GUNS, GUNS, GUNS, Mass shootings in America

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The Guess Who - Guns Guns Guns (Running Back Thru Canada)




WIKI: Mass shootings in the United States

Some studies indicate that the rate at which public mass shootings occur has tripled since 2011. Between 1982 and 2011, a mass shooting occurred roughly once every 200 days. However, between 2011 and 2014, that rate has accelerated greatly with at least one mass shooting occurring every 64 days in the United States.

In recent years, the number of public mass shootings has increased substantially, although there has been an approximately 50% decrease in firearm homicides in the nation overall since 1993. The decrease in firearm homicides has been attributed to better policing, a better economy and environmental factors such as the removal of lead from gasoline.

Several possible factors may work together to create a fertile environment for mass murder in the United States. Most commonly suggested include:

Higher accessibility and ownership of guns. The US has the highest per-capita gun ownership in the world with 120.5 firearms per 100 people; the second highest is Yemen with 52.8 firearms per 100 people.

Mental illness and its treatment (or the lack thereof) with psychiatric drugs. This is controversial. Many of the mass shooters in the U.S. suffered from mental illness, but the estimated number of mental illness cases has not increased as significantly as the number of mass shootings.

The desire to seek revenge for a long history of being bullied at school and/or at the workplace. In recent years, citizens calling themselves "targeted individuals" have cited adult bullying campaigns as a reason for their deadly violence.

The widespread chronic gap between people's expectations for themselves and their actual achievement, and individualistic culture. Some analysts and commentators place the blame on contemporary capitalism and neoliberalism.

Desire for fame and notoriety. Also, mass shooters learn from one another through "media contagion," that is, "the mass media coverage of them and the proliferation of social media sites that tend to glorify the shooters and downplay the victims."
The copycat phenomenon.

Failure of government background checks due to incomplete databases and/or staff shortages.
A panel of mental health and law enforcement experts has estimated that roughly one-third of acts of mass violence—defined as crimes in which four or more people were killed—since the 1990s were committed by people with a serious mental illness. However, the study emphasized that people with serious mental illness are responsible for less than 4% of all the violent acts committed in the United States

Several types of guns have been used in mass shootings in the United States. A 2014 study conducted by Dr. James Fox of 142 shootings found that 88 (62%) were committed with handguns of all types; 68 (48%) with semi-automatic handguns, 20 (14%) with revolvers, 35 (25%) with semi-automatic rifles, and 19 (13%) with shotguns. The study was conducted using the Mother Jones database of mass shootings from 1982 to 2018. High capacity magazines were used in approximately half of mass shootings. Semi-automatic rifles have been used in six of the ten deadliest mass shooting events

GVA: GUN VIOLENCE ARCHIVE

I'm so tired of this

(Jessica Jones is too...)

Gun violence is part of a narrative. It is BY DESIGN.

Take note of the common factors. Shooters are often tied to- US Military or US Intelligence (CHAOS/MK ULTRA/PHOENIX PROGRAM) OR shooters often have a history of psychological problems-pharmaceutical ties. Do the research if you care to. Don't just accept the media narrative.

The WHY? In the US we live in a culture of fear. This is cultivated to feed the war machine. Every year, our defense budget multiplies, this is disproportionate to our actual opposition. We must create fear, we must create the villians. Then chase them down and bring them to justice. Again, do the research if you care to. It will open your eyes and you will no longer enjoy half the stuff you do now.lol. Film, music, and television is RIFE with propaganda. Once you can see it, it's maddening..lol

Lastly, if this all just sounds crazy. Research the Art of Statecraft. Creating opposition, false flag events, the culture of fear, are all techniques a government will employ to control a society.

My advice, don't watch the news, keep an open mind, employ critcal thought to what "officials", tell you, and most importantly, live your life and enjoy your friends and family. Don't talk about politics or religion at all.

STATISTA: Weapon types used in mass shootings in the United States between 1982 and April 2021, by number of weapons and incidents

Handguns are the most common weapon type used in mass shootings in the United States, with a total of 144 different handguns being used in 96 incidents between 1982 and April 2021. These figures are calculated from a total of 123 reported cases over this period, meaning handguns are involved in about 78 percent of mass shootings.

The involvement of semi-automatic rifles in mass shootings

Owing to their use in several high-profile mass shootings, there has been much public discussion over suitability or necessity of assault weapons for the purpose of self-defense. While any definition of assault weapon is contentious, semi-automatic rifles are generally the main focus of debates around this issue. Since 1985 there has been a known total 47 mass shootings involving rifles, mostly semi-automatics. This figure is underreported though, as it excludes the multiple semi-automatic (and fully automatic) rifles used in the 2017 Las Vegas Strip massacre – the worst mass shooting in U.S. history, killing 58 and wounding 546. In fact, semi-automatic rifles were featured in four of the five deadliest mass shootings, being used in the Orlando nightclub massacre, Sandy Hook Elementary massacre and Texas First Baptist Church massacre.

Mass shootings and gun control

Despite evidence of strict gun control measures reducing the frequency and severity of mass shootings in countries like Australia, citizens in the United States remain deeply divided over the issue. According to a survey about the expected impact of gun laws on the number of mass shootings, a slim majority of Americans believe that gun control measures will have little-to-no effect. Most likely, this opinion is influenced by an underlying commitment among many in the U.S. to the greater importance of protecting gun ownership rights than limiting access to firearms. This sits in sharp contrast to many other developed countries. For example, most Canadians support a ban on civilian owned firearms.

Federal judge overturns California's ban on assault weapons and likens AR-15 to Swiss Army knife

https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/05/us/california-gun-ban-overturned/index.html


Nearly All Mass Shooters Since 1966 Have Had 4 Things in Common

https://www.vice.com/en/article/a35mya/nearly-all-mass-shooters-since-1966-have-had-four-things-in-common

The largest study of mass shooters ever funded by the U.S. government reveals stunning information about perpetrators.



