Yet another US school shooting

[glasgowcyclist]

It seems almost a weekly occurrence that someone decides to attack children and teachers somewhere in America.

While reading the details of the latest event in Madison, Wisconsin on the BBC, I was struck by someone’s reported comment on the school’s facebook page: "Prayers from Arkansas. We just don’t expect this at any school, much less a Christian school."

Seriously?

Your schools are the only ones I know of that hold regular shooter drills.

How can an American be so disconnected from reality, and what’s that last phrase,”…much less a Christian school” supposed to mean?

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

There are other countries that have a lot of guns in private hands
but only the USA seems to have this problem

attitude seems to be the problem - not the guns
Oh - and "rights" which ties in to attitudes

 

[Beebo]

The shooter was a 15 years old girl, which is rare.
It’s almost always men/boys.

 

[AndyRM]

There are other countries that have a lot of guns in private hands
but only the USA seems to have this problem

attitude seems to be the problem - not the guns
Oh - and "rights" which ties in to attitudes

It's absolutely bonkers. Out of idle curiosity I looked it up and found that there were 288 school shootings in the US between 2009 and 2018.

Mexico is a very, very distant second with 8.

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/school-shootings-by-country

The fetishization of guns in the US is so far gone that I can't see any way for the country to recover. The truly warped thing is that people don't actually understand what "the right to bear arms" was put into the constitution for.

 

[C R]

The fetishization of guns in the US is so far gone that I can't see any way for the country to recover. The truly warped thing is that people don't actually understand what "the right to bear arms" was put into the constitution for.

Let alone forgetting about the as part of a well regulated militia bit.

 

[spen666]

There are other countries that have a lot of guns in private hands
but only the USA seems to have this problem

attitude seems to be the problem - not the guns
Oh - and "rights" which ties in to attitudes

Ironically, that is almost the line some of the gun nuts in the USA use to defend their having their weapons

 

[matticus]

Time for this again, sadly:

 

[matticus]

There are other countries that have a lot of guns in private hands
but only the USA seems to have this problem

attitude seems to be the problem - not the guns
Oh - and "rights" which ties in to attitudes

... but the US leads the way. It seems VERY likely that ownership numbers are a key factor.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estimated_number_of_civilian_guns_per_capita_by_country

 

[Electric_Andy]

That link is staggering, yet not surprising. 4.6 guns per100 people in England and Wales, versus 120.5 per hundred people for the US.

 

[Beebo]

What other country sells guns and ammo in supermarkets?

 

[The Crofted Crest]

 

[Psamathe]

It seems almost a weekly occurrence that someone decides to attack children and teachers somewhere in America.

More frequent than weekly

Updated 2:37 PM EST, Mon December 16, 2024
CNN
—
There have been at least 83 school shootings in the United States so far this year, as of December 16. Twenty-seven were on college campuses, and 56 were on K-12 school grounds. The incidents left 38 people dead and at least 115 other victims injured, ...
(from https://edition.cnn.com/us/school-shootings-fast-facts-dg/index.html)

Even more disheartening is that their governance seem unable and/or unwilling to do anything to address it. Personally (and I've no expertise) I can't see arming teachers is any sort of help.

Ian

 

[Bazzer]

We need to keep buying guns to protect us from people who keep buying guns! It's like a runaway diesel engine.
Coincidentally, a couple of days ago I watched a vlog from an American who has lived in London for the last 8 - 9 years, and she was giving a list of things she preferred about living in the UK. One of those was not having the concern of being shot.

 

[icowden]

Like him or loathe him. Michael Moore's film Bowling for Columbine is an excellent documentary about the USA's obsession with guns.

 

[Fab Foodie]

Didn't we have a thread with all the school shootings etc. in one place?