If prohibition and the "war on drugs" have proven anything it's that laws must represent the general view of the society they are supposed to protect.
Both have done much to establish highly inflated black-market trading and the gang culture that feeds on and fights over the immense profits created.
Why? Because the "man in the street" wanted alcohol despite the law and the "average Joe" - apparently - now wants .the thrill or escape of a trip illegal drugs.
Any proposal to outlaw guns in USA - even if successful - is likely to create similar gang-controlled profiteering chaos and even further risk to law enforcement officers.
To the rest of the world it seems crazy that a person can buy a weapon during a regular trip to the local supermarket but that's just how it is and the pro-gun lobby would have it no other way. People like spotty http://www.telltrail.com/forum-categories/social-issues/law-order/is-a-us-ban-on-guns-the-answer hold the 2nd amendment with religious fervour and either downplay the tragedies or even worse for the victims' families will go into complete denial and claim the tragic stories are the fiction of some conspiracy plot against the holy weapon.
Keep the 2nd, keep the guns but exercise some sound judgement.
Alcohol is not an automatic killer but alcohol consumption is legal for (in the US) over 21's
Motor cars are built for transport and are necessary in many parts of the US so driving a motor car is legal for over 16's but - because cars can be a danger to others - drivers must pass proficiency tests that demonstrate safe operation.
Guns are built to kill - they have no other purpose.
So where's the age limit, where the proficiency testing, sanity and safety checks that should go with ownership of such an implement?
Spotty and his ilk claim that children learn to handle, understand and respect guns through exposure at an early age. Would he put a 7-year old behind the wheel of his new car? With a bottle of Jack Daniels for refreshment? Maybe he wouldl!
In a society that considers guns a basic right, there will always be tragic incidents.
Put guns in the hands - or in the reach - of teenagers, struggling under an overload of hormones, hangups, peer and sexual stresses and you're asking for tragedies. Teenagers are notorious for living in the emotion of the moment, of considering anybody over 25 an unnecessary drain on world resources and of having no real respect for life - even their own - until they emerge as young adults.
Qualifying adults should have to prove current competence in the handling, operation, maintenance, storage and safety of the weapons they want to buy or reload. The costs of training and regular testing, verification and enforcement of these rules should be met by fees and taxes on the gun industry at large. There is absolutely no reason why an individual's right to carry arms should be funded in any way by those individuals exercising their right not to carry arms.
Only when the right to bear arms is treated with the same respect and maturity as the right to drink alcohol or the right to drive a motor vehicle will the number of meaningless tragedies be reduced to those inspired by insanity rather than the seemingly endless parade of examples where one parent's incompetence, stupidity or carelessness is allowed to wreck the lives of children and other innocent parents.
Up to 100 children a year die from accidental shootings, research shows
June 18, 2015
9 dead: Charleston, S.C.
http://timelines.latimes.com/deadliest-shooting-rampages/
An undated handout photo provided by the Berkeley County, South Carolina, shows 21-year-old Dylann Storm Roof of Columbia, S.C. (EPA)
Dylann Storm Roof is identified as the suspect in the shooting that killed nine people at a historic black church in Charleston, S.C., on Wednesday night.
May 23, 2014
7 dead, 7 wounded: Isla Vista, Calif.
http://timelines.latimes.com/deadliest-shooting-rampages/
A car window is shot out after a series of shootings near the UC Santa Barbara campus. (Associated Press / KEYT-TV)
A gunman opens fire in the UC Santa Barbara campus town of Isla Vista from inside a black BMW. The gunman was killed during the shooting rampage. Law enforcement sources identified Elliot Rodger as the preliminary suspect. Investigators believe the gunman acted alone and are analyzing a threatening video and written evidence that suggests the killings were premeditated.
April 12, 2015
Braylon Robinson shooting: Three-year-old boy shoots baby dead in latest US child gun accident
one-year-old baby was killed after he was shot in the face with a gun fired by a boy, three, who had found it inside a house, police said.