Cover: Mourners gather at a vigil held for shooting victims on November 17, 2019 in Santa Clarita, California. Nathaniel T. Berhow, a 16 year-old-student, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after killing two people and injuring three others in the November 14th shooting at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita. (Photo by Apu Gomes/Getty Images)

The stereotype of a mass shooter is a white male with a history of mental illness or domestic violence. While that may be anecdotally true, the largest single study of mass shooters ever funded by the U.S. government has found that nearly all mass shooters have four specific things in common.

A new Department of Justice-funded study of all mass shootings — killings of four or more people in a public place — since 1966 found that the shooters typically have an experience with childhood trauma, a personal crisis or specific grievance, and a “script” or examples that validate their feelings or provide a roadmap. And then there’s the fourth thing: access to a firearm.

The root cause of mass shootings is an intensely partisan debate, with one side blaming mental health and the others blaming guns. Researchers hope that the findings in the study could usher in a more holistic and evidence-based approach to the issue — and provide opportunities for policy action.

“Data is data,” said Jillian Peterson, a psychologist at Hamline University and co-author of the study. “Data isn’t political. Our hope is that it pushes these conversations further.”

The study, compiled by the Violence Project, a nonpartisan think tank dedicated to reducing violence in society, was published Tuesday and is the most comprehensive and detailed database of mass shooters to date, coded to 100 different variables. Its release comes less than a week after a teenage boy killed two students at his high school in Santa Clarita, California, before fatally shooting himself in the head.

The researchers used the FBI’s definition of a “mass murder” — four or more people killed, excluding the perpetrator — and applied it to shootings in one public place. The dataset stretches back to August 1, 1966, when a former Marine opened fire from an observation deck at the University of Texas, killing 15 people. It wasn’t the first mass shooting in the U.S., but researchers chose it as a starting point because it was the first to be substantively covered on radio and TV.

The database delivers a number of arresting findings. Mass shootings are becoming much more frequent and deadly: Of the 167 incidents the researchers logged in that 53-year period, 20% have occurred in the last five years, and half since 2000.

They’re also increasingly motivated by racial, religious, or misogynist hatred, particularly the ones that occurred in the past five years.

And in an era when tightening gun laws, including background checks, is a national political issue, the study found that more than half of all mass shooters in the database obtained their guns legally.

But researchers said they were particularly struck by how many mass shooters displayed symptoms of being in some sort of crisis prior to the shooting. “Those are opportunities for prevention,” said Peterson.


5 profiles of mass shooters


Experts have long cautioned that there is no single profile for a mass shooter. But the Violence Project researchers found some personal characteristics often align with certain types of locations targeted by shooters, and created five general categories:

  1. K-12 shooters: White males, typically students or former students of the school, with a history of trauma. Most are suicidal, plan their crime extensively, and make others aware of their plans at some point before the shooting. They use multiple guns that they typically steal from a family member.

  2. College and university shooters: Non-white males who are current students of the university, are suicidal, and have a history of violence and childhood trauma. They typically use legally obtained handguns and leave behind some sort of manifesto.

  3. Workplace shooters: Fortysomething males without a specific racial profile. Most are employees of their targeted location, often a blue-collar job site, and have some grievance against the workplace. They use legally purchased handguns and assault rifles.

  4. Place of worship shooters: White males in their 40s, typically motivated by hate or domestic violence that spills out into public. Their crimes typically involve little planning.

  5. Shooters at a commercial location (such as a store or restaurant): White men in their 30s with a violent history and criminal record. They typically have no connection to the targeted location and use a single, legally obtained firearm. About a third show evidence of a “thought disorder,” a term for a mental health condition, like schizophrenia, that results in disorganized thinking, paranoia, or delusions.


Hate on the rise


The study shows that the number of shooters who are motivated by racism, religious hate, and misogyny have increased since the 1960s — most dramatically in the last five years.

Since 2015, hate-fueled shootings targeting black churchgoers in Charleston, Jews at synagogues in Pittsburgh and Poway, women at a yoga studio in Tallahassee, and Latinos at a Walmart in El Paso, have dominated national headlines and added another layer of complexity to the problem of mass violence in America.

Between 1966 and 2000, there were 75 mass shootings. Of those, 9% were motivated by racism, 1% by religious hatred, and 7% by misogyny. Of the 32 mass shootings that have occurred in the U.S. just since 2015, 18% were motivated by racism, 15% by religious hatred, and 21% by misogyny.

The increase in ideologically motivated mass shootings has coincided with the emergence of a newly emboldened far right, who’ve forged national and even international alliances of hate online. The sharp rise in misogyny-inspired shootings also squares with the rise of the “Incels,” short for “involuntarily celibate,” an online subculture comprised of angry young men who deeply resent and blame women for their isolation.


Mental health is a factor — but rarely the cause


Two-thirds of the mass shooters in the database had a documented history of mental health problems. While this seems high, researchers point out that roughly 50% of Americans have experienced some kind of mental health problem at some point in their lives.

Moreover, the percentage of shooters whose crimes were directly motivated by the symptoms of a mental disorder (such as delusions or hallucinations caused by psychosis) is much smaller: roughly 16%. That is a smaller percentage than shooters motivated by hate, a workplace grievance, or an interpersonal conflict.

“If someone has a mental health history, I think we’ve gotten in the habit of blaming that for their actions,” said Peterson. “But someone can have, say, depression, and it’s not like everything they do is driven by that.”

That said, the study found strong links between suicidal motivations and mass shootings. Nearly 70% of shooters were suicidal before or during the shooting, and the numbers are even higher for school shooters.

These findings could have powerful implications for public policy, according to the researchers. “This shows us that there are opportunities for intervention — this doesn’t just happen out of the blue,” Peterson said.

“We know a lot more about suicide prevention than we do about this issue, and we know what works — things like limiting access to weapons, directly asking the question, connecting people with outside resources, not talking about it in the news.”


