America is praying. It likes nothing more. The country can turn to God quicker than Donald Trump can hurl an insult. But it has not occurred to the nation that whoever God is, he’s not listening. There have been seven school shootings this year alone. 250 students mowed down. That’s a lot of prayers. And of course the educated among us know full well that praying for victims is about as effective as throwing a drowning man both ends of the same rope.The politicians of course promise everything except the obvious, In the wake of the latest atrocity Donald Duck has promised to make guns harder to come by for people with mental illness. As a President who has threatened to wipe North Korea from the face of the earth the Duck has obviously never come across the phrase, ‘Kettle calling the pot black.’ There surely cannot be another country on this planet where a school is the most dangerous place for the nation’s children? The duck likes to wax lyrical about ‘Making America Great Again’ and ‘The American Dream.’ Now I don’t know about you but from where I’m typing the American Dream is really about is the ability to stroll into a Department store, purchase enough guns and ammunition to fuel a war in a small African Republic, and then make a bee line to your local cinema, the nearest gay and lesbian nightclub, or high school and simply blow away every person in sight. And then, just as right now, no laws are ever proposed are passed to prevent it happening again.
Everybody prays of course and lays wreaths, cries and hold hands and all of that usual pointless shit. Meanwhile homicidal maniacs and even up standing decent members of society with nothing more than a grudge arm themselves to the teeth. And so what we get is another St Valentines Day massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. And the Nation’s leader doesn’t even mention the two words gun control. And so it occurred to me to ask a question of the good citizens of America. Just what the fuck’s wrong with you people? Do you not have a semblance of common sense and responsibility? Or has the idiotic gun lobby with its array of similarly idiotic spokespersons convinced gun owners in the United States that the Second Amendment was intended as a free pass to conduct cold blooded massacres against the country’s most cherished gift, the young men and women who represent the country’s future?
It is surely one of the mysteries of our time that as the intervals between these mass killings become shorter there is no evidence of any perceptible change in the American public’s attitude to gun control which must beg the question. Why does this keep happening? Why don’t the American people care? Is it because that whatever sentiments that mass shootings provoke in the nominal supporters of gun control, they don’t seem to run very deep or very long? Who knows. But let me just remind our American friends that guns are very dangerous and are the leading cause of bullet wounds! Generalised gun violence claims, on average, 92 lives a day, or 34,000 a year, with more young Americans under 26 now dying from gun violence than in car crashes and nobody’s batting an eyelid. Actually America is as far away as ever from making changes to its regulation of guns. This means that there still exists in the land of the free, the absurd scenario where I cannot legally buy a few packets of Sudafed in an American supermarket, or a chocolate Kinder egg, or various French cheeses, because they are all deemed a health risk. Yet I can saunter into Walmart, America’s version of Tesco, and compliment my sock and underwear purchases with a shopping trolley full of AR-15 assault rifles and magazines that can carry up to 100 bullets at a time! But as these killings go on we’re still left with the NRA and the gun lobbyist’s irrational logic that gun-free schools attract mass killers and they will trot this nonsense in the days ahead.
This is the kind of mental barrier that one encounters in any gun law debate because of course it’s not a gun control problem at all; it’s a cultural problem. But the debate surely has never been so one-sided in terms of the logic which screams that the easy availability of deadly firearms must surely now come to an end. But alas when I consider the gun control reactionaries, I have no hope whatsoever that any of the hard facts or the newsreels of bereaved devastated parents and heartbroken loved ones will make the slightest dent in their thinking or should I say the lack of it. Enjoy your prayers America.
Laters
14th February 2018
Wow Derek another great blog!!You know Kinder Eggs were banned for a long time in the US to protect children? In fact, they still technically are – Kinder had to find a way to sell the chocolate without the egg being inside.
Glad to know the US is so thoughtful when it comes to banning things that might be dangerous for people.
The difference is that guns, unlike Kinder Eggs, are not meant to be handled by children??
is there a constitutional right to owning a fully automatic machine gun? If not.Why not ?
Well the beauty of constitutions is that they can be changed when everyone can see how stupid a particular aspect of it is.