The victim has been identified as Braylon Robinson, from Cleveland, Ohio. The relationship of the two boys is not yet known and an investigation into the incident is currently taking place.
The tragic loss comes after a two-year-old toddler pulled a gun out of his mother’s handbag in Walmart and shot her dead in Idaho last December.
In another high-profile case in September, a nine-year-old girl killed an instructor by firing an Uz
The series of fatalities caused by firearms – which citizens are permitted to possess in the US – have sparked concerns as to how easy it is for American children to get hold of weapons.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/threeyearold-boy-shoots-baby-braylon-robinson- dead-in-latest-us-child-gun-accident-10173290.html
The Last Stop firing range in Arizona, where a nine-year-old girl accidentall killed a gun instructor Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams told journalists that investigators are trying to determine where the gun that killed Braylon came from.
He said that the force will seek to press charges against the person held responsible for bringing a gun to the house and carelessly leaving it within the reach of a child.
“A three-year-old can’t be held accountable for a tragedy like this,” Williams added. Braylon was taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead. There was at least one adult at home when the horrifying event occurred, according to police.
His mother could be heard screaming from the back porch of the house after finding out that her baby died. She has lived there with at least three small children, neighbours said.
Read more:
Boy accidentally kills mother with gun in Walmart
Nine-year-old girl shoots instructor with Uzi
Gun deaths in US projected to soon top car fatalities
“It’s a sad day for Cleveland,” Williams told reporters. “This fascination that we have with handguns, not just in this city but in this country, has to stop. This is a senseless loss of life.”
December 31, 2014
Wal-Mart shooting: Tributes paid to 29-year-old Idaho nuclear scientist Veronica Rutledge fatally shot by her two-year-old son
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/dec/31/idaho-nuclear-scientist-shot-dead-son-walmart
Friends and co-workers of a 29-year-old nuclear scientist in Idaho have paid tribute to the “beautiful, young, loving mother” after she was fatally shot by her two-year-old son in Walmart.
Veronica Rutledge was legally licensed to carry the handgun she was shot with, which was concealed in her purse at the time.
Police in Kootenai County said the “tragic accident” involved the young boy, who had been left inside a shopping trolley, reaching into his mother’s purse and firing the small-caliber weapon a single time.
Rutledge worked at the Idaho National Laboratory, where she had been working on developments in nuclear waste storage, according to Washington’s Spokesman-Review. The lab carries out nuclear energy and defence research, supporting the US Department of Energy.
The victim's father-in-law, Terry Rutledge, told The Associated Press that Veronica Rutledge "was a beautiful, young, loving mother."
"She was not the least bit irresponsible," Terry Rutledge said. "She was taken much too soon."
Idaho National Laboratory senior chemical engineer Vince Maio worked with Rutledge on a research paper about using glass ceramic to store nuclear waste, The Spokesman-Review said.
Maio said he was immediately impressed with her.
"She had a lot of maturity for her age," he told the newspaper. "Her work was impeccable. She found new ways to do things that we did before and she found ways to do them better."
"She was a beautiful person," he added.
Kootenai County sheriff's spokesman Stu Miller said Rutledge was from Blackfoot in southeastern Idaho, and that her family had come to the area to visit relatives.
"It appears to be a pretty tragic accident," Miller said.
While there are no US statistics about the number of accidents involving children handling guns, in neighbouring Washington state a three-year-old boy was seriously injured in November when he accidentally shot himself in the face.
In April, a two-year-old boy apparently shot and killed his 11-year-old sister while they and their siblings played with a gun inside a Philadelphia home. Authorities said the gun was believed to have been brought into the home by the mother's boyfriend.
Politically conservative Idaho lawmakers passed legislation earlier this year allowing concealed weapons on the state's public college and university campuses.
Despite facing opposition from all eight of the state's university college presidents, lawmakers sided with gun rights advocates who said the law would better uphold the Second Amendment of the US Constitution guaranteeing the right to bear arms.