Seeking out fame


The percentage of shooters driven by a desire for fame has risen substantially in the last five years, the study found. In the first 15 years of the 21st century, some 3% of perpetrators were motivated by the desire to go down in history as a mass shooter.

Between 2015 and 2019, that number jumped to 12%.

One specific motivator for fame-seekers remains strangely persistent through the years: the Columbine High School massacre.

There had been many mass shootings and even school shootings before, but Columbine, which took place in 1999 at a public high school in Littleton, Colorado, redefined the school shooting as a media spectacle. The chaotic scene outside the school was broadcast live for several hours before the perpetrators were found to have died by suicide, the shooters left an extensive record of their plans and motives.

Columbine’s influence is so great that the study even found that fame-seeking as a motive for mass shootings was largely confined to the American West: 70% of fame-seeking shootings took place in the region. (By comparison, the researchers found no mass shootings in the Northeast directly motivated by fame-seeking.)


How they got their guns


Nearly half the mass shooters in the database purchased their gun legally. Thirteen percent obtained their gun via “theft,” which includes borrowing from friends or family members. School shooters — overwhelmingly young — were most likely to acquire their guns in this manner. Researchers said that this particular data point could bolster arguments for legislation requiring safe storage of firearms.

Handguns were by far the most common firearm used in mass shootings, and were used three times the rate of shotguns, rifles, or assault rifles.

Assault rifles were banned in 1994 during the Clinton Administration, but the federal ban expired a decade later and gun manufacturers pounced on the opportunity to re-market military-style firearms to civilians.

Researchers said that there had been a statistically significant increase of assault rifle use in mass shootings in the last five years, which has also coincided with shootings becoming more deadly.

LINK: https://video.vice.com/en_us/video/inside-the-program-that-takes-guns-away-from-dangerous-people/5b576bd4be407702041f9563

Firearms have cost 12.6 million years of life in just a decade

Gun deaths increased by 0.72 percent every year, rising from 47 percent to nearly 51 percent, researchers found

WAPO: https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/03/06/guns-suicide-homicide-lost-years/

For years, the primary cause of death for younger Americans was automobile accidents.

That’s evolving as firearm deaths mount — and they cost millions of years of potential life.

FAQ: What to know about the omicron variant of the coronavirus
In an analysis in Trauma Surgery & Acute Care Open, researchers found that between 2009 and 2018, the United States lost 12.6 million years of life because of firearms alone.

The team used Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data and death certificates. Over the period studied, they found, firearm deaths increased by 0.72 percent every year, rising from 47 percent of trauma deaths to nearly 51 percent.

2020 was the deadliest gun violence year in decades. So far, 2021 is worse.

When the researchers calculated years lost based on an average life expectancy of 80 years, they found that White males, who constitute the majority of firearm deaths, lost the most years of potential life because of suicide by gun — a total of 4.95 million potential years during the decade-long study period. White males under 45 were 46 percent less likely to die by firearm suicide than their older counterparts.

Black males were more likely to die of homicide, losing 3.2 million potential years. The majority who died by homicide were between the ages of 15 and 24.

Although females were much less likely to die because of a firearm, gun suicide was on the rise among women, too; they lost over 867,000 years of potential life because of suicide.

To reduce suicides, look at guns

The researchers found stark regional differences in the trends, and point out that the South — the region with the highest number of registered firearms — has a higher level of gun-related suicide and homicide than the rest of the nation.

Second Amendment advocates argue that the right to bear arms can prevent deaths, but the researchers write, “the data reveal that the resulting access to firearms has equated to magnitudes of death due to firearm suicides in the same individuals demanding access to firearms.” They call for more tailored suicide prevention programs aimed at those at highest risk, and the restriction of access to “all methods of suicide.”

6 dead, at least 12 injured in Sacramento shooting, police say

Video posted on Twitter shows people running through the street as the sound of rapid gunfire can be heard in the background

By Graham Womack and Tory Newmyer

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/04/03/sacramento-shooting/




SACRAMENTO — Six people are dead and at least 12 have been hospitalized after a shooting in downtown Sacramento early Sunday, police said, in what authorities are calling another senseless mass shooting.

The violence broke out shortly after 2 a.m. local time, leaving bodies on the ground and sending people running for cover in this popular nightlife destination lined with bars and clubs a block from the state Capitol.

Sacramento police said they are still trying to establish what prompted the shooting, how it unfolded, and who is responsible. They have yet to make an arrest and are asking for the public’s help in identifying potential suspects or motives, Sacramento Police Chief Kathy Lester said.

Lester said police in the area heard the gunshots and arrived at the corner of 10th and K streets to find a “very large crowd” and several shooting victims. Video posted on Twitter showed people running through the street as the sound of rapid gunfire could be heard in the background.

The site is three blocks from the Golden 1 Center, where the NBA’s Sacramento Kings play basketball, and which had hosted a concert by rap star Tyler, the Creator, on Saturday night. Lester said it was unclear whether the shooting was “associated with any particular club or event.”

There were still bodies on the street as of 10:30 a.m. local time, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

Police mustered a large presence at the scene throughout Sunday, closing a swath of downtown two blocks wide and four blocks long. Sgt. Zach Eaton, a police spokesman, told The Washington Post the zone is likely to remain shut down until Monday as the investigation goes on. The crime scene, Lester said, is “very complex and complicated.”

Police are investigating a video posted to social media showing a brawl unfolding on a sidewalk as the shooting erupts. “We can’t confirm if that fight is what caused the shooting, or if there were two things going on at once,” Eaton said. He said police encouraged anyone with relevant video to submit it to the department through a link or the QR code it provided.

Bailey Willis, of Lincoln, Calif., said she and her husband witnessed the aftermath from the third-floor window of the Citizen Hotel, where they were staying.

“We didn’t know what was going on,” Willis said, her voice quavering. “We just saw these people terrified and they were screaming and holding each other and the cops were just barricading.”

Terra Henry ,of Carmichael, Calif., who also was staying at the hotel, said she saw a man running and crying, “My baby’s gone, my baby’s gone.”