People used have a right to own slaves. Now they don’t. Rights can be granted and removed. good post D
I have never believed in the general practice of carrying weapons. I seldom carry one. … I do not believe in the general promiscuous toting of guns. I think it should be sharply restricted and only under licenses.” Karl Frederick, NRA President, 1934.??????mmmm
I think I’d prefer someone coming at me with a kinder egg!! When will they learn? If they can’t get guns they can’t shoot people!!!
if other kids had guns in the school the only person that would be dead is the attacker. They will not go and play call of duty and see who can the get the highest kill streak???
The 2nd ammendment does not grant the right to bear arms, it protects the already existing right! But that’s really neither here or there. A complete ban is the only way
Australia enacted strict gun control laws in 1996, and there hasn’t been a mass shooting there since.
18 at schools in USA in the 45 days so far of 2018, 8 fatal. Crazy stuff!
In a country where there are more guns than people (330 million +), and therefore huge biz linked to the “sector” , nothing is gonna change there anytime soon.
2nd ammendment was written when main threats to US were from Native Americans and invasion by the British. Neither of these are threats anymore. So no need for 2nd amendment?
I can’t help thinking this is JUST another shooting.we will see images on tv how horrible it all is ,how gun laws should be tightened etc etc.I realise how horrible all of this is yeah.but things will move on until the next shooting
Love the blog Derek but unfortunately the lobbies are too strong Obama tried to do something but unfortunately he didn’t make it happen.
The right to bear arms is antiquated balderdash. All personal guns a.k.a. harbingers of death should be banned end of!
Until the text time, and if history of mass shootings is to follow on it would be too long before the next mass killing occurs in the good old fuc-ed up USA..?
I’m with here Derek. As soon as someone figures out a way to make thoughts a prayers bullet proof were sorted?
This is the 19th – NINETEENTH – One Nine – school shooting in the US this year, 2018. And it’s only the f****g Feb 14th.
It is MADNESS!!
When will the US ever learn??
I haven’t heard yet but have they started saying that if only the kids had guns this could have been prevented? This is the crap you’re up against.
When nothing changed after Sandy Hook, nothing ever will. America, I’m am sure the founding fathers would be so proud of your defense of your right to bare arms.
I’m in total agreement with you Derek. I must admit I too have stopped caring about these mass shootings in America,when a nut job can get a bushmaster assault rife and go in to a kindergarten school and kill 3 and 4 year children and a country still thinks nothing should be done about the amount of guns around well unfortunately you reap the seeds that u sow
Agreed.its terrible to say but I’m the same. What a horrible society, wouldn’t wish it on any country.
The majority of people are against it and want change but the government won’t listen because it is IN league with the tossers who run the NRA.
Shooter which is on Sky Atlantic every week. I was desensitized to these mass shootings until I watched it. The horror is just ridiculous. America needs to protect its children.
A referendum on gun control in the US would probably not change things over there sadly.
Americans blames computer games and mental health, but every country in the world has computer games and mental health yet no country in the world has school and mass shootings on this level and they won’t do a thing to stop it!!
America is a horrible society and one where the size of your wallet decides if you get health care and anyone can walk around with deadly weapons. America has lost its way.
maybe stop disenfranchising young white men in America by telling them that they are all racist, privileged rapists who have no say in society and any attempt by them to defend their legitimacy in society will be met with cries of ‘white supremacist’. Just a thought.
Don’t worry., Trump will order an invasion of Florida because it’s been overrun by Mexican immigrants drug dealers and rapists ! or maybe build a higher wall ! Prayers and condolences me hole…and God bless America !
I love this blog but unfortunately the sound of money always muffles the sound of gunfire!
Trumps the who can but will not change the law to prevent these killings……..he deserves to be more than mocked,i have said the same for Obama.
When are we going to start gun saftey, training and arming our teachers and or giving our millitary veterans jobs to protect our schools children and staff?!
If someone would have been correctly trained and carrying, this most assuredly would have been stopped sooner!
This is the kind of shit the Americans are posting on Facebook right now, the mind boggles
I’m not longer surprised by the stupidity of Americans when it comes to this matter. I’ll be more shocked when they actually do something about it.
