SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Federal authorities are responding to a shooting at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, a small community southeast of San Antonio.
In a press conference Sunday night, an official from the Texas Department of Public Safety described the scene: Around 11:20 am, the suspect, dressed in black, approached the church and began firing an assault rifle. He then entered the church and continued firing.
Gov. Greg Abbott confirmed that at least 26 people were killed. A Texas Department of Public Safety official said the ages of the victims ranged from 5 to 72 years old. The AP reports that the pastor's 14-year-old daughter is among the dead.
The Department of Public Safety confirmed to NPR that at least 20 others were wounded. A DPS official said in the press conference that the gunman was confronted by an armed civilian outside of the church.
The shooter, who was found dead in neighboring Guadalupe County, has been identified as Devin Kelley, 26, a former Air Force member.
(Score: 2) by aclarke on Monday November 06 2017, @07:49PM (2 children)
I just pulled some numbers on this before reading your comment, I was curious about this too.
US / Canada / multipler
People: 323.1M / 36.29M / 8.9x
Firearm murders: 11k / 158 / 70x
Guns per 100 people: 101 / 30.8 / 3.28x
Total guns: 326M / 11,200 / 29.2x
Guns per murder: 29,700 / 70,700 / .419x
So there you have it. Canadians have a little more than twice as many guns per firearm-related murder. Maybe banning guns more will help, but it seems like dealing with societal and cultural issues will help more.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Snow on Monday November 06 2017, @08:21PM (1 child)
Definitely. I'm not a gun owner, so I could be wrong, but I think that most Canadians look at a gun as a tool, where a lot of Americans look at them as penis extenders.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Crash on Monday November 06 2017, @11:04PM
Most guns in Atlantic Canada are hunting rifles. People don't walk around with them; they are rarely even loaded. In 35 years the only handguns I've seen (in person) were in use by the RCMP or City Police.
I've never even heard anyone in Canada even talk about "Canadian gun rights", beyond a brief kerfuffle (decades ago) when registration of all owned firearms was required - which was deemed to be more of a govt tax overreach than anything else.
The firearm phenomenon in the US is beyond most any other first world countries' reckoning.