Scorecard 2022 So Far

You are nine kinds of fucked up, America.

Nov. 22: Chesapeake, Va.

At least six people were killed inside a Walmart, the authorities said. The assailant was found dead, according to the police.

Nov. 20: Colorado Springs, Colo.

At least five people were killed and 18 injured in a shooting at an L.G.B.T.Q. nightclub. The gunman was injured and taken to a hospital.

Nov. 13: Charlottesville, Va.

Three University of Virginia students, all of whom were players on the football team, were killed and two were wounded when a gunman, a former football player, opened fire in a garage after a field trip to see a play in Washington.

Oct. 13: Raleigh, N.C.

A gunman, described by the authorities only as a “white male juvenile,” killed at least five people, including an off-duty police officer. The attacks drew a large response from law enforcement agencies to the residential area near the Neuse River Greenway, a popular bike trail for Raleigh residents.

Sept. 7: Memphis, Tenn.

Memphis was effectively closed down during an hourslong manhunt for a 19-year-old gunman who killed four people while streaming some of the violence on Facebook Live. There were several shootings and carjackings over the course of the day.

July 17: Greenwood, Ind.

A 20-year-old gunman opened fire in the food court of a mall, killing three people and wounding two others. Minutes into the attack, the gunman, identified as Jonathan Douglas Sapirman, was fatally shot by a bystander.

July 4: Highland Park, Ill.

Robert E. Crimo III, 21, was taken into custody several hours after the shooting in Highland Park, a suburb north of Chicago, and charged with seven counts of first-degree murder. Seven people were killed and dozens more, ranging in age between 8 and 85, were wounded.

The police said the gunman had climbed onto a rooftop with a rifle and begun firing into a crowd gathered for a Fourth of July parade.

June 30: Newark

Nine people were shot and wounded in what the police said appeared to be an incident related to a stolen car. The youngest victim was 17 and the oldest was 68. All were treated at local hospitals.

June 20: Harlem

A 21-year-old college basketball player was killed and eight people were wounded in an early-morning shooting at a popular picnicking area.

After surging during the pandemic, the rate of shootings in New York has begun to fall, although it is still above prepandemic levels.

June 4: Philadelphia

Three people were killed and 12 injured in a shooting in downtown Philadelphia, the police said. An officer fired at one of the gunmen, the police said, but it was unclear whether the gunman had been hit.

Another six people were killed and dozens were injured in several other shootings over the same weekend, including in Arizona, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

June 1: Tulsa, Okla.

Several people were shot and five were killed at a medical building next to Saint Francis Hospital in Tulsa, Okla., the Tulsa police said. The police said the gunman was believed to have killed himself.

May 24: Uvalde, Texas

A gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, about 80 miles west of San Antonio.

Law enforcement officers fatally shot the gunman, identified as Salvador Ramos, 18, but not until well over an hour after he walked into the school, raising questions about whether lives could have been saved if they had acted sooner.

May 15: Laguna Woods, Calif.

A gunman killed one person and critically wounded four other members of the Irvine Taiwanese Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods, Calif. The congregation, which holds services at the Geneva Presbyterian Church, overpowered the gunman and hogtied him, preventing further bloodshed, the authorities said.

The suspect, David Chou, 68, is a Las Vegas man with a wife and child in Taiwan who had traveled to Orange County with a grievance against Taiwanese people, the authorities said. He was charged with murder and five counts of attempted murder in what the Orange County sheriff, Don Barnes, called a “politically motivated hate incident.”

May 14: Buffalo

A gunman armed with an assault-style weapon killed 10 people and wounded three others at a Tops supermarket in a predominantly Black section of Buffalo, the authorities said.

The suspect, Payton S. Gendron, 18, is white, and the 10 people who died were all Black. Before the attack, Mr. Gendron had posted a nearly 200-page racist screed online. He has pleaded not guilty. He faces life in prison if convicted.

May 13: Milwaukee

At least 16 people were wounded by gunfire in a shooting in downtown Milwaukee, in a popular nightlife area blocks from the arena where an N.B.A. playoff game ended hours earlier, the authorities said.

April 12: Brooklyn

A gunman opened fire inside a crowded subway car during the morning rush, wounding 10 people, the worst attack on New York City’s subway system in decades. More than a dozen other people were also injured, with some choking on smoke from the two devices the police said the gunman detonated before he started shooting. No one was killed.

A suspect, Frank R. James, was arrested the next day and charged with carrying out a terrorist attack on a mass transit system. If convicted, he could face life in prison.

April 3: Sacramento

As revelers spilled out of nightclubs in a two-square-block area of downtown Sacramento, a barrage of gunfire killed six people and wounded 12, the authorities said. Days later, the Sacramento Police Department said “gang violence” was at the center of the shooting, which involved at least five gunmen.

March 19: Dumas, Ark.

Two people engaged in a gunfight and sprayed a crowd with gunfire, killing one bystander and injuring 27 other people, including six children, at a community event and car show in the small Arkansas farming community.

Jan. 23: Milwaukee

Law enforcement officers were called to a Milwaukee home for a welfare check, and found six people who had been fatally shot. The victims — five men and one woman — had been shot, the police said, and evidence early in the investigation suggested that the killings had been targeted.