Officials have opened City Hall, which will serve as an information center for victims’ families, with city staff and police on hand, Sacramento police announced.

“Thoughts and prayers are not nearly enough,” Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg (D) said at a news conference. “We must do more as a city, state and as a nation. This senseless epidemic of gun violence must be addressed. How many unending tragedies does it take before we begin to cure the sickness in this country?”

Earlier, Steinberg wrote on Twitter, “The numbers of dead and wounded are difficult to comprehend.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement that his administration is monitoring the situation and working with state and local law enforcement.

“What we do know at this point is that another mass casualty shooting has occurred, leaving families with lost loved ones, multiple individuals injured and a community in grief,” Newsom (D) said. “The scourge of gun violence continues to be a crisis in our country, and we must resolve to bring an end to this carnage.”

The violence in Sacramento unfolded just hours after a mass shooting in Dallas. At least 11 people were shot, with one reported dead, at an outdoor concert, according to Dallas police. Three of the victims were juveniles.

“A preliminary investigation determined that at the event, one individual fired a gun into the air, then another unknown individual fired a gun in the crowd’s direction,” Dallas police said in a statement.

10 people killed in racially motivated mass shooting at Buffalo grocery store, officials say

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/05/14/buffalo-shooting-grocery-store-tops/

By Aidan Joly, Timothy Bella, Marisa Iati, Meryl Kornfield, Joanna Slater and Devlin Barrett





BUFFALO — Ten people were killed during a mass shooting Saturday afternoon at a Buffalo grocery store in what law enforcement officials described as a racially motivated hate crime.

Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia told reporters that a heavily armed 18-year-old White man entered the store in a predominantly Black neighborhood and shot 13 people, including a security guard. He later surrendered to police and remains in custody.

Stephen Belongia, the special agent in charge of the FBI field office, said that law enforcement officials were investigating the shooting as a hate crime and a case of racially motivated violent extremism. Gramaglia said that 11 of the 13 people shot were Black.

Gramaglia said the suspect, who was heavily armed and wearing tactical gear, used a camera to live-stream the attack and shot several victims in the parking lot before entering the store.

The grocery’s longtime security guard — a “hero in our eyes,” said Gramaglia — engaged the shooter but was killed by the encounter. Four of those killed were store employees and six were customers, law enforcement officials said.

Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown said the shooter, who has not been identified by officials, was not from the city. Brown said it was “a day of great pain for our community.”

Rep. Brian Higgins (D-N.Y.) called the event “a terrible tragedy for the city.” He said the shooting was part of a nationwide problem: “When you have assault rifles in the possession of the wrong people, these kinds of things happen.”

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) wrote that she was “closely monitoring the shooting.

“We have offered assistance to local officials,” she tweeted. “If you are in Buffalo, please avoid the area and follow guidance from law enforcement and local officials.”

The Tops Friendly Markets store, which is located in a lower-income area of Buffalo, is a popular one that serves many people who live in the area. It’s centrally located to several area colleges, including Canisius College and Buffalo State College as well as a number of area churches.

The supermarket is about 10 minutes from the Canalside area of Buffalo, a popular area among locals and visitors.

A dairy frozen worker who identified himself as Will G. told the Buffalo News that he had walked into the cooler to stock milk just minutes before the shooting. As gunfire rang out, he ended up joining others who hid out in the cooler.

“I just heard shots. Shots and shots and shots,” he said to the News. “It sounded like things were falling over.”

He added, “I hid. I just hid. I wasn’t going to leave that room.”

The shooting at the Buffalo grocery store Saturday echoes the March 2021 mass shooting in Boulder, Colo., when 10 people, including a police officer, were killed at a King Soopers grocery store.

UPDATE: 21 killed in shooting at Uvalde elementary school, SA lawmaker says

https://abc13.com/uvalde-texas-robb-elementary-school-active-shooter-district-lockdown/11889693/



UVALDE, Texas -- At least 14 students were killed and one teacher is dead after an "active shooter" incident at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday, Gov. Greg Abbott said.

Abbott also identified the shooter as an 18-year-old student at Uvalde High School. Multiple sources told ABC News the suspect is dead.

The National Counterterrorism Operations Center believes, at the moment, there is "no known terrorism nexus," according to a law enforcement bulletin obtained by ABC News.

This is a breaking news update. A previous version of this report is below.

Multiple people are dead, including several children, after an "active shooter" incident at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, law enforcement sources told ABC News.

Uvalde Memorial Hospital has confirmed to ABC News that two children died from presumed gunshot injuries in the incident.

Additionally, 13 students were being treated in the hospital's emergency department in the wake of the incident, the hospital said. Two patients were transferred to San Antonio for treatment, while a third was pending transfer, the hospital said. A 45-year-old was also hospitalized after getting grazed by a bullet, the hospital said.



Emergency personnel gather near Robb Elementary School following a shooting, Tuesday, May 24, 2022, in Uvalde, Texas.

AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills


University Health in San Antonio said it had two patients from the shooting incident -- a child and an adult. The hospital said the adult -- a 66-year-old woman -- is in critical condition. It did not have an update yet on the condition of the child.

Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin did not confirm casualties, but told ABC News in a text message that "this is a very bad situation." He said the office is trying to contact parents before releasing any information.

Earlier, the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District had said a shooter was located at Robb Elementary School and asked people to stay away from the area.

"There is an active shooter at Robb Elementary," the school district said on Twitter. "Law enforcement is on site. Your cooperation is needed at this time by not visiting the campus. As soon as more information is gathered it will be shared."

A school official initially clarified to ABC News that the shooting took place off campus, and that Robb Elementary School was under lockdown.

The school informed parents shortly after 2 p.m. local time that students had been transported to the Sgt. Willie Deleon Civic Center, the reunification site, and could be picked up.