August 27, 2014
Arizona shooting: Gun instructor accidentally killed by nine-year-old girl with Uzi
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/gun-instructor-accidentally-shot-dead-by-nineyearold-girl-with-uzi-gun-9692843.html
A gun instructor in Arizona has been accidentally shot and killed by a nine-year-old girl that he was teaching to fire an automatic Uzi submachine gun.
Charles Vacca, 39, was killed on Monday after being shot in the head at an outdoor shooting range in White Hills.
The accident happened when the girl, who authorities said had been taken to the range by her parents, pulled the trigger and the recoil sent the gun over her head.
Mr Vacca was stood next to the child, who had fired the weapon a number of times in the “single-shot” mode, authorities said, but when it was switched into “fully-automatic” the weapon recoiled as the girl fired the trigger.
Mr Vacca died shortly after being airlifted to University Medical Centre in Las Vegas, Mohave County sheriff’s office said.
Ronald Scott, a firearms safety expert, said most shooting ranges have an age limit and strict safety rules when teaching children to shoot. He said instructors usually have their hands on guns when children are firing high-powered weapons.
"You can't give a 9-year-old an Uzi and expect her to control it," he said.
The girl has not been named, and it is not known if the Last Stop range had an age limit or if the girl was going through a safety class.
Mohave County Sherrif's official's released a video, reportedly shot by the child's parents, showing the moments leading up to Mr Vacca's death.
The news of the accident comes a month after a shocking report highlighting the number of accidental deaths involving children and firearms.
The groups behind the report, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America and Everytown, claimed the majority of deaths could have been prevented.
The report claims 100 children are killed a year, with an average of two child deaths a week.
Examples used in the report included a two-year-old boy shot himself in the chest on Christmas Day after picking up a handgun left on a table by his father, and an 11-year-old boy who was shot in the neck after trying to take a gun away from his siblings, who were toddlers.
April 2, 2014
3 killed; 16 injured: Ft. Hood, Texas
http://timelines.latimes.com/deadliest-shooting-rampages/
Media wait outside Fort Hood for an official statement Wednesday. (Deborah Cannon/Austin American-Statesman/MCT)
A gunman at Fort Hood, the scene of a deadly 2009 rampage, kills three people and injures 16 others, according to military officials. The gunman is dead at the scene.
Sept 16, 2013
13 killed, 3 injured: Washington, D.C.
Police work the scene on M Street, SE in Washington near the Washington Navy Yard. (Jacquelyn Martin / Associated Press)
A shooter who engaged police in a running firefight through the sprawling Washington Navy Yard is shot and killed.
At least 13 people including the shooter are killed in the rampage that began approximately 8:15 a.m. at the Navy Yard, a huge complex of buildings along Washington’s Anacostia River waterfront. The shooter is later identified as Aaron Alexis, a Navy contractor and former Navy enlisted man from Fort Worth.
June 7, 2013
5 killed: Santa Monica
(AP Photo / Santa Monica Police Department)
John Zawahri, an unemployed 23-year-old, kills five people in an attack that starts at his father’s home and ends at Santa Monica College, where he is fatally shot by police in the school’s library.
Dec. 14, 2012
27 killed, one injured: Newtown, Conn.
Responders gather at scene of a mass school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. (Mario Tama / Getty Images)
A gunman forces his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. and shoots and kills 20 first graders and six adults. The shooter, Adam Lanza, 20, kills himself at the scene. Lanza also killed his mother at the home they shared, prior to his shooting rampage. In emotional remarks from the White House, President Obama wiped away tears. “Our hearts are broken today,” the president said.
Oct. 21, 2012
3 dead, 4 injured: Brookfield, Wis.
Rescue personnel arrive at the Azana Salon and Spa (Michael Sears / Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)
Radcliffe Haughton, a 45-year-old former Marine, walks into the Azana Salon and Spa where his estranged wife works and shoots and kills her and two other women, wounding four others. Witnesses say Haughton’s wife, Zina, calmly tried to protect coworkers and customers before she was killed. She had recently sought a restraining order saying her husband had threatened to throw acid in her face and set her on fire with gasoline. Haughton was found dead inside the salon of a self-inflicted gunshot.
Sept. 28, 2012
6 killed, 2 injured: Minneapolis, Minn.
http://timelines.latimes.com/deadliest-shooting-rampages/
Engeldinger working at Accent Signage in Minneapolis (Bill Klotz / Associated Press)
Andrew Engeldinger, 36, breaks into a sign company’s offices and opens fire, killing the owner and five others before turning the gun on himself. Engeldinger had been fired from Accent Signage Systems, a small company that specializes in making interior signs that comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act, including signs in Braille for the blind.
Aug. 5, 2012
6 killed, 3 injured: Oak Creek, Wis.
http://timelines.latimes.com/deadliest-shooting-rampages/
Wade Michael Page (Handout/ Getty Images)
Wade Michael Page fatally shoots six people at a Sikh temple before he is shot by a police officer. Page, an Army veteran who was a “psychological operations specialist,” committed suicide after he was wounded.
Page was a member of a white supremacist band called End Apathy and his views led federal officials to treat the shooting as an act of domestic terrorism. He had been administratively discharged from the Army in 1998 after being demoted in rank.
July 20, 2012
12 killed, 58 injured: Aurora, Colo.
http://timelines.latimes.com/deadliest-shooting-rampages/
James Holmes (University of Colorado Denver/Zuma Press/MCT)
James Holmes, 24, is taken into custody in the parking lot outside the Century 16 movie theater after a post-midnight attack in Aurora, Colo. Holmes allegedly entered the theater through an exit door about half an hour into the local premiere of “The Dark Knight Rises.” He faces charges of of killing 12 people and injuring 58 others.
April 2, 2012
7 killed, 3 injured: Oakland
http://timelines.latimes.com/deadliest-shooting-rampages/
One L. Goh (Alameda County Sheriff's Office)
One L. Goh, 43, a former student at a Oikos University, a small Christian college, allegedly opens fire in the middle of a classroom leaving seven people dead and three wounded.
Goh was charged with seven counts of murder with special circumstances and three counts of attempted murder. In a jailhouse interview with a San Francisco TV station shortly after the shooting, Goh said he was “deeply sorry” for his actions.
Oct. 12, 2011
8 killed, 1 injured: Seal Beach, Calif.
http://timelines.latimes.com/deadliest-shooting-rampages/
Booking photo of Scott Dekraai (Seal Beach Police Dept.)
Scott Dekraai, 41, apparently enraged over a custody dispute, allegedly walks into a crowded Seal Beach hair salon where his former wife works and opens fire. Eight people are killed, including a man sitting in a truck outside the salon. Another person is critically wounded. Dekraai has pleaded not guilty in the case.
Jan. 8, 2011
6 killed, 11 injured: Tucson, Ariz.
http://timelines.latimes.com/deadliest-shooting-rampages/
Jared Lee Loughner in an undated MySpace photo (AP Photo)
Jared Lee Loughner, 22, allegedly shoots Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in the head during a meet-and-greet with constituents at a Tucson supermarket. Six people are killed and 11 others wounded. Loughner is identified by witnesses as the gunman who fired at close range with semiautomatic pistol before being tackled.
Aug. 3, 2010
8 killed, 2 injured: Manchester, Conn.
http://timelines.latimes.com/deadliest-shooting-rampages/
Omar S. Thornton, 34, a driver for Hartford Distributors, emerges from a disciplinary hearing and begins shooting, killing eight people at the family-owned distributorship and then himself.
Feb. 12, 2010
3 killed, 3 wounded: Huntsville, Ala.
(Eric Schultz / Associated Press)
Amy Bishop 45, a neurobiologist and assistant professor at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, shoots and kills 3 people at a biology faculty meeting. Bishop is later sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Nov. 5, 2009
13 killed, 32 injured: Ft. Hood, Texas
http://timelines.latimes.com/deadliest-shooting-rampages/