Today's Eternal Sadness

Overheard:

The AR15 appeals to the dude bros who play Call of Duty and think it looks badass. They aren’t interested in hunting with it, or distance target shooting. They just want to show off their fancy toy to their friends and compare accessories. It’s a Barbie doll for dude bros.

(pay wall)

Gunman who killed 6 at Virginia Walmart was store employee, police say

The shooter who opened fire late Tuesday at a Walmart in the Tidewater area of Virginia was an employee of the store, Chesapeake Police said at a news conference Wednesday.

Six victims died in the attack, along with the shooter. Four others are injured and at local hospitals, though police said they had no information on their conditions. Police said the gunman used a pistol in the rampage and apparently died of a “self-inflicted gunshot wound.” They did not immediately name him pending notification of next of kin.

It remains unclear how many people were in the store at the time of the incident, which came less than two days before Thanksgiving. Walmart said on Twitter early Wednesday that it was working closely with law enforcement and “focused on supporting our associates.” The store will remain closed as the investigation continues, police said.

Gunman walked into break room and shot colleagues, Walmart employee says

Donya Prioleau was in the store’s break room when the gunman, whom she identified as the manager in a Facebook post, walked in and shot three of her colleagues. Like Prioleau, many Walmart employees who were at the store when the shooting unfolded belonged to the overnight stocking team, she said.

“We’re really good friends,” Prioleau told The Washington Post in a phone interview. “We’re family because you spend most of the night together. What happened last night was awful to see.”

“I cannot unsee what happened in that breakroom,” Prioleau, who was not injured, wrote in a Facebook post.

And we can't have one of these fucked up murder sprees without a fucked up response from our "leaders".

At least the Dems have always tried to say we should at least sit down together and talk about how we might be able to get this shit to stop - the Republicans just scurry back to doing not one fucking thing about it.

Youngkin, other officials express sorrow for Chesapeake shooting victims

As people in Virginia wake up to the news that six people were killed in a Tuesday night attack at a Walmart in Chesapeake, officials are expressing sorrow and praising the response by law enforcement.

“Our hearts break with the community of Chesapeake this morning,” Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) said. “I remain in contact with law enforcement officials throughout this morning and have made available any resources as this investigation moves forward. Heinous acts of violence have no place in our communities.”

“Our hearts break for the victims in Chesapeake and the families who’ve lost loved ones in another senseless act of violence,” said Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears (R), an outspoken supporter of gun rights.

“Praying for our Commonwealth,” she added.

Some officials called for gun reform. “The Walmart shooting in Chesapeake is horrific,” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said. “Both Congress and the Virginia General Assembly have taken steps, finally, to reduce gun violence, but there is so much more to do.”

“Waking up to learn about the tragic mass shooting in our sister city of Chesapeake is soul crushing,” said Andria McClellan, a city council member in nearby Norfolk, who is running for the state Senate.

“It’s maddening that this continues,” she added, calling for an end to gun violence.

Ghazala F. Hashmi (D), a state senator representing Virginia’s 10th District, urged the federal government to act to end gun violence.

“Trauma upon trauma in Virginia. No other country in the world experiences mass shootings and gun violence in the way that we do. It’s long past time for federal action,” she said.

Sick of this shit.

Today's Eternal Sadness

Some fuckin' jerk with an AR-15.

5 dead and at least 18 wounded or injured.

"Conservatives" flap their gums, and they "pray", and they fill the room with worthless balloon juice, but we all know they'll never ever stand up and do one fuckin' thing that might stop the next asshole before he acts on his impulse - an impulse that's probably there all along, but one that is encouraged - if not outright propagated - by the kind of hateful rhetoric we hear from the wingnuts pretty much all day every day.

(live updates)

Police provide update on mass shooting at Colorado Springs LGBTQ nightclub that left 5 dead

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- Five people are dead and multiple others are injured after a shooting at a Colorado Springs gay nightclub.

According to CSPD, officers responded to reports of an active shooting at Club Q in the 3400 block of N. Academy Blvd. at 11:57 p.m. Officers from all four patrol divisions in the city responded to the shooting.

At the scene, Lt. Castro with CSPD said officers immediately located the suspect inside the bar. That suspect has since been taken to a hospital for medical attention and is in custody. It's unclear what those injuries are, however, Lt. Castro said this shooting did not involve officers.

According to police, five people are dead and at least 18 others are injured in the shooting. The victims were taken to hospitals around the city.

The Colorado Springs Fire Department said they triaged the scene. This was treated as a mass casualty event response, something CSFD said firefighters are trained for.

At this time, CSPD said most individuals not injured in the shooting have been reunited with their loved ones. The department is working with hospitals to notify families and loved ones of the injured and deceased.

CSPD said N. Academy Blvd. is closed in both directions between N. Carefree Cir. and Village Seven Rd. while law enforcement works in the area. There isn't a timeline for how long this investigation will take but people are asked to avoid the area into Sunday morning.

If you are searching for a loved one who might've been at Club Q Saturday night, you're asked to contact the Colorado Springs Police Department at 719-444-7000.