US saw 312 gun violence incidents this weekend

https://abc30.com/gun-violence-buffalo-mass-shooting-church-hate-crime/11856319/

The Buffalo and California shootings were two of 312 incidents of gun violence in the U.S. this weekend. Nearly 130 were killed.


Uvalde, Texas, is located about 90 minutes west of San Antonio.

The Bexar County Sheriff's Office and San Antonio Police Department are sending aid.

The Houston Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives also said it is assisting in the investigation of a school shooting.


TEXAS Governor Greg Abbott holding his beloved gun showing you what he loves most.




GO TEXAS - GUN CAPITAL OF THE WORLD AND THE PLACE WHERE YOU CAN CARRY GUNS EVERYWHERE!!!  YEEE HAW!!!

Opinion  How the AR-15 conquered America, as revealed by an industry insider

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/05/31/uvalde-shooting-ar-15-interview-ryan-busse/



As the country continues to absorb the horror of the murder of 19 children in Texas, public attention has refocused on the role that AR-15-style weapons have played in such mass-shooting massacres.

In addition to the Uvalde killer, the young man who allegedly slaughtered 10 people in Buffalo used one. So did Kyle Rittenhouse, who killed two protesters in Wisconsin, for which he got acquitted.

But behind all these specific horrors lies an even bigger story. How did AR-15 variants come to occupy such a position of dominance in our culture — and, increasingly, in our everyday lives — in the first place?

The rise of AR-15-style weaponry, which is a semiautomatic civilian version of a military weapon, reflects a growing zeal, at least amid a determined minority in some parts of the country, for the introduction of overtly military-style equipment into civil society.

In that regard, Daniel Defense, the company that manufactured the weapon used in Uvalde, has really pushed the envelope. But this reflects a larger trend of “radicalization” in the industry, argues Ryan Busse, a former firearms executive.

Busse has carved out a niche arguing from inside knowledge that none of this was an accident. He says it was the result of specific choices made by the industry, combined with cultural shifts that created fertile conditions for this transformation.

The gun violence problem goes far beyond mass shootings and assault-style rifles. Right now senators are negotiating reforms that would hopefully address both mass shootings and day-to-day gun murders and suicides.

Yet those reforms will be modest and incremental at best. And given that there are hundreds of millions of guns in circulation in the United States, it’s extremely sobering to consider how vast and intractable the gun violence problem will likely remain for the foreseeable future.

I talked to Busse about all these matters. An edited and condensed version of our conversation follows.

Greg Sargent: Salvador Ramos was reportedly an enthusiast of the “Call of Duty” video game. Can you explain how the gun industry has used video games and other similar tactics to try to boost sales of guns like AR-15-style rifles?

Ryan Busse: Twenty years ago, everybody believed the industry was dying. Every marketing person in the industry looked around with some worry about how to reach new market shares.

Probably in the mid-to-late 2000s, you start to see the rise of first-person shooter games, following the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

There was lots of discussion in marketing-planning meetings about how you could get your gun model placed in a movie or a video game. That represented a solution to the problem, which was: How do we attract a new market segment away from this graying, older market segment that’s not growing?

There was a young demographic associated with first-person video games and action movies.

Sargent: It’s interesting that you mention the Iraq and Afghanistan wars as galvanizing this new groundswell of interest in this type of weaponry. How important were the wars — the imagery of the wars coming home, the war on terror, and the Islamophobia coursing through all of this — to this cultural groundswell?

Busse: Very important. I think it seeded everything.

Prior to about 2010 or 2012 there was never a gun sold in the United States commercial market that was desert tan color. Now a significant percentage of guns are sold in desert tan color. Why? Iraq and Afghanistan.

Sargent: The company that manufactured the shooter’s weapon, Daniel Defense, is at the leading edge of this kind of aggressive marketing. How widespread is what they do in the overall industry?

Busse: The story of Daniel Defense bursting on to the market is a case study in how the gun industry has radicalized and changed. All of the AR-15s built are pretty much the same gun. About 500 companies now build them. Twenty years ago there were one or two, and they were on the fringe of the commercial market.

About 1999, in the Columbine shooting, the NRA set its political course: We’re in the culture war business.

Then you have wars happening, AR-15s, patriotism, Islamophobia — all of that happening in the culture at the same time.

The gun industry became like a badly gerrymandered congressional district. It only had incentive to go one way. Everything pulls it to the right.

Sargent: What’s intriguing to me is the intense symbolic importance these AR-15-type guns have taken on. Throughout blue America the feeling has intensified that assault-style weapons have no place in civil society.

Yet in pro-gun America that very fact — that it arouses such intense opposition — has itself become almost a point of prideful defiance.

Busse: It’s a middle finger.

Sargent: For the right, living in a society that refrains from acting collectively to limit easy accessibility of such firepower has taken on a kind of higher meaning.

Busse: I live in red America. If I drive through the streets where I am, almost all the vehicles that have the Trump message somewhere on them also have some kind of AR-15 sticker on the back.

The people who marched into the Michigan Capitol had AR-15s. On Jan. 6, there were the Trump political flags — and then there were come-and-take-it AR-15 flags.

Sargent: This weapon has become a kind of symbolic test indicating the type of society we want. What this middle finger says is, “You can take your civil society and shove it.”

Busse: Nothing conveys dominance and intimidation like a loaded AR-15. It was designed to be offensive in war. It was designed to take people’s lives.

Sargent: You’re positioning the cultural mania around the AR-15 as an aberration or a malignancy, relative to what surely are millions upon millions of gun owners who have a much healthier attitude toward their hobby.

Busse: It’s how people are using the rifle. It’s what the rifle has become.

I think the authoritarian forces in this country view the AR-15 as a central organizing symbol.

Sargent: You often see advocacy for the AR-15 from the same right wing influencers — Tucker Carlson, Donald Trump Jr., Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), etc. — who regularly traffic in versions of the “great replacement theory” or relentlessly fearmonger about leftist terrorism driving the country into civil collapse.

Why is it that those who traffic in apocalyptic fantasies about demographic doom also tend to treat the AR-15 as something with almost mythical symbolic importance?

