This is how we deal with the mentally in Aus. Walk around Sydney or Melbourne and you're stepping over people living on the street, a very high proportion of whom have mental health or substance abuse issues. On a regular basis, these people harm each other or innocent members of the public. 2 women have been raped and murdered in Melbourne by deranged men in recent months. Then we could talk about our indigenous communities, where again substance abuse, sexual violence, incest and murders all occur at a rate about 100 times higher than the general population. Many people here seem to get off on writing insulting posts about the US, whilst ignoring the reality of their own country. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Yes and it's happened in the space of 25 years. There used to be no beggars in Australia, now you can't walk from your office to the shop without being accosted by them. This in a country which spends huge amounts on welfare, to support the very small percentage of the population who genuinely need and the much larger group who abuse it.
The thread is about gun control in the USA and anything to do with firearm mass murders,the fact that it's done it's usual Aussie phenomena of going off topic isn't unusual. Bringing in all the other worldly foibles and issues is irrelevant .
Not quite, the point was that mass shooters are usually mentally ill and we are no better at managing that problem. We are a different country and culture but not necessarily superior. I've lived in Boston and spent extended periods in LA, SF and NYC. I've never seen a gun in public or felt the slightest bit afraid. I walk more comfortably around New York in the evenings than I do Sydney. Having said that, there are many areas of other major US cities that aren't safe, but they're easily avoided, apart for the poor people who have to live there, trapped in poverty and gang violence.
Another mentally ill bloke...obviously not fit enuff to purchase a firearm.. https://www.news.com.au/world/north-america/a-man-killed-four-people-and-injured-two-others-in-a-stabbing-massacre-in-california-us/news-story/8dd7e609f53cdb06166eaeeec3aa2428
Luckily, it sounds like the nut didn't know how to use the firearm that he stole from the security guard. Perhaps we need a knife buyback program as well ?
It's interesting to note that a lot of these mass shooters were on anti-anxiety medication. Of course that doesn't mean that the medication caused them to do what they did, but it's one heck of a coincidence.
No 'cos Aussie has lost 17 people in 'mass' shootings since 1996 and not including that one,The Port Arthur shootings which prompted the buyback. That is the fact. Of those 17,11 were targeted domestic violence incidents. We have had perhaps 1 or two indiscriminate shootings where more than 2 people die,one in Darwin this year,you get 'em weekly. From an esteemed university,not whacky news sites. https://sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2018/03/13/gun-laws-stopped-mass-shootings-in-australia.html
By the time anyone is going to be shooting back its too late. The Dayton shooter was killed in just 30 seconds (by police) He had a 100-round drum mag on his AM-15 'Pistol' and he got 41 rounds off in those 30 seconds. Even if it had been half that number, that's hardly acceptable either. Regardless 'Mass shootings' are very rare and even if the US did pass significant gun control, it may stop them, but it is unlikely to make a significant dent in the homicide or suicide rate.
No, it's not time and hopefully never will be. Unfortunately freedom is scary to some people. Freedom requires accepting risk. Every day you drive your car someone could drive into your lane and kill you (or a group of people crossing the road.) That's a risk you take for the freedom to be able to drive. Same is true of private gun ownership. The benefits from that freedom massively outweigh the risks.
The point is, there were fewer mass shootings before 1996 in Australia as well. Don't forget that the US has 15 times the population. Not including the millions that cross the southern border illegally every year.
Not true. A permit holder could have returned fire in less than a second. There were no permit holders in that crowd. When there are permit holders, the mass shootings are prevented. It just doesn't get press, because it doesn't fit the leftist press narative. https://crimeresearch.org/2019/05/uber-driver-in-chicago-stops-mass-public-shooting/
Sorry Simon, Sydney Uni is not a centre of independent unbiased thinking, it's an ideological prison where only the opinions of the extreme left are tolerated. Any researcher who questioned the status quo on gun control would quickly find themselves cast out. The left has an iron grip on the entire education and research system. I speak from first hand experience, my youngest son is a student and for 17 years I was responsible for funding research there.
The indigenous situation IS horrendous, has no US equivalent (these days, the reserves were probably pretty similar 60 years ago); homelessness in the cities is probably not too dissimilar to the US (major cities, major problems - others less so but we do have a couple of homeless folk in Coolum ). You're right, we can't be self-righteous on many accounts. The fundamental differenece in the gun arguments is we don't fear our own government or our neighbours...
As much as I love you Ian,your constant barrage of conspiracy theories of left verses right consistantly makes me LOL. Re the general thread title,I would like to see you provide a per capita comparison of multi gun deaths,USA verses Aussie post the Howard buyback and not including Port Arthur.
Not true. Problem is we are wimplified. Men are a dying breed. Those left are branded toxicically masculine like masculinity is a disease. FBI true stat a knife is equal to a gun at 20ft. Today many choose to be victims or know nothing but how to be a victim. I'm not blaming victims. I blame schools and parents.
https://news.yahoo.com/2-dead-shooter-opens-fire-013803142.html You see this is how you stop this. Shoot back! Bad guy only got two. Could have been worse...
The left wants sheep that they can control. If you can defend yourself from an armed criminal, you could probably defend yourself from government tyranny. Every leftist regime in history has wanted control of all the guns.