No US president to date has taken on the NRA and are unlikely to.They are exceptionally powerful group and can and do subversively dictate all US laws relating to gun control
As Charlton Heston famously said
“From my cold dead hands”
It’s time to make the NRA a designated terrorist organisation. As a result of their actions against perfectly sane gun control measures, kids keep getting shot by deadly weapons, kids die, every year, and in their hundreds, while thousands more kids are terrorised.
Good point. The NRA do stuff. It causes people to be terrorised. They keep doing it. Kids keep being terrorised. That’s terrorism and, what’s more, the NRA can’t but know it.
This is a great blog. The 8th school shooting this year. In the decade from 2000 to 2009 there were 63. From 2010 to today there were 148. This is getting worse. Laws need to change.
To a parent whose child has lost a limb or the use of their legs, or is already struggling to pay medical insurance premiums, any shooting is too much and preventable. Yet their whole society is actively prioritising arms dealers over children trying to get an education.
Another horrible tragedy, but as usual, it’ll just be gun control versus mental health arguments on social media for a week or two, with absolutely nothing done about either.
A week or two? You’re being too generous. A day or two more likely???
Trump’s press officer has already announced that now is not the time to debate anything, stupid c**t
I admire your writing Derek but is there really any point in expressing any opinion on this? There is clearly a sickness at the heart of American society and they are utterly incapable of dealing with it.
If they banned anyone under 20 today from ever owning or carrying handguns or assault rifles or anything derived from a battlefield weapon the current gun fans would be unthreatened. Might take 70 years to take full effect but the reduction in the next 20 years in school massacres, child on child shootings, accidental shootings, lover/spouse shootings, road rage shootings, workplace shootings etc would be huge
Sadly there are many who would consider arming their children for their own protection… on the principal that if everyone had a gun people can defend themselves and missing the point that if no one had a gun there would be no need for guns for self defence.
When is something going to be done about this? 17 people dead from a disgruntled student. Who never knew a disgruntled student? Lots of us. How many had access to powerful assault rifles? None. It’s just outrageous. I can’t get used to this.
It’s high time America considered placing armed guards/police officers at schools. Nut jobs will continue to target schools.
But the reality is there are probably hundreds of thousands of illegally held guns in the States, how do you get them off the street? There are laws in place already.
Columbine had an armed guard. Not to mention, it’s scary going to school where there are armed guards. Very stressful, you feel like you are in a country under military rule. Which is exactly where the US is headed. Taking away such easy access to guns is what needs to be done. If kids can’t go home and get into mom and dad’s guns, they can’t be taking them to school and shooting people.
I taught for a year in Colorado and there were armed teachers. It was a private school and they got permission from the board of management. I thought it was total lunacy!
This entire issue is about the ‘gutless’ cranks in Congress who do not bring in legislation on banning the sale of semi-automatic rifles and military style weapons when it is obvious that the general public does not need such weapons and mass shooters are made more efficient killers when they posses them
You can then deal with those guns already on the street, the stolen weapons and the ones already bought as outlined above. You can have a ‘no questions asked’ buy back and ensure that every gun confiscated by the police is destroyed.
It’s far from perfect and not a total solution, but it’s a start.
Trump received truck loads of money from the NRA. Trump and republicans are to blame. Obama tried time after time to solve this by putting regulations in place to stop people with mental health issues being able to get access to guns. what Trump did a few months ago? HE RECINDED THOSE REGULATIONS. Trump and republicans ARE to blame.
If only there was somebody responsible for America. Somebody in charge, in command even, some sort of chief.
The majority of NRA members are in favour of mandatory background checks and training. If the president comes out in favour of that publicly and criticises the NRA for ignoring their members then you’ll see something happen. The NRA needs it’s members.
Very few democrats take Corp donations from the NRA, where as virtually all republicans do. Trump and republicans are to blame. Obama tried time after time to solve this by putting regulations in place to stop people with mental health issues being able to get access to guns. Guess what Trump did a few months ago? HE RECINDED THOSE REGULATIONS. Trump and republicans ARE to blame.
Lightning doesn’t strike twice…. oh yes it does!!!!
