Two Ways to Help Stop Mass Shootings

1) ALL politicians should be barred from accepting donations from the NRA. At the national, state and local level. The reason we cannot get any common sense gun laws put into place is because too many politicians (Democrat and Republican, I hear) are beholden to the NRA.

You do have a very valid point and I think it would help immensely to stop mass shootings, but to ask politicians not to accept any donations from the NRA defeats completely the way the lobbying system is right now, which is set this way for a reason and not by coincidence.
 
You do have a very valid point and I think it would help immensely to stop mass shootings, but to ask politicians not to accept any donations from the NRA defeats completely the way the lobbying system is right now, which is set this way for a reason and not by coincidence.


No, they don't have a point........the NRA doesn't even register in the Open Secrets list of the biggest campaign donors....

Don't blame the NRA for failed gun control efforts

You know how the argument goes. The "conventional wisdom" is the NRA's heavy spending stops hundreds of politicians from enacting the "common sense" gun control laws they and everyone else would otherwise support.
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There's only one problem with that theory. It's all wrong.

Of course, the NRA does spend money and it does have a sophisticated and persistent messaging operation. But so do dozens of other organizations and causes. So, how does the NRA stack up against them?
Not too well. The NRA, gun makers, and gun rights issues do not even show up on the OpenSecrets website lists for top lobbying firms, top lobbying sectors, top lobbying issues, or top lobbying industries for the years 1998-2017.

The figures for Florida Senator Marco Rubio are particularly educational, since he has been a target of a lot of anti-NRA screeds since the shooting in his home state. A look at the top 20 donors to Rubio directly and his PAC since 2009 does not include the NRA. Over his career since 2009, Rubio has raised a total of more than $91 million in donations. The NRA is responsible for just over $3 million of that, or 3.3 percent. Big whoop, as they say. Yes, $3 million is a lot of money and more than most of us could ever donate to anything. But context is everything, and the even a so-called "poster boy" for NRA donations would only be 3.3 percent lighter in campaign cash without them.

Again, that certainly doesn't mean the NRA isn't spending a lot of money. But the Poltifact fact-checking website puts the total amount of NRA spending since 1998 at $203 million. That figure is even smaller than it looks when you consider 30 percent of Americans, or about 100 million people, own a gun. By contrast, Wall Street and the broader financial industrial shelled out more than $1.1 billion in the 2016 election cycle alone. The financial industry employs only about six million people in total.


The bulk of that $203 million doesn't actually go to candidates as the hysterical tweets and finger pointers seem to believe. It's spent on those "issue ads" that you see mostly on cable news channels during election years. But even if those ads are extremely influential, they are a much different animal than direct campaign donations to individual congressional and presidential candidates.

There's even a question of whether the NRA is very persuasive among actual gun owners. Fewer than 20 percent of American gun owners are even NRA members. That should tell us something about the "chicken or the egg" argument about the gun lobby. The NRA is much more likely piggybacking off the beliefs of gun owners as opposed to framing them in the first place. The real power is with those voting gun owners, not the lobby group that purports to represent them.

Some gun control advocates are wise to this fact. New America senior fellow Lee Drutman has been working to debunk the myth of the all-powerful NRA's money for several years. Beginning in 2012, he noted the NRA hadn't even made donations to a majority of members of Congress. He also made the correct designation between allegiance and influence. That is, the NRA supports candidates that already align with its philosophy as opposed to paying them to toe the line.

Former New York City mayor and media billionaire Mike Bloomberg has thus made a futile point over the years to combat the NRA's money machine. Bloomberg founded "Everytown for Gun Safety" in 2014based on matching the NRA's financial clout. It hasn't been a total political failure. But in the wake of so many mass shootings since 2014, it's also fair to say Everytown hasn't been able to shepherd any new significant national gun laws to passage either.

A much better strategy is to talk less about the NRA and focus more on resurrecting the anti-gun violence measures Americans have supported in the past. That includes beefed up policing and improved background check systems.