Busse: The idea of civil war/race war with heavily-armed citizen-patriots as your warriors is hardly under the surface anymore.

I won’t go so far as to say they actually want people to die in a race war. It’s a political tool for them. They think they can use it to motivate — and make people angry and fearful and hateful.

Sargent: Let’s talk about the assault weapons ban of 1994, which lapsed in 2004. What fundamentally changed after the ban lapsed?

Busse: The social stigma of AR-15s was removed. Then, 13 months after, George W. Bush signed the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. It essentially says no firearms company or retailer can be sued for the unlawful actions of a consumer using the product, even if they market it irresponsibly.

Now the Daniel Defenses of the world stand back and basically say: “We’ve got 500 competitors, so we need to be really edgy in marketing. They just passed this law where we’re not even held to account if we market in ways that seem egregious.” Then the course was set.

Sargent: Gun manufacturers could market this stuff directly to a whole generation of people who were living in a society transformed by the Iraq and Afghan wars.

Busse: Then, as it got ever more competitive, they’d get the guns into video games. Get the guns into movies. Call the guns ever-more-offensive names. There’s an AR-15 called the “Urban Super Sniper.” How much more suggestive can you get than that?

Sargent: What does an actual policy response commensurate with the problem look like? Are we doomed to being a heavily armed society for the foreseeable future?

Busse: Rittenhouse, Buffalo, Uvalde — these things are warnings of what’s to come. You can’t put 450 million guns in a complex society — with lots of mental illness and covid-19 shutdowns and angst and Donald Trump and insurrections — and not think you’re going to have this.

I don’t believe there’s a way to solve the crisis. We have to start making decisions that make it marginally better instead of marginally worse.

That kid in Uvalde — if we’d had a 21-year-old buying requirement for rifles in Texas, might the kid have gotten a rifle? He could have. But it would have been harder.

Why don’t we have policies that make that more difficult, instead of continuing to make it easier?

We still have cigarettes. We still have lung cancer. We still have chain-smoking. But we have less now. We made decisions to make things marginally better. We could do that with guns.

Sargent: It sounds like our best hope is to incrementally mitigate a situation that appears to be headed for absolute catastrophe.

Busse: Yes. And I think we are headed for absolute catastrophe.

Is an AR-15 an assault rifle? What you need to know about America's most popular rifle

https://www.news-press.com/story/news/local/2022/06/01/ar-15-what-is-what-can-do-and-why-so-many-mass-shooters-like-them/7467147001/


Days after his 18th birthday, a man bought two AR-15 rifles and used one to kill 21 people, including 19 children, at a Uvalde, Texas elementary school in May 2022.

Two weeks before that, an 18-year-old man used a modified AR-15 to kill 10 people and injure three more in a Buffalo, New York grocery store.

The same type of gun has also been used in at least 11 other mass shootings since 2012, according to USA Today. It's also used by thousands of Americans every day for hunting and target shooting.

What is an AR-15 rifle, and why is it so popular?



What is an AR-15 rifle?

An AR-15 is a semi-automatic, or self-loading rifle that has been called "America's rifle" by the NRA with well over 15 million sold by 2019. "Semi-automatic," as opposed to "automatic," means that the weapon's operator must pull the trigger to fire each shot. The rifle then automatically reloads. An automatic weapon continues to fire as long as you hold down the trigger, and is (mostly) banned in the U.S.

"AR-15s are the most commonly used rifles in marksmanship competitions, training, and home defense," according to the NRA.

An AR-15 is not a specific model, but a style. It's the civilian variation of the ArmaLite AR-15, a variant of the AR-10 designed by Eugene Stoner in the 1950s, that was extremely lightweight, easy to care for and highly adaptable. ArmaLite sold the patent to Colt in the 1960s and they developed an automatic-fire version for the military called the M16. After Colt's patent ran out, other manufacturers began making their own versions.

What does AR-15 stand for?

AR stands for ArmaLite Rifle, named after the company that developed it. AR does not stand for "assault rifle" or "automatic rifle."

Is an AR-15 an assault rifle? What is an assault weapon?

That is a very contentious question.

According to the federal government as described in the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (known as the Assault Weapons Ban), the definition of assault weapon included some specific semi-automatic models by name and listed other firearms that included some specific features. For semi-automatic rifles, that meant being able to accept detachable magazines and two or more of the following: a folding or telescopic stock, pistol grip, bayonet mount, a flash suppressor and/or a grenade launcher.

More generally since then, the federal government has usually used the term to refer to a military-style weapon, either semi-automatic or fully automatic, capable of firing multiple rounds.

But pro-gun advocates and the gun industry say that "assault rifle" should only apply to military weapons that are either fully automatic or have the capability of switching between semi-automatic and fully automatic, and that the features listed in the federal Assault Weapons Ban were simply cosmetic.

According to the NSSF, the Firearm Industry Trade Association, "AR-15-style rifles can look like military rifles, such as the M-16, but by law they function like other semiautomatic civilian sporting firearms, as they fire only one round with each pull of the trigger." Instead, they refer to the AR-15 as a "modern sporting rifle" or MSR.

Is an AR-15 a machine gun? What is a bump stock?

The AR-15 rifle is not a machine gun (which is not quite the same thing as an automatic rifle), but it can be modified to function like an automatic rifle when a "bump stock" is used.

In October 2017, a Las Vegas gunman used 23 different weapons to murder 58 people. Of the 23 guns, several AR-15 rifles were found in his hotel room with a bump stock attached. Following this shooting, President Donald Trump banned bump stocks.

New FBI active shooter data:Incidents up 52% in 2021, more lethal than 2020 by 171%



Why is the AR-15 so popular?

It's lightweight. It's rugged. It's accurate and has relatively little recoil. It's easy to modify, with plenty of accessories to make it more accurate, more comfortable, and more personal. Some gun owners enjoy a weapon that can be made to look like military hardware.