19 times in 2 months. It is a crime against humanity and the US legislators should legislate. Sort it out #nutsville florida!
Chicago has tight gun laws. It is next door to Indiana, which has some of the lax gun control laws in the states. The state pence used to govern. Guns are brought across state line to Chicago very easily. Republicans are to blame with the mass Corp donations by the nra. Facts matter.
One day I was driving from Arizona to California, I was stopped at the border of the 2 states by a custom guy, who asked me if I had any fruits with me or in my car. Fruits are not allowed to be brought in California I was told. Even dried fruits in a pack of cereals are not allowed. But he didn’t ask me if I had drugs or a gun with me. Sometimes I’m thinking how f….d this country is by having no problem with someone carrying a gun but where carrying a fruit, even a single one, can be a problem.
America will never ever get it right, it a shameful country, from cops killing with impunity ,to mass school shootings on a weekly basis, to a moronic imbicile as President you know, is that rocket goin to mars anytime soon….god bless the innocent victims….
FFS!!A president of a country should not be tweeting his condolences to a mass shooting. He should call an immediate press conference. What a pleb. No respect for the 17 fatalities and many more injured and traumatised. Hopefully Florida throw the book at the Gunman.
Horrendous country would u send your child to school over there? Yet again children with access to guns, no doubt raided his daddy’s automatic rifle cupboard with a 1000 rounds of ammo, bad day over here what’s a kid gonna do get in a fight??? Over there he grabs an ak47 from daddy’s closet and runs amock!!! how don’t they see that?
A sick country of extremists that will never change its ways . Leave them to it it’s their burden to bare. On to the next one.
Why am i not surprised trumps america is alive and kicking and the NRA keep pumping their money into the repuplican party and they turn a blind eye bring back obama at least he had some compassion qet the usual tripe rolled out tomorrow the gun isnt the problem its the person who owns it well just dont let them have the gun its not rocket science so so sad
Absolutely nothing will change Derek. It will just be put down to“he had a mental condition. A very disturbed person. We need more guns to protect ourselves against these kinds of people”
Why do Americans actually NEED assault rifles, machine guns powerful pistols etc. – what is the enemy they are trying to protect against – and why can’t the Army, National Guard, Law enforcement etc. protect their citizens like in most other countries?
Let the usual “guns don’t kill people, people kill people” begin. Seriously America wake up!!! Other countries have disgruntled students or sadly students who are being picked on etc but you never hear mass school shootings happening anywhere else. Why is that? All those innocent lives wasted. Those poor families
There’s a ridiculously low threshold to qualify for ownership too. No training, no aptitude test, no thorough background check. And they wonder why???
Well we have terrorist groups that would like to detonate nuclear bombs in cities. But do you know what stops them? They can’t get their hands on nuclear weapons! This line that if anyone wants something bad enough there is nothing we can do to stop them is a lot of b0ll1x.
The regularity with which weapons are used is directly related to how accessible they are. If you want to decrease the amount of times things like this happen, you decrease the opportunities to access weapons.
Having spent much of my life in the usa I can say without hesitation that effective gun control there is as likely as pigs flying.
I wouldn’t even give it as high a chance as that. I’ve lived here for 11 years and love it here, but the obsession regarding guns, as well as the irrational belief that they make everybody safer, is something you can’t even start a discussion about
Thing is Derek,If you believe nothing changes, strangely nothing changes.
Controlling guns is an almost silver bullet for clearing the streets of violent thugs. There is no need to wait till they kill someone, they are declaring their intention by going out armed. Sitting duck for law enforcement
Gun control didn’t work in Australia. More violent thugs on the streets than ever, confident the public can’t defend itself
As long as the NRA is buying all the politicians in Congress there’s no chance of gun control in the US.
Yes, that and the fact that the vast majority of Americans support the Second Ammendment
Sorry Derek, but Americans VOTE repeatedly for those politicians who support the right to bear arms. Democracy in a Republic, the people vote for what they want. If that doesn’t please the socialist / communist masters, too bad. Every time the Democrats propose another gun ban, sales skyrocket to new records again and again and again. The Will of the People and all that…
the experience of four comparable countries shows that it takes a moment of horror to drive countries towards the kinds of changes in the law that makes it much harder to shoot someone….”