Anyone who has video of the shooting or was a witness not already interviewed at the scene, please contact the police. All vehicles at the scene at the time of the shooting are to remain at the scene, according to CSPD.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is on the scene and helping with the investigation. Officers are with victims at the hospital.

Club Q's released the following statement on its official Facebook page:

• Club Q is devastated by the senseless attack on our community.
• Our prays and thoughts are with all the victims and their families and friends.
• We thank the quick reactions of heroic customers that subdued the gunman and ended this hate attack.Club Q

KRDO asked police if they believe this attack was a hate crime. CSPD said it's too early in the investigation to determine a motive.

According to Club Q's website, Saturday night had a drag show earlier in the night and was set to stay open until 2 a.m.

According to the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit research group, a mass shooting is defined as an incident in which four or more people are shot or killed.

KRDO spoke with a man who was at Club Q roughly ten minutes before shots were fired. He was able to connect with one of his friends who was shot at the hospital. According to him, his friend said the shooter came into the nightclub and began firing. The friend said the suspect was wearing a mask and a vest of some sort.

He also said he lost friends in the shooting.

The Madness Seems To Be Spreading

It's not just the war. Although that shit has a tendency to get pretty contagious - toss that pingpong ball and you're going to set off lots of mouse traps.

We always had a counterargument against the ammosexuals when they insist that America's gun violence has little to do with guns, and it's just that we need to address the problems we have with mental health and blah blah blah.

We've always said other places have mental health issues, and violent hiphop lyrics, and violent video games, and there's plenty of violence built into plenty of traditions in those other places. What they're lacked is guns.

Guess what - now those other places are getting more guns, and they're seeing more shootings.

QED

Ukraine war: Eleven volunteer soldiers killed in Russian military firing range shooting, Kremlin ministry of defence says

The shooting is said to have taken place in the Belgorod region in southwestern Russia, which borders Ukraine.

Two men opened fire at troops at a Russian military shooting range near Ukraine, killing 11 and wounding 15 others, the Russian defence ministry has said.

The shooting is said to have taken place in the Belgorod region in southwestern Russia, which borders Ukraine.

Moscow's defence ministry said that the two men from an unnamed former Soviet nation opened fire on other soldiers during target practice, before being killed by return fire.

The ministry called the incident a terrorist attack.

Meanwhile Back At Reality

Alex Jones spent years raking in big piles of bucks spouting weirder and weirder stories about dead kids and their families after the Sandy Hook murders.

From here on out, his life is probably going to be a constant string of trials, and judgements against him, resulting in very large payments to people he's been shitting on for 10 years.

I wish no direct harm to him, but here's to watching Mr Jones suffer a long, slow, painful death, as he slithers deeper into a squalid pit of crushing despair and abject poverty.

Alex Jones testifies in trial over his Sandy Hook hoax lies

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones took the stand Thursday at his defamation trial in Connecticut as he and his lawyer try to limit damages he must pay for promoting the lie that the 2012 Sandy Hook school massacre was a hoax.

More than a dozen family members of some of the 20 children and six educators killed in the shooting also showed up to observe his testimony in Waterbury Superior Court, which is about 20 miles (32 kilometers) away from Newtown.

Jones has been in Connecticut this week in preparation for his appearance. He held a news conference Wednesday outside the courthouse, bashing the proceedings — as he has on his Infowars show — as a “travesty of justice” and calling the judge a “tyrant.” He made similar comments on his way into the courthouse Thursday, indicating he may invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and not answer some questions.

“This is not really a trial,” he said. “This is a show trial, a literal kangaroo court.”

You have the right express your opinion, Alex, but - wow - just ... yeah - good luck, son.

Plaintiffs attorneys began by asking Jones whether he believed Judge Barbara Bellis was a tyrant and whether he calls a lot of people tyrants.

“Only when they act like it,” he said.

Several victims’ relatives, meanwhile, have given emotional testimony during the trial about being traumatized by people calling the shooting fake, including confrontations at their homes and in public, and messages including death and rape threats. The plaintiffs include an FBI agent who responded to the shooting and relatives of eight of the victims.

Bellis last year found Jones liable by default for damages to plaintiffs without a trial, as punishment for what she called his repeated failures to turn over documents to their lawyers. The six-member jury only will be deciding how much Jones and Free Speech Systems, Infowars’ parent company, should pay the families for defaming them and intentionally inflicting emotional distress.

Bellis began the day going over with Jones the topics he cannot testify about — including free speech rights, the Sandy Hook families $73 million settlement earlier this year with gun maker Remington (the company made the Bushmaster rifle used to kill the victims at Sandy Hook), the percentage of Jones’ shows that discussed Sandy Hook and whether he profited from those shows or a similar case in Texas.

“This is not the appropriate forum for you to offer that testimony,” Bellis said. Jones indicated that he understood.

Bellis said in court on Wednesday that she was prepared to handle any incendiary testimony from Jones, with contempt of court proceedings if necessary.

Jones also was found liable by default in two similar lawsuits over the hoax lies in his hometown of Austin, Texas, where a jury in one of the trials ordered Jones last month to pay nearly $50 million in damages to the parents of one of the children killed. A third trial in Texas is expected to begin near the end of the year.

