They continue as this country staunchly fights to allow the right of it citizens ti have access to the weapons that are used to harm its children….
At least eight people were killed and a school resource officer wounded when a student gunman opened fire inside a Texas High School Friday morning, according to authorities.
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez warned the number of casualties, mostly students at Santa Fe High School, could rise to 10.
Assistant Principal Dr. Chris Richardson confirmed the morning attack, telling reporters the shooter “has been arrested and secure.” He would not comment on the number of injured or deceased.
Gonazalez said a second person has also been detained as a person of interest for questioning. He said both are students at the high school.
Vox
@voxdotcom
After Sandy Hook we said never again. And then we let 1,686 mass shootings happen.
Trump on the Santa Fe shooting today….
…“This has been going on too long in our country”….
Remember this comment folks…
Trump won’t after he gets a visit from the NRA people later….
The DOA count is now up to `10…..Link
2018 has been deadlier for schoolchildren than service members
But military service is still much more dangerous….
Wash Post Link…
See how effective Thoughts & Prayers have been ?
(Ask Wayne LaPierre.)
While I am not convinced there is a God, and even less convinced that God demands to be worshipped “or else”, I thinks sending “thoughts and prayers” is intended mostly for the comfort of the survivors’ relatives. And I suppose it does ease their sorrow when they know that others share their sorrow.
I agree with you that their are more effective ways to prevent gun violence than prayers.
On a related note, I noticed that this happened in Texas where gun ownership is so high. The NRA has suggested that increased gun ownership would reduce the likelihood of these events.
Gun violence and mass shootings have disproportionately occurred in the South. I would like to invite CG and/or Jack for their opinion on why they think this is the case.
I believe the gun”culture” is more prevalent in the south than other parts of the country.
Dueling was legal in most southern states long after it had been outlawed in the northern states.
There is also more of a general anti government feeling in the south .Many southerners subscribe to some degree to the idea that one needs guns to “protect” themselves from a future government that may threaten their “freedom.”While a lot of people regard that as an “extremist” position ,in some areas of the south that would be considered “mainstream” thought.
Having said all this,I am often surprised that,in private conversations with not only Republican voters ,but even some Republican politicians, they will readily agree with certain gun control measure,particularly as regards waiting periods for gun purchases, stringent background checks, keeping guns out of the hands of those convicted of crimes and with mental issues and even banning certain guns from being sold.In the same breath though they (the politicians) will concede that they can’t publicly take such positions because they fear a backlash ,mainly from the conservative media.
For better or for worse, there are many social — and what social conservatives would consider moral —, indicators that are worse in Southern or Red states (Utah sometimes excepted) than in those supposèdly-depraved Norrheastern and Pacific urban/suburban coastal states. For example, the divorce rate in Massachusetts is dramatically lower than in Southern states.
Infant mortality and births out of wedlock are much higher in the poorer Southern states, although I don’t know how this breaks down by race.
And I think, but don’t know, that gunshot deaths are higher where state gun laws are more permissive, while Steve Bannon and Donald Trump point only to the alleged hellholes of Detroit. Washington, D.C., and Chicago.
They continue to love their guns….
For better or worst….
At the cost of their children and themselves….
I am feeling too lazy to do more thorough and conclusive research, but look at how the relatively low-population South seems to have more than its share of gun violence:
http://www.gunviolencearchive.org/charts-and-maps
The South,although more sparsely-populated than, say, New Jersey or Rhode Island, isn’t that low-population as a whole, since it includes Texas (the second-most-populous state) and Florida (third-most), as well as relatively well-populated Georgia, North Carolina & Virginia (8th, 9th & 12th).
[Excluding Georgia, however, the relatively-rural or low-tech Cotton Belt or Black Belt states of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama & South Carolina are relatively small, even though each is entitled to more Representatives than Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, the Dakotas, Delaware, R.I., Vermont, New Hampshire or Maine. The slow, progressive tipping of Congress and the Electoral College from the Frost Belt towards the Sun Belt, is based on legitimate demographic changes, not gerrymandering.]
However that set of maps is still very striking, since the incidents do seem to cluster so disproportionately south of the Mason-Dixon line and east of the Rockies.
the following states have a combined 180 electoral vote: VA, WV, KY, AR, OK and all of the states directly south of those states.
The following states have a combined 217 electoral votes: MO, IL, IN, OH, PA, MD, DC and all of the stated directly north. directly north.
A combination of the two groups of states gets a win outright in the Presidential popular and electoral vote….
See Obama 2008/2012 for a reference…
Maybe NOT so striking, eh?
More regional as you are suggesting DSD….
Though the country rows together when confronted?
It IS a place of difference cultures, mores , and other things….
The only recent time when I saw something close to the combination that James suggests (east of an arbitrary North-South axis) was 1976, when Oklahoma and Virginia were the only Southern or Border states to support Gerald Ford, while Texas and Hawaii were the only states west of the Missouri to support Jimmy Carter.
Ford also carried the Midwestern states of Iowa, Illinois, Indiana & Michigan; plus the Northeastern ones of New Jersey, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire & Maine.
Carter & Mondale won with 297 electoral votes and 50.06% of the national popular vote, while Ford & Dole came close with 240 electors and 48.00% of the popular vote.