The NRA said "the AR-15 has soared in popularity" because it's "customizable, adaptable, reliable and accurate." It is also versatile and can be used for "sport shooting, hunting and self-defense situations," the NRA said, adding the ability to "personalize" so many of the rifle's components "is one of the things that makes it so unique."

"Like the Swiss Army knife, the popular AR-15 rifle is a perfect combination of home defense weapon and homeland defense equipment," said U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez when he overturned California's assault weapons ban in 2021. "Good for both home and battle."

But a big reason for the AR-15's popularity is its cost.

How much does an AR-15 cost?

New AR-15 rifles can sell for $400 to $2,000 and nearly every major gun manufacturer produces one. Ammunition is inexpensive and can be bought in bulk online, and magazines are interchangeable between manufacturers.





Why is the AR-15 so dangerous?

The AR-15 was designed to inflict what one of its designers called "maximum wound effect." AR-15s have a higher muzzle velocity than some other rifles and bullets leaving them at such a fast speed — nearly three times the speed of sound — cause more damage to bones and organs. They're also more likely to break apart inside a body, causing even more damage.

K-12 School Shooting Database:What a Florida man's school shooting database can tell us about gun violence on campuses

Weapon of choice:The AR-15 rifle, the gun used to kill 21 people in Uvalde, often used in mass shootings

How many rounds can an AR-15 fire in a minute?

Without modifications such as a bump stock, an AR-15 can fire about 60 rounds a minute. A 30-round magazine is fairly standard with MSRs but ammunition magazines ("drums") holding up to 100 rounds can be changed in just a few seconds. Some states currently cap the capacity to 10 or 15 rounds.

Large magazines, or those containing more than 10 rounds, played a role in at least 86 mass shootings since 1980, according to a report from the Violence Policy Center, a national nonprofit that advocates for gun control.



Was an AR-15 used in the Pulse nightclub mass shooting?

Close, but not quite. A 29-year-old man, used a Sig Sauer MCX and a 9mm Glock semi-automatic pistol to kill 49 people and injure 50 at an Orlando nightclub before he was killed.

The Sig Sauer MCX is marketed as an MSR and is very similar to the AR-15.  However, as explained in a Slate analysis, it is not considered an AR-15 because it uses a gas piston system to propel bullets from within the gun instead of a direct impingement system.


Was an AR-15 used in the Parkland, Florida high school mass shooting?

Yes. Police say a 19-year-old man used a Smith and Wesson M&P15, that manufacturer's version of the AR-15, to kill 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.

How many mass shootings have involved an AR-15?

May 24, 2022: Uvalde, Texas (Robb Elementary School, 21 killed, several wounded)
May 17, 2022: Buffalo, New York (Tops Friendly Market, 10 killed, 3 wounded)
March 10, 2021: Boulder, Colorado (King Soopers grocery store, 10 people killed, 3 wounded
Aug. 31, 2019: Midland/Odessa (West Texas cities, 7 killed, 25 wounded)
Apr. 27, 2019: Poway synagogue (near San Diego, 1 killed, 3 wounded)
Oct. 27, 2018: Tree of Life Synagogue (Pittsburgh, 11 killed, 6 wounded)
April 22, 2018: Waffle House (Nashville, Tennessee, 4 killed, 3 injured)
Feb. 14, 2018: Parkland, Florida (Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, 17 killed, 17 wounded)
Nov. 5, 2017: Sutherland Springs (rural Texas church service, 26 people killed)
Oct. 1, 2017: Las Vegas (music festival, 58 killed, hundreds wounded)
June 12, 2016: Orlando, Florida (Pulse nightclub [not an AR-15 but very similar], 49 killed, 50 wounded)
Dec. 2, 2015: San Bernadino, California (holiday office party at Inland Regional Center, 14 killed, 21 wounded)
Dec. 14, 2012: Sandy Hook Elementary School (Newtown, Connecticut, 27 people killed)
June 20, 2012: Aurora, Colorado (Century 16 movie theater, 12 killed, 58 wounded)
Oct. 7, 2007: Crandon, Wisconsin (apartment, 6 killed, 1 wounded)
Feb. 24, 1984: Los Angeles (49th Street Elementary School, 2 killed, 12 wounded)

3 killed in shooting inside Tulsa hospital; gunman also dead, police say

Police say a man armed with a rifle at St. Francis Hospital was also dead after Wednesday's shooting.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/multiple-victims-shooting-tulsa-hospital-gunman-police-say-rcna31551

June 1, 2022, 4:00 PM MST / Updated June 1, 2022, 4:36 PM MST
By Tim Stelloh and Lindsey Pipia

Three people were killed after a gunman opened fire inside an Oklahoma hospital Wednesday, authorities said.

The gunman, described only as a man armed with a rifle, was also killed, Tulsa Police said in a statement.

Multiple people were injured in the gunfire that erupted about 5 p.m. at St. Francis Hospital in Tulsa, Police Capt. Richard Meulenberg said. In a statement, the police department said the man entered a building on the hospital's campus on Wednesday afternoon.

"This turned into active shooter situation," the department said.

It wasn't clear how the gunman died, and a motive hasn't been identified.

Authorities said he went to the building's second floor and opened fire. Police were carrying out a room-by-room search to search for other threats, the department said.

The deadly shooting came a little more than a week after an 18-year-old killed 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.

And over the Memorial Day weekend, nine people were killed and more than 60 injured in shootings with more than four victims across the United States, according to an organization that tracks shootings.

On Tuesday in New Orleans, a woman was killed and two men were injured in a shooting in New Orleans that occurred near a high school graduation venue that was taking place on the campus of Xavier University, police said.


PANDEMIC OFFICIALLY OVER I GUESS - LET THE SHOOTINGS BEGIN???

There have been over 200 mass shootings so far in 2022

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/06/02/mass-shootings-in-2022/

Before a man killed at least four people Wednesday at a hospital in Tulsa, there had already been 231 mass shootings this year in the United States, according to the Gun Violence Archive. It is the twentieth since last week’s shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Tex., left 19 children and two teachers dead.