When Jones faced the Texas jury last month and testified under oath, he toned down his rhetoric. He said he realized the hoax lies were irresponsible and the school shooting was “100% real.”

“I unintentionally took part in things that did hurt these people’s feelings,” testified Jones, who also acknowledged raising conspiracy claims about other mass tragedies, from the Oklahoma City and Boston Marathon bombings to the mass shootings in Las Vegas and Parkland, Florida, “and I’m sorry for that.”

Jones had portrayed the Sandy Hook shooting as staged by crisis actors as part of gun control efforts.

Testimony at the current trial also has focused on website analytics data run by Infowars employees showing how its sales of dietary supplements, food, clothing and other items spiked around the time Jones talked about the Sandy Hook shooting.

Evidence, including internal Infowars emails and depositions, also shows dissention within the company about pushing the hoax lies.

Jones’ lawyer Norman Pattis is arguing that any damages should be limited and accused the victims’ relatives of exaggerating the harm the lies caused them.

The relatives have testified that they continue to fear for their safety because of what the hoax believers have done and might do.

Jennifer Hensel, whose 6-year-old daughter Avielle Richman was among the slain, testified Wednesday that she still monitors her surroundings, even checking the back seat of her car, for safety reasons. She said she is trying to shield her two children, ages 7 and 5, from the hoax lies. A juror cried during her testimony.

“They’re so young,” she said of her children. “Their innocence is so beautiful right now. And at some point there are a horde of people out there who could hurt them.”

Don't Look Away

We fuck around. We get fucked up. We expect the medicos to unfuck it for us, but some things just can't be unfucked.

A discussion at MedScape: (link to video)

What an AR-15 Does to a Child's Body: Why Surgeons Can't Look Away

- snip -

Glatter: Let's talk about the mechanics of the AR-15 (ArmaLite AR-15) and how this compares with a typical 9-mm handgun (or even a standard rifle or shotgun, for that matter). Joe, can you talk about the injuries and what you see in the ED as opposed to the operating room?

Sakran: When you look at the mass shootings that happen and the use of the AR-15, a weapon of war and a military-style assault weapon, it is very clear that these weapons allow gunmen not only to fire numerous rounds quickly but also to create significant damage because they travel at more than 3000 feet per second. When that happens, a couple of different things take place. The first is you have what's called the permanent cavity that's dependent upon the size of the bullet. Then you have this temporary cavity that's created, which essentially is dependent on the velocity, or how fast this bullet is traveling.

If you think about a boat that's traveling, it has this wake that results behind it. That's the temporary cavity that is created. The faster the boat travels, the larger that wake is. The same thing is happening in the human body, where you get this energy that is dissipated across a path that then results in destruction. The destruction is very dependent upon whether you hit a main vessel, a bone, or a vital organ. It is very different than what we see with a handgun.

Glatter: You're essentially talking about the ability to survive a wound from an AR-15 vs a 9-mm handgun, for example. That really is what this comes down to. If you were shot with one of the two weapons, your chances of surviving would be quite different.

Dr Campbell, I want to hear about your experience with what you have seen from wounds from these assault weapons in San Francisco.

- snip -

Extent of the Gunshot Injuries From Military-Style Rifles

Campbell: A little bit about bullets and what they do. When I first started surgeries way back when, we had "Saturday night specials," which were 22-caliber bullets, where people got shot, and depending on where you're shot, it could cause catastrophe. Then it became 40-mm, and AR-15, and AK-47, and Uzi submachine guns, and high-capacity rifles. The faster a bullet hits, the more destruction it has. It's traveling at 2000 miles an hour. It's really fast; the bullets bounce and explode.

Just for the regular folks who may not be medically inclined, it causes an explosion in the human body where it hits bone, blood vessels, nerves, and skin. It's a devastating injury when that happens. We've all seen simulations of what these bullets can do. Certainly, you can get shot with a 40-caliber pistol and have devastating injuries.

It's all about where you're shot, what happens after you get shot, whether it's a glancing blow or it's a full-on devastating explosion that happens in the human body — whether it's the thorax, the head, or extremities. If it's the extremities, you may have a shot at trying to save the patient, which is why we've promoted many things that we'll talk about later on. But it's just devastating, unbelievable destruction.

It's minutes before the patients bleed out, so you have to act fast. That's why at trauma centers — we work at level 1 trauma centers — we get the patients there early, we try to get them in the operating room, and our job is to find a way to stop bleeding. We've gotten pretty good at that. Now, we can save many people, but we can't save everybody.

We're out here every day trying to save people and get them back to their families because that's what we do as trauma surgeons. We come in, we save people's lives, and we work in concert with pre-hospital staff, our emergency physicians, and the trauma center to make things happen. I'll just start with that utter devastation, exploding, and the terrible things that happen to people when they are the target of these weapons of mass destruction.

Glatter: That's a very graphic and accurate description. Dr Dultz, if you do survive one of these types of injuries, there is the risk of complications, such as fistulas, wound infections, prolonged hospital stays, and the need for long-term care. You are an expert, working in the surgical ICU at your facility. These are the wounds of war that are in the ICU. These patients have prolonged stays. Can you comment about what you're seeing regarding healing, complications, and so forth?