Based on this premise and previous lack of action in the US I expect a ‘moment of horror’ would have to involve a shooting of at least 100 people before anything would change regarding gun laws….And even then I wouldn’t hold my breath…!
We already know the level of horror required to galvanise the USA to do something – 9/11. It appears that anything short of thousands of deaths in a single incident will elicit nothing more than “meh” from US politicians.
Yup. Then the USA bombed and invaded a country that had fuck-all to do with 9-11. Great!
Before we all point the gun at America can I just remind people on here that over the last 100 years over 100,000,000 people have been killed as a direct result of wars began in Europe, what does that say about Europeans?
Germany’s relationship with firearms is intriguing: while there are a lot of guns in the country, they don’t seem to kill a lot of people.”
The same can be said of Switzerland and Scandinavian countries.
America needs to learn lessons but here in the UK we need to concentrate minds on how we can stop guns being brought in, along with the use and access to them by criminals.
Let the UK lead even further by getting these weapons of our street.
Knives and the use of them is more complex and unfortunately I think they are involved in more deaths and serious injuries than any other weapon.
Americans like guns and they’re happy to tolerate daily shootings and the odd massacre if that’s what it takes to keep them. It doesn’t make much sense to the rest of us, and it’s particularly sad when the deaths involve children, but that’s a price they’re willing to pay to maintain their thing.
The right covered by the 2nd Amendment is the ONLY one in the Bill of Rights which includes the caveat “shall not be infringed”. That should give you a clue as to how important it was to those who wrote our Constitution. If you don’t like it, amend the Constitution. The other side of all those numbers is that 99.997% of all the guns in America are never used in the commission of any homicides. But never mind that the vastly overwhelming majority of gun owners do so safely, legally, and never hurt anyone. “No Crimes Committed” makes for lousy headlines
But surely, as the statistics show, if you can save even one life by banning all firearms, wouldn’t that be worth it?
Can you honestly tell me your right to own a lethal weapon is more important than just one, never mind hundreds, person’s right to life? great blog derek
In the wake of 9/11, US politicians had no trouble trampling all over other Constitutional rights; if they wanted to do something about it, they would. It’s got nothing to do with the wording – the Second Amendment also is the only one that uses the term “well-regulated”, BTW – and everything to do with Americans not giving a shit.
The leftist delusion that the presence of guns is the cause of violence has always puzzled me. In the last 25 years gun ownership in the USA has increased 75% and murder rate has dropped 60%.
Culture, not artifacts, determines behavior. Every other male in Switzerland has an assault rifle in his closet, do you see widespread murder?
Gun control is a displaced Freudian transference; to allow Liberals to avoid drawing obvious conclusions that conflict with their religion.
It’s fairly obvious why Switzerland has such low gun crime whereas the US has such a huge problem with it – social inequality. The larger the inequality in a society the more propensity there is to crime amongst the poorest in society. As America is basically a feudal medieval state with regards to it’s wealth distribution it is not at all surprising that there is such a high level of gun crime.
I think we have very strict firearms laws in the US. Unfortunately they are not enforced. Look at how many who are legally banned from owning firearms manage to acquire them anyway. In the area where I live probably 50% of my neighbors own firearms. Open carry is legal, but uncommon. Concealed carry is also legal and practiced by about 5-10% of my acquaintances. Crime of any kind is rare here. Unfortunately, just 50 miles away, in Washington D.C. crime is rampant
No matter how much rationale you put into the debate, no matter how many statistics you place at the feet of the Americans, they will never, ever give up their guns. It is as simple as that.
nice writing but the madness won’t stop until the last person in this country shoots the second to last person, then turns the gun on him/herself, both of whom could be toddlers.
I’ve lived in Arizona for twenty years, where open carry is legal, concealed carry is legal without a permit, and guns are everywhere. I’ve never seen anyone get shot. And most of the shooting I see in the local news is done by the police or criminals. The idea that your average citizen is shooting up the town daily is nonsense.
Guns and money. America’s true religion. Common sense will prevail but its gonna be a hell of long time. Maybe for now make bullets expensive, they gotta try something.