Mass shootings, where four or more people — not including the shooter — are injured or killed, have averaged more than one per day so far this year. Not a single week in 2022 has passed without at least four mass shootings.



Mass shootings have been on the rise in recent years. In 2021, almost 700 such incidents occurred, a jump from the 611 in 2020 and 417 in 2019. Before that, incidents had not topped 400 annually since the Gun Violence Archive started tracking in 2014.

From Sandy Hook to Buffalo and Uvalde: Ten years of failure on gun control

This year is on pace with last year’s high when comparing the same time period.



The toll is immense. Mass shootings have killed 256 people and injured 1,010 more through the end of May.

6 dead, many injured after shootings in Philadelphia and Chattanooga




https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/06/05/philadelphia-shooting-south-street/


Shootings overnight left six people dead in Philadelphia and Chattanooga, Tenn., continuing a spate of deadly gun attacks as Congress prepares to take up gun-control legislation.

Shortly before midnight Saturday, police officers on patrol in a popular nightlife area in Philadelphia heard gunfire and saw “several active shooters” firing into a crowd, Inspector D.F. Pace of the Philadelphia Police Department said at a news conference early Sunday.

Three fatalities have been confirmed, two related to gunshot wounds and one related to injuries sustained after a person was struck by a vehicle. Several victims remain in critical condition after what police described as a chaotic and harrowing situation, as hundreds of people were out on a pleasant summer evening.

An officer fired several shots at one of the gunmen as he was shooting, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said during a news conference Sunday afternoon. The man dropped his weapon and fled when he was fired upon, the commissioner added.

About three hours later, at 2:42 a.m., police in Chattanooga responded to reports of shots fired near a nightclub. They found 14 gunshot victims and three people who had been hit by vehicles that “were attempting to flee the scene,” Chattanooga Police Chief Celeste Murphy said in a briefing Sunday.

Murphy said three people were killed, two by gunshots and one after being struck by a vehicle. She said the investigation was ongoing. “Multiple shooters” were involved, she said, but police did not have anyone in custody.

In Philadelphia, police were on the hunt for the shooters, Pace said.

The incident began at 11:31 p.m. after two officers heard gunfire, Outlaw said. When they arrived at the scene, they saw several people with gunshot wounds and began administering first aid.

Police believe there was some sort of physical altercation between two men who started shooting at each other. Both were hit and one was killed, Outlaw said. In all, five different guns were fired, police said, not including the one discharged by the police officer on the scene.

Outlaw said the two other people who were killed and several of the wounded were “uninvolved in the initial altercation and were innocent bystanders.”

Of the 14 people who were injured and brought to hospitals, three — two men, ages 22 and 34, and a woman, 27 — were pronounced dead on arrival, police told reporters. The 11 wounded ranged in age from 17 to 69 years old, Outlaw said, and their conditions ranged from stable to critical.

“We’re absolutely devastated, devastated by this incident,” she said.

About 35 to 40 minutes before the shooting on South Street, police responded to another report of shots fired nearby. No one was injured in that shooting, and police said it was unclear if the two shootings were related.

Officials at Philadelphia’s Thomas Jefferson University Hospital told The Washington Post that it received 10 patients. Three died, six were in a “stable condition” and one had been discharged as of Sunday morning.

Police will look at video surveillance footage from the bustling area, Pace said.

“There were hundreds of individuals just enjoying South Street as they do every single weekend when this shooting broke out,” he added. “This investigation is fluid.”

Of the five weapons used in the shooting, two, both semiautomatic handguns, were recovered, police said. One of them had an extended magazine. “Multiple casings” of ammunition were strewn about the South Street area, Pace added.

The local 6ABC news outlet showed video of glass debris on the street and police tape cordoning off a busy shopping area.

The shootings come amid fresh outrage across the country from police chiefs and elected officials over gun violence. President Biden has renewed a push for Congress to act on gun restrictions.

The Philadelphia shooting follows another one nearby early on Tuesday, according to a report from WPHL-TV. Surveillance video showed a woman firing multiple shots at the intersection of 4th and South streets. One man was shot in the shoulder. He was treated at a hospital, police told the station. It was not clear whether the shootings are related.

In a statement Sunday morning, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney (D) called the latest shooting “beyond devastating” in what he said was “yet another horrendous, brazen and despicable act of gun violence” that “has shaken many people in our community.”

He also decried the rise in gun violence.

“We’ve spent these years grappling with this rising epidemic and doing everything in our power not only to stop it but to try to understand why the violence continues — it’s senseless, needless and deeply troubling,” Kenney said.

Chattanooga’s nonpartisan mayor, Tim Kelly, also called for stronger gun laws during a news conference Sunday afternoon. “There are families whose lives have been shattered forever because once again, we have people deciding to resolve their issues with firearms,” he said. “I’m tired of standing in front of you talking about guns and bodies. Chattanooga will not tolerate this in our community.”

The shootings come as Congress is expected to take up gun-control legislation this week. Speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said he was “more confident than ever” that Congress would act. “But I’m also more anxious about failure this time around.”

He called the legislation “frankly a test of democracy. It’s a test of the federal government as to whether we can deliver at a moment of just fierce anxiety amongst the American public. So we’re closer than ever before. Let’s see if we land it.”

Quinton Lucas, the nonpartisan mayor of Kansas City, said his city has filed lawsuits against gun manufacturers and “fortified” many of its schools, but that action from Congress was needed.

“More than anything, we need stronger and tougher laws that protect our children, protect our grocery stores, protect our police officers,” Lucas said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

Lucas said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

“Red-flag laws permitting background checks are very clear solutions,” he added. “And I think the United States Congress has an opportunity to act and make us all safer so we’re not reading about a new mass shooting every few days, which has been the story of the past month in the United States.”

Chris Rock -- Bullet Control (HD)




Chris Rock - Gun Control