Milsurp After Hours

Nineteen school children were murdered by an eighteen year old kid the other day. Sad, horrible to think on, but no actual solutions to perhaps head off the next such incident.

Biden was quick to make political hay while the sun shown and the outrage and shock was fresh. He was doing his feelings on his sleeve thing that helped get him elected over the years.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lamenting a uniquely American tragedy, an anguished and angry President Joe Biden delivered an urgent call for new restrictions on firearms after a gunman shot and killed at least 19 children at a Texas elementary school.

Biden spoke Tuesday night from the White House barely an hour after returning from a five-day trip to Asia that was bracketed by mass shootings in the U.S. He pleaded for action to address gun violence after years of failure — and bitterly blamed firearm manufacturers and their supporters for blocking legislation in Washington.

’“When in God’s name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?” Biden said with emotion. “Why are we willing to live with this carnage? Why do we keep letting this happen?”

Does Biden or any politician actually think about what provokes and encourages the shooters without first jumping to a seemingly easy new law fix while at the same time ignoring the overwhelming number of firearms already in society? Did anyone notice the shooter was showing signs of going off the deep end that could have reported it to some mental health authority? Did he get the guns legally? In Texas the shooter wouldn't be old enough to legally buy a handgun and barely old enough to buy a long gun. The details of the latest case hasn't surfaced yet as far as I know. Does the media frenzy over shootings like this, complete with name and histories of the shooter, encourage more shootings by mentally sick people craving attention and infamy? Is the news media an unintentional major enabler and encourager of whomever comes next? Are there other stops that could have been in place? Was the school providing adequate protection for the students and should the school system take some of the blame? Lots of questions and no answers....other than pass some more gun laws restricting the right to own firearms for everyone.

Now more information. The kid bought two rifles legally after turning 18. No mental negative history. No criminal history. Both good points for gun law arguments. However, he was on "social media" saying he was going to kill his grandmother and then after killing her said he was going to shoot up a school. Why didn't anyone report that? Maybe there should be some way to bring such boasts to light and notification to law enforcement.

VALDE, Texas (AP) — The gunman who massacred 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Texas had warned on social media minutes before the attack that he had shot his grandmother and going to shoot up a school, the governor said Wednesday.

Salvador Ramos, 18, used an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle in the bloodbath Tuesday at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. He had legally bought two such rifles just days before the attack, soon after his 18th birthday, authorities said.

About 30 minutes before the bloodbath, Ramos made three social media posts, Gov. Gregg Abbot said. According to the governor, Ramos posted that he was going to shoot his grandmother, then that he had shot the woman, and finally that he was going to shoot up an elementary school.

Abbott said Ramos, a resident of the community about 85 miles (135 kilometers) west of San Antonio, had no known criminal or mental health history.......

That event was high up on the news reports in the UK. It was referred to at Prime Ministers Questions in Parliament today with the speaker, Prime Minister and all party leaders offering sympathy to all affected. There is the usual call for stricter legislation to prevent such occurrences. We have much stricter legislation than most in the world but that has not prevented major mass shootings in the UK. All the shooters involved were approved for firearms ownership by the Police and held their firearms legally. The worst was the shooting at Dunblane Primary school in Scotland in 1996. Sixteen five and six year old children and their teacher were killed. The gunman killed himself afterwards. Because a legally held pistol was used, pressure built up that no-one should be allowed to own a pistol legally. Some of the parents of the children and others started a campaign to ban the legal ownership of pistols in the UK. Anyone who argued against such a ban was hounded and regarded as some kind of monster for opposing such a 'sensible' measure. An election was due so eventually, the Government gave in and banned all pistols over .22RF calibre. The Conservative Government lost the election anyway and the incoming Labour Government under Tony Blair immediately introduced a bill to ban .22RF pistols. So, that was the end of target shooting with pistols in the UK. They conceded that we could retain muzzle loading pistols due to the longer reload process. The Channel Islands, The Isle of Man and Northern Ireland were not included in the ban as they came under separate legislation from England, Scotland and Wales. The UK experience shows that strict legislation does not offer complete protection from mass murderers using firearms.
Regards
Peter.

I just read that the US has the 50th position on the World murder index and that the highest rating has just over 50 murders/100,000 population (the US just under 5) and that the death rate in the US for motor vehicles is over twice the rate for firearms, yet no politicians are saying anything about cars.
Seems that the US is a fairly safe place by World standards.