A misbegotten path is introducing new rules and misrepresenting them to the public. That's what happened last year when Democrats tried a proposed rule that they and most of the news media portrayed as a way to keep guns from the "mentally ill." But it really sought to put people into the federal government gun background database if they received disability payments from Social Security and received assistance to manage their benefits due to mental impairments. That's a far cry from "mentally ill." Even the ACLU and mental health advocates lined up against that idea, not just the NRA.
 
Our gun laws and procedures are designed to weed out anyone who might pose a risk to public safety by having a firearm. No system is perfect, but ours has resulted in maybe one mass shooting every decade,
Deja vu.

You have the same number of massacres per decade that you had before you abolished freedom.

So abolishing your freedom did not change anything. You gave up your freedom for no reason at all.


Oh, how many school shootings have you had since 1945?
Deja vu.

13 I think.


We've had 1, and as a result of the massive public outcry, the laws were enacted to ban certain firearms.
Deja vu.

What a horrible and tragic loss of freedom.

You guys need to change and become more like we are here in America.


Clearly our laws and procedures have managed to successfully prevent school shootings.
If so, they certainly didn't prevent any massacres. They merely made some of the massacres be perpetrated using a different kind of weapon.

Murder victims are still just as dead when they are killed with a different kind of weapon.

But I don't think your claim is correct. I think your rate of school shootings is the same as it was before you abolished your freedom.


Controlling who has access to firearms works, end of story.
The US controls who has access to firearms too.
 
Question: Do anyone here know if George Zimmerman was able to sell his gun? He was selling the gun he killed Treyvon Martin with to the highest bidder a few years ago? I'm just curious.
 
The countries mentioned have strict gun controls, which have no real effect on their citizens' "rights" that you find so "precious".
"Strict gun controls" is a meaningless term. The US has strict gun controls too.

People in Finland are allowed to have semi-auto rifles with 30-round magazines. They do have to provide a good reason for having such a gun, but "so I can help defend Finland from invasion" is always accepted as a good reason.

Switzerland issues full-auto rifles for many people to keep at home. People who are not issued full-auto rifles are allowed to have semi-auto rifles with 30-round magazines.

People in the three Baltic states are allowed to carry concealed handguns for self defense. They are also allowed to have semi-auto rifles with 30-round magazines. People who volunteer to help defend their nation from invasion are allowed to have full-auto weapons in Estonia and Lithuania.

People in the Czech Republic are allowed to carry concealed handguns for self defense. They are also allowed to have semi-auto rifles with 30-round magazines.
 
Deja vu.

You have the same number of massacres per decade that you had before you abolished freedom.

So abolishing your freedom did not change anything. You gave up your freedom for no reason at all.



Deja vu.

13 I think.



Deja vu.

What a horrible and tragic loss of freedom.

You guys need to change and become more like we are here in America.



If so, they certainly didn't prevent any massacres. They merely made some of the massacres be perpetrated using a different kind of weapon.

Murder victims are still just as dead when they are killed with a different kind of weapon.

But I don't think your claim is correct. I think your rate of school shootings is the same as it was before you abolished your freedom.



The US controls who has access to firearms too.

They had two shootings recently...one in Cumbria, one in Plymouth......he can't tell us which of their gun control laws stopped them from going into a school and shooting children....
 
/----/ Nope, can't say I found a response to the first question time, after time, after time, blah blah blah.
A woman is grabbed by a violent serial rapist at a bus stop, a train platform or in her apartment...he plans on beating, raping and murdering her. She has a gun, and can stop the rape with the gun......

Do you want her to use that gun to stop the rape?



Women and the elderly are the greatest beneficiaries of carry permits.

Democrats who have facilitated 63 million abortions, claim they want to prevent law abiding citizens from having guns, to save lives.

Then they hurry to get their checks in to Planned Parenthood, so as not to miss the organ harvest.
 
Thank you for your response. That was a slap in the face for Treyvon's parents.


Treyvon....?

Did you mean Trayvon?????

The one who attacked Zimmerman?????


