Did not want to start a gun violence thread but......

[cliffs]

May 10th 2021 is the 130th day of the year.

To date, there have been 194 mass shootings,


I ask only one question....WTF?


One answer may be....kill this pandemic.

[cliffs]

It is not only in the USA

MOSCOW (AP) — A gunman attacked a school Tuesday morning in the Russian city of Kazan, killing eight people — seven eighth-grade students and a teacher — and leaving 21 others hospitalized with wounds, Russian officials said.

Russian media said some students were able to escape the building during the attack, while others were trapped inside. Students were eventually evacuated to nearby kindergartens and collected by their families. Dozens of ambulances lined up at the entrance to the school after the attack, with access to the building fenced off by police.

Police opened a criminal investigation into the shooting.

Rustam Minnikhanov, governor of the Tatarstan republic where Kazan is the capital, said four boys and three girls, all eighth-grade students, died in the shooting. Minnikhanov's press service later said a teacher was also killed.

“The terrorist has been arrested, (he is) 19 years old. A firearm is registered in his name. Other accomplices haven’t been established, an investigation is underway,” Minnikhanov said after visiting the school, adding that security had been restored.

[cliffs]

Dumbest thing ever. I am not antigun either.


Texas set to allow unlicensed handgun carry despite outcry



AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas is poised to remove one of its last major gun restrictions after lawmakers approved allowing people to carry handguns without a license, and the background check and training that go with it.

The Republican-dominated Legislature approved the measure Monday, sending it to Gov. Greg Abbott, who has said he will sign it despite the objections of law enforcement groups who say it would endanger the public and police.

Gun control groups also oppose the measure, noting the state's recent history of mass shootings, including those at an El Paso Walmart, a church in Sutherland Springs, and a high school outside Houston.

Texas already has some of the loosest gun laws in the country and has more than 1.6 million handgun license holders.

Supporters of the bill say it would allow Texans to better defend themselves in public while abolishing unnecessary impediments to the constitutional right to bear arms. Once signed into law, Texas will join nearly two dozen other states that allow some form of unregulated carry of a handgun, and by far be the most populous.

The National Rifle Association was among those supporting the measure, and a spokesman called it the “most significant” gun-rights measure in the state’s history.

“A right requiring you to pay a tax or obtain a government permission slip is not a right at all,” said Jason Ouimet, executive director of the NRA Institute for Legislative Action.

Texas already allows rifles to be carried in public without a license. The measure sent to Abbott would allow anyone age 21 or older to carry a handgun as long as they don't have felony criminal convictions or some other legal prohibition in their background.

But without the state background check, law enforcement groups worry there would be no way to weed them out in advance. The bill does include stiffer penalties for felons caught illegally carrying guns.

The bill would not prevent businesses from banning guns on their property, and federal background checks for some gun purchases would remain in place. Texas has no state requirements for background checks on private guns sales.

Texas has allowed people to carry handguns since 1995, and has been reducing the cost and training requirements for getting a license for the last decade.

Texas’ move to further loosen gun laws galled El Paso lawmakers, including Democratic state Rep. Joe Moody, who on Sunday night delivered an emotional address on the House floor that recounted being in rooms with the governor and family members searching for loved ones after the Walmart shooting in 2019.

The 2021 legislative session is the first time state lawmakers have met in session since the attack that killed 23 people.

There were promises, Moody recalled, that the state would “take gun safety seriously” after the shooting. Authorities have said the shooter had targeted Mexicans in the border city.

“When the doors were closed I heard lots of promises,” Moody said. “I haven’t heard them since.”

[ErixonStone]

In spite of being the only nation on earth that has a secular Constitution, the US is among the most religious. Either its citizens pledge allegiance to an almighty metaphysical being, or they elevate a bunch of 18th-century aristocrats to mythical status.

We, as a nation, are incapable of seeing our founding fathers as anything other than a deity to be respected. We see our Constitution as an inerrant doctrine, in spite of it having been modified with 27 Amendments. Of those Amendments, only one has been deprecated by another Amendment (the 18th Amendment was repealed by the 21st Amendment).

Somehow, that an Amendment to the Constitution exists is reason alone for us not to consider repealing or modifying it. We no longer ask ourselves whether a Constitutional Amendment is a worthy law, or should be changed. We argue about the meaning of the Amendment, but we do not ever consider modifying it. With respect to gun rights, we never ask ourselves whether our gun laws are good/bad for the nation. We only ask whether they are Constitutional, therefore, deferring to our own interpretation of the writings from 230 years ago.

This is the same kind of thinking as trying to interpret religious text. Our historical figures are, in effect, gods of US government, and above reproach.

This is bad. We cannot have an honest discussion. We are broken.

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Thousands of fans gathered in Wisconsin to celebrate the Milwaukee Bucks' NBA championship, but scenes of celebration soon turned into chaos when gunfire rang out.

Two shootings broke out early Wednesday in downtown Milwaukee that wounded three, sent people running for their lives and left the community shell-shocked.

The shootings are only a snapshot of the skyrocketing gun violence that has swept the nation in recent months. Between Saturday, July 17, and Friday, July 23, the Gun Violence Archive tracked at least 915 shooting incidents -- or, a shooting every 12 minutes -- that left at least 430 people dead and 1,007 wounded. In total, more than 1,000 were wounded or killed this week alone. These numbers are not static, and are constantly updated as data comes in.