Linda A. Dultz, MD, MPH: For us working in the trauma bay and in the ICU, we see these devastating injuries. Obviously, the more bullets, the type of bullet, the level of destruction, the more devastating of an injury that patient will have that will lead to their prolonged complication and ICU courses. I think the bigger picture is what we don't see, such as the long, drawn-out PTSD and the mental rehabilitation that comes from that.

It's not just a physical issue. It's emotional, and one that leads to a lower quality of life and long-term disability for these patients. That's where some of our research is focusing on as well — it's not just the physical aspect, because that's going to happen and we will get our patients through that and we will get them home, hopefully, and back to their families. That long-term effect, though, for most people, will never go away. We're focusing on that right now and a large amount of research is being put into that.

- snip -

I just want to highlight that the husband of one of the victims recently died because he was so overwhelmed. We're going to talk about the physics and the energy and dissipation of bullets, but these are people. The families are ruined. They're destroyed. And they will never be the same. I think that we should just sit there and ruminate on that first, on what is going on. We need to have a national reckoning, and we'll get into that later.

- snip -

Trauma Staff Have Their Own Bouts of PTSD to Contend With

Glatter: I was just going to bring that up. It's a crisis among healthcare providers right now that we can't ignore after COVID-19. Healthcare providers are really showing the effects of everything at this point that we're seeing, from trauma incidents to just showing up to work. Taking care of ourselves and programs that are designed to do that are critical.

I wanted to ask you about each of your institutions.

Campbell: Dr Sakran took care of one of his colleagues who was shot just recently. I want him to highlight the power of the statements he made after that right now.

Sakran: As we're hearing both from Dr Campbell and Dr Dultz, it's hard to do what we do. Take that difficult job that we do on an everyday basis and imagine then that it's your colleague, someone that you work with, someone who also happens to be a trauma surgeon and taking care of injured patients.

That's what happened a couple of months ago when I came on call one morning and I got the message that one of my partners was being brought in after they were shot. I don't want to get into this person's story because that's for them to tell.

What I will say is this: As I sat there in disbelief as to what I had just heard, I asked myself whether or not I was going to be able to separate the emotion from the moment, to be able to make one methodical decision after the other. It was a tough moment because I didn't know at the time what type of injuries he had. Many things went through my mind. Of course, even afterwards, thinking about the fact that, thankfully, he physically survived, things could have been different.

It goes on, and it doesn't get any less grim.

This is another big fucking problem, and sorry not sorry, but it can be largely laid at the feet of coin-operated Republicans who have spent decades pimping "2nd amendment" with the Russian mob money being laundered through the NRA.

Real Tired Of This Shit

Scientific American, Eric W. Fleegler, Lois K. Lee :

Pediatric Gun Deaths Are a Massive Problem in the U.S.

Thoughts and prayers do not stop bullets. We must do better for our children

School shootings feel random in their location yet predictable in their occurrence. Killers target elementary, high school and college students in urban, suburban and rural communities. The children killed are Hispanic, white, Black, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, transgender and cisgender.

This year school shootings have occurred more than weekly on average with 27 in 2022 (so far). Many go virtually unmentioned on the national stage, however, until the “unthinkable” happens, and 19 nine- to 11-year-old children and two teachers die unspeakable deaths at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Yet these killings aren’t unthinkable. We’ve been here before—at Columbine, Sandy Hook, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida and too many other schools.

We are researchers and pediatric emergency medicine physicians who study firearm injuries. After many hard, politically fraught years of investigating this subject, we believe that it is our collective responsibility to address, head on, the interlinked issues of gun availability, gun safety, gun regulations and gun violence prevention research—and, dare we say it, the politicization of guns taking priority over public health. With thousands of children killed each year in the U.S. by firearms, we must, as a country, ultimately reckon with the essential question of what is most important: Is it the narrow focus on individuals’ rights or the broader vision of societal responsibility?

Are pediatric gun deaths really a problem in the U.S.? Our work and others’ show the answer is unequivocally yes. Guns kill more U.S. children and adolescents between one and 19 years old than any other means. Guns kill more children than motor vehicle collisions, cancer, infections or any other disease. And this is a uniquely American problem. Though horrifying and sensational, school deaths represent only a small fraction of firearm deaths. Most firearm injuries and deaths happen in homes or neighborhoods. In 2020 10,197 children and young adults age zero to 24 year old died by guns, a 55 percent increase over the decade prior.

Gun deaths are also a health disparity issue. Over the past decade, Black teenage boys died by guns at rates about five times higher than those of white teenage boys, though their names rarely register in the national consciousness.

There are at least 400 million guns in the U.S. We don’t really know how many because most states don’t track gun sales or require gun registration, thanks to successful lobbying by the gun industry and progun politicians. Last year 18.9 million guns were sold in the U.S. And between the beginning of 2019 and middle of 2021, an estimated 7.5 million people became first-time gun owners. This includes 5.4 million people who previously lived in homes without guns. Twenty years ago a majority of gun owners used guns for hunting and sports. Today 88 percent of them state they own their guns for self-protection. Most of those owners say having a gun at home makes them feel safer, and about 40 percent keep one loaded and “easily accessible” at all times. In 2021 four in 10 children, representing approximately 30 million kids, had at least one gun in the home. Even in homes with children, 73 percent of these guns were stored unlocked and/or loaded, putting those children at risk of injury and death. If you keep a gun in your home, storing it unloaded and keeping the gun and ammunition locked away separately can decrease the risk.