Trayvon Martin case: He was suspended three times and ...​

https://www.dailymail.co.uk › news › article-2120504

Mar 27, 2012 — The Miami Herald claims that in October, he was caught with a 'burglary tool' - a flathead screwdriver - and 12 pieces of women's jewellery.



Reports of suspensions paint more complicated picture of ...​

https://www.sun-sentinel.com › news › fl-xpm-2012-03-2...

Mar 25, 2012 — SANFORD — Miami Gardens teenager Trayvon Martin was suspended from school ... described as a “burglary tool,” The Miami Herald has learned.



Trayvon Martin Suspended From School Three Times: Report​

https://www.nbcmiami.com › news › local › trayvon-m...

Mar 27, 2012 — While activists, protesters and the parents of Trayvon Martin ... jewelry and a screwdriver described as a "burglary tool," the report said.



Police investigated Trayvon Martin over jewelry - Boston.com​

http://www.boston.com › News › Nation

Mar 27, 2012 — During a search of his backpack, the report said, campus security officers found 12 pieces of women's jewelry, a watch and a screwdriver that ...


School Report: Trayvon Once Suspended With 'Burglary Tool'​

https://www.newser.com › story › school-report-trayvo...

Mar 27, 2012 — The battle over Trayvon Martin continues. Now it emerges that the teen was suspended from his high school three times, including for ...




This Trayvon??????
 
Thank you for your response. That was a slap in the face for Treyvon's parents.



And, as far at the parents.....


Kimberly Klacik

@kimKBaltimore

If your 13 year old is out stabbing people, carjacking uber drivers or running around with guns, please know... ...you are a terrible parent. It’s you. It’s not the police. Its not the politicians. It’s not the teachers. It’s you. Just you.

9:47 PM · Apr 22, 2021·Twitter for iPhone







Poor parenting on full display.
 
Total and absolute bullshit. A chinese member of the audience took offence and called the police, the singer was detained and later released without charge. In America, it's highly likely the singer would have been shot by the angry Chinese audience member.
At least we can set off fireworks over here without risking being shot..
Just the fact that a person called the cops because he was offended at a Karaoke song and the police didn't tell the guy to grow up is more proof that you Brits are nothing but whiny children.
 
He shot that stupid thug in self-defense.
Trayvon hasn't attacked anyone lately, has he?
Zimmerman was stalking Treyvon, when he should have been minding his own business. When Treyvon started kicking his a** he got scared and shot him. Like a cowardly thug. IT'S NOT SELF DEFENSE WHEN YOU START THE FIGHT.
It's OK though. Thug Zimmerman is reaping what he sowed. What goes around comes around. Thug life is hard, yo.
BYE.
 
Zimmerman was stalking Treyvon, when he should have been minding his own business. When Treyvon started kicking his a** he got scared and shot him. Like a cowardly thug. IT'S NOT SELF DEFENSE WHEN YOU START THE FIGHT.
It's OK though. Thug Zimmerman is reaping what he sowed. What goes around comes around. Thug life is hard, yo.
BYE.


You did not follow the trial....you don't know what you are talking about......but, like a typical leftist, the truth, facts and reality are not your concern....pushing your agenda is all you care about.
 
Zimmerman was stalking Treyvon, when he should have been minding his own business. When Treyvon started kicking his a** he got scared and shot him. Like a cowardly thug. IT'S NOT SELF DEFENSE WHEN YOU START THE FIGHT.
It's OK though. Thug Zimmerman is reaping what he sowed. What goes around comes around. Thug life is hard, yo.
BYE.

Zimmerman was stalking Treyvon

Really? What was Zimmerman doing after the thug escaped?

Why did the thug come back and attack Zimmerman?

When Treyvon started kicking his a** he got scared and shot him.

Yup, shot his stupid thug ass good!

IT'S NOT SELF DEFENSE WHEN YOU START THE FIGHT.

When did Zimmerman start the fight? Was it after Trayvon lost him?
After Trayvon hit him from behind? After Trayvon started smashing his head on the sidewalk? LOL!

It's OK though. Thug Zimmerman is reaping what he sowed.

So is Trayvon, eh?
 

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