the average person can eject, insert a fresh magazine and chamber a round in under 3 seconds. So banning a 30 round mag and forcing the shooter to use 3 ten round mags will get you what? 9-10 seconds maybe, You might argue that that will give people more time to run away but I have yet to see someone out run a bullit.
If you suck that much at hitting what you're aiming at, you probably shouldn't have a firearm at all.
Totally agree with you on this. People should be required to take and pass a weapons safety course, many of the shootings in the annual "gun related shootings" reports that anti-2nd amendment people keeps talking about are caused by idiots who don't know how to handle/secure a gun . I also have no issues with background checks and 2 week waiting period.
What we need to do is focus on the root cause of the violence, the social and political issues that cause people to kill each other.
"Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 07 2015, @12:14AM
> many of the shootings in the annual "gun related shootings" reports that anti-2nd amendment people keeps talking about are caused by idiots who don't know how to handle/secure a gun .
You got a breakdown of those numbers? It would be a useful citation to have handy.