Unlike cars and virtually every product sold in the U.S., there are no regulatory safety requirements for guns. That bears repeating: guns are exempt from safety standards set by the federal Consumer Product Safety Act. Between 2015 and 2021, there were 2,446 unintentional child shootings, resulting in 923 deaths and 1,603 injuries. Thus, while pill bottle makers, hair dryer producers and motor vehicle companies constantly work to improve their products’ safety, the U.S. government has decreed gun manufactures do not need to consider whether a two-year-old should be able to pull the trigger on a gun or whether a teenager should be able to fire a gun they don’t own.

Beyond these lack of safety requirements, in 2006 Congress passed the “Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act,” which shields firearm manufactures against liability for any injuries or deaths from guns. Thus, gunmakers have minimal incentive to improve gun safety technology, despite the development of safer gun technology over the last decade in the form of personalized “smart” guns, which use fingerprint technology (like your cell phone, radio-frequency identification (RFID), or other methods) to allow only the authorized user to fire the gun. This simple fix would prevent curious children, suicidal individuals, and unauthorized people from finding a gun and shooting the weapon. It would save countless lives each year.

We know that states with stronger firearm laws are associated with lower firearm deaths. We also know no one law or strategy will address the problem of U.S. gun violence. We need a multipronged strategy, and we need it to encompass all states.

One approach would treat owning guns like owning cars: meaningful age limits for purchase and possession and licensing, registration and insurance requirements. Some states, including New York, Connecticut and California, do have meaningful age limits and licensing and registration requirements. Other states, including Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and Rhode Island, specifically prohibit gun registries. Nearly two thirds of Americans, including 53 percent of Republicans, support moderate or strong regulation of gun ownership. And after every school shooting, federal firearm legislation, such as universal background checks or raising the legal age to buy a long-gun from 18 to 21, is proposed once again. It is the most practical start to decreasing firearm deaths, yet the most quickly dismissed. So we are left with “thoughts and prayers.”

We also need laws to minimize access to firearms among individuals at risk of harming themselves or others (such as people who have been charged with domestic violence or who have homicidal ideation). These needed measures include universal background checks (supported by 81 percent of Americans) and extreme risk protection order (“red flag”) laws that allow a judge to prohibit at-risk individuals’ purchase or possession of a firearm for a time limited period. Nineteen states plus Washington, D.C., have red flag laws. These laws are frequently passed by bipartisan consensus in Republican-led states. Yet people slip through the cracks, so we need to both increase awareness of the laws in the states that have them and to have more states pass them.

As pediatric emergency physicians, we specifically concern ourselves with children accessing their parents’ guns. Strong child access prevention laws, currently in 34 states and Washington, D.C., hold adult gun owners liable if a child can or does access a firearm. However, we and others have concerns about criminalizing grieving families and non-discriminatory applications of these laws. Another approach would be to incentivize gun owners to store their firearms more safely.

And then there is funding. Because of a dearth of federal research funding, there are substantial gaps in knowledge about the victims and perpetrators of gun violence, as well as effective interventions. There was no Congressional federal funding for firearm research at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after Congress passed the Dickey Amendment in 1996—and no such funding for the National Institutes of Health after the amendment was extended to that agency in late 2011—until 2019, when $25 million was appropriated. This is a drop in the bucket, compared with the number of people affected by gun violence. In contrast, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute has a budget of $3.8 billion to support research related to conditions such as heart disease and cancer.

But while we consider these approaches, we must remember these names. They are sons and daughters, children whose parents had hopes and dreams for them, youth with goals and aspirations for themselves:

Nevaeh Bravo

Jacklyn “Jackie” Cazares

Makenna Lee Elrod

Jose Flores, Jr.

Eliana “Ellie” Garcia

Irma Garcia

Uziyah Garcia

Amerie Jo Garza

Xavier Lopez

Jayce Luevanos

Tess Marie Mata

Maranda Mathis

Eva Mireles

Alithia Ramirez

Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez

Maite Yuleana Rodriguez

Alexandria “Lexi” Aniyah Rubio

Layla Salazar

Jailah Nicole Silguero

Eliahana Cruz Torres

Rojelio Torres

And never again should we have to list the names of innocent children shot and killed in their elementary school. Yet history, and a contemptuous lack of action from our elected officials, predicts we will. We must demand more, especially when there are actions we can take. We must do better for our children, our youth and our society. We must.

Ari Melber

"This happens all the time."

And the furor over the difference between cops killing unarmed black people and cops pampering armed white people is not to be construed to mean we want the cops to start killing the white guys too - THE COPS AREN'T SUPPOSED TO BE KILLING ANYBODY.

The Beat with Ari Melber

Today's Tweet

This shooting at a children’s baseball game in Charleston, South Carolina, isn’t an anomaly. This is America’s new normal, enabled by greedy gun lobbyists and lawmaker allies. And if they have their way, no one will be safe anywhere.

Video by @ABCNews4 pic.twitter.com/H7GOyoKkbx

— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) April 26, 2022

Channel 5 Charleston SC:

Police release statement on video of gunfire interrupting youth baseball game in N. Charleston

North Charleston Police say they are actively investigating the shooting. Police spokesman Harve Jacobs said police responded to Pepperhill Park in the 7600 block of Brandywine Road where gunshots had been reported.

A police report released Tuesday states witnesses told responding officers that a “large group” of teenagers pulled into the parking lot and began fistfighting. Witnesses then told officers the teenagers began shooting at each other before they fled in their vehicles where it appeared shots were fired from one vehicle towards another, the report states.

Mayor Keith Summey watched a citizen’s video of the children on the field during this incident, and was “appalled by what he heard and saw,” Jacobs said.

Assistant Chief Greg Gomes is shocked by the video and horrified at the events that took place, he said.

“He vehemently denounces this violence and is outraged at those responsible for putting so many innocent lives in danger,” Jacobs said.

North Charleston Police promised to investigate the incident “to the fullest extent of the law and will do everything in their power to locate and arrest the individuals involved in this heinous and reckless act.”

“We will leave no stone unturned in bringing these suspects to justice,” Jacobs said.

“Witnesses indicated that multiple vehicles pulled into the parking lot, where a physical altercation took place, followed by dozens of gunshots,” Jacobs said. “Several youth baseball games were underway when this incident occurred.This incident tonight had nothing to do with the Park, youth athletes, parents or coaches. Thankfully no injuries were reported.”

- more -

And nothing will be done. Because this joint is nine kinds of fucked up.

New From JAMA

We know gun violence and guns kinda go together.

And now we know that when you expand the rationale for using a gun, you increase the motivation to use a gun, and that leads to more gun violence.

When certain shit happens, some other shit's gonna happen as a result.

Funny how that works, ain't it?

JAMA:

Analysis of “Stand Your Ground” Self-defense Laws and Statewide Rates of Homicides and Firearm Homicides

Key Points

Question: Are “stand your ground” (SYG) laws associated with increases in violent deaths, and does this vary by US state?

Findings: In this cohort study assessing 41 US states, SYG laws were associated with an 8% to 11% national increase in monthly rates of homicide and firearm homicide. State-level increases in homicide and firearm homicide rates reached 10% or higher for many Southern states, including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Louisiana.

Meaning: These findings suggest that SYG laws were associated with increased homicides each year and that the laws should be reconsidered to prevent unnecessary violent deaths.
Abstract

Importance: Most US states have amended self-defense laws to enhance legal immunities for individuals using deadly force in public. Despite concerns that “stand your ground” (SYG) laws unnecessarily encourage the use of deadly violence, their impact on violent deaths and how this varies across states and demographic groups remains unclear.

ObjectiveL  To evaluate the association of SYG laws with homicide and firearm homicide, nationally and by state, while considering variation by the race, age, and sex of individuals who died by homicide.

Design, Setting, and Participants: This cohort study used a controlled, multiple-baseline and -location interrupted time series design, using natural variation in the timings and locations of SYG laws to assess associations. Changes in homicide and firearm homicide were modeled using Poisson regression analyses within a generalized additive model framework. Analyses included all US states that enacted SYG laws between 2000 and 2016 and states that did not have SYG laws enacted during the full study period, 1999 to 2017. Data were analyzed from November 2019 to December 2020.

Exposures: SYG self-defense laws enacted by statute between January 1, 2000, to December 31, 2016.

Main Outcomes and Measures:  The main outcomes were statewide monthly rates of homicide and firearm-related homicide (per 100 000 persons) from January 1, 1999, to December 31, 2017, grouped by characteristics (ie, race, age, sex) of individuals who died by homicide.

Results: Forty-one states were analyzed, including 23 states that enacted SYG laws during the study period and 18 states that did not have SYG laws, with 248 358 homicides (43.7% individuals aged 20-34 years; 77.9% men and 22.1% women), including 170 659 firearm homicides. SYG laws were associated with a mean national increase of 7.8% in monthly homicide rates (incidence rate ratio [IRR],1.08; 95% CI, 1.04-1.12; P < .001) and 8.0% in monthly firearm homicide rates (IRR, 1.08; 95% CI, 1.03-1.13; P = .002). SYG laws were not associated with changes in the negative controls of suicide (IRR, 0.99; 95% CI, 0.98-1.01) or firearm suicide (IRR, 1.00; 95% CI, 0.98-1.02). Increases in violent deaths varied across states, with the largest increases (16.2% to 33.5%) clustering in the South (eg, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana). There were no differential associations of SYG laws by demographic group.

Conclusions and Relevance: These findings suggest that adoption of SYG laws across the US was associated with increases in violent deaths, deaths that could potentially have been avoided.

Dear Ammosexuals,

Fuck you.

Your pal,

Mike

A Small Step

3 weeks ago:

 As of yesterday, so far in 2022:

Almost 35 dead in 27 Mass Shootings

Averaging 1 mass shooting every fucking day

Gun Violence Archive

It's a baby step really - and here in USAmerica Inc, there's a fair probability that SCOTUS will eventually torpedo it - but we have to start somewhere, and we have to keep pushing for it.

UPI:

City councilors in San Jose, Calif., passed a measure late Tuesday that requires all firearm owners within the city limits to buy liability insurance -- a gun control measure that's believed to be the first of its kind in the United States.

The ordinance mandates liability insurance, and a separate regulation orders all gun owners in San Jose to pay a $25 annual fee that will go toward violence prevention efforts.

Advocates, including San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, say that the measures will incentivize safe firearm ownership and provide services and resources for people who are most affected by gun violence.

"The point is we can reduce a lot of harm and tragedy and pain, even if we're not going to magically make a gun fall out of the hands of the crook," Liccardo said, according to the Mercury News.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams rolls out plan to stop gun violence

"Thank you to my council colleagues who continue to show their commitment to reducing gun violence and its devastation in our community," he added in a tweet.

Liccardo added that having liability insurance will encourage gun owners to keep them in a safe, use trigger locks and take gun safety classes.

The gun control measures come after three mass shooting attacks in the San Jose area over the past three years -- including an attack at a rail yard last May that killed 9 people.

3 Pennsylvania police officers charged with death of 8-year-old girl

While several Democratic-led cities have proposed similar laws, San Jose is the first to pass one -- and is certain to face legal challenges.

The National Foundation for Gun Rights has already promised that it will sue the city.

"This isn't just about San Jose -- or even California," the group said in a statement posted to its website. "If gun grabbers get away with taxing the right to own a gun, every left-leaning local government across the country will quickly follow. This will be an expensive, drawn-out legal battle."

Councilor Dev Davis voted against the ordinance, saying that it's unconstitutional and will be ineffective in mitigating gun violence.

A Routine American Tragedy

WaPo: (pay wall)

Authorities are investigating what caused a student to allegedly turn a pistol on his classmates at a Michigan high school, leaving three people dead and eight others injured Tuesday as a small town is left to grapple with what has become a routine American tragedy.

The suspected gunman, who has not been named by authorities, is a 15-year-old sophomore at Oxford High School who attended class before he began shooting, officials said. It remains unclear how he obtained the gun allegedly used to fire 15 to 20 shots.

Officials said a motive also remains unknown for what appears to be the deadliest episode of on-campus violence in more than 18 months, while instruction shifted online during the coronavirus pandemic and school shootings largely dropped out of headlines.

The gun taken from the suspect, a 9mm pistol with 15-round magazines, was purchased by the suspect’s father last week, four days before the shooting, according to Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard.

The suspect, who was booked into jail as a juvenile but could be tried as an adult, did not resist when he was arrested, and is not cooperating with the investigation, authorities said. About 300 law enforcement and emergency management personnel from two dozen agencies, including the FBI, responded to the scene, the sheriff’s office said.

It is illegal under Michigan laws for someone younger than 18 to possess a gun in public in the state. In schools, it is illegal to carry a concealed gun, and some school districts in the state also ban open carry.

The three people killed were all students at the school, the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office said, identifying them as 14-year-old Hana St. Juliana, 17-year-old Madisyn Baldwin and 16-year-old Tate Myre, who died in a patrol car while sheriff deputies were taking him to a hospital.

Seven of the injured were students between the ages of 14 and 17. Of those students, three were in critical condition at a hospital, the sheriff’s office said. A teacher, 47, was shot in the shoulder and discharged from a hospital.

A spokesperson for St. Joseph Mercy Oakland, where the sheriff’s office said a 17-year-old female in critical condition was taken in the aftermath of the shooting, told The Washington Post early Wednesday that the hospital is treating one patient, and that the patient is in stable condition, but it would not release identifying information about the patient due to privacy concerns.

Oakland County Undersheriff Mike McCabe would not say whether the suspect had made threats leading up to the shooting, but he said the possibility is part of the police investigation.

According to Giffords Law Center, a gun violence-prevention group that publishes information about gun laws, Michigan ranks 20th in the nation for states with the strongest gun laws.

“Michigan laws are certainly not the weakest in the country, but they could be a lot stronger,” Allison Anderman, the center’s senior counsel, said in an interview Tuesday night.

Anderman noted that school shootings are still exceptionally rare compared with other types of shootings. Yet in most school shootings, the weapon is a firearm left unsecured in the home.

Since 2018, when 17 people were killed during a shooting at a Parkland, Fla., high school, many states have passed legislation making it more difficult for children to access firearms.

Eleven states have laws concerning firearm-locking devices, including Michigan, in an attempt to reduce the risk of guns falling into the hands of children or criminals, according to Giffords Law Center. Michigan does not require firearm owners to lock their weapons.

Many of Oxford High School’s 1,800 students are now grappling with “what ifs” in the aftermath of the shooting in this quiet town that is home to 22,000 people. When a bullet pierced the door of an AP statistics class, senior Kristina Myers said she and her classmates began piling desks in front of the door and passing out calculators to potentially throw at the gunman should he enter the room.

“If my teacher didn’t close the door when she did, our class would have been dead. I know that for a fact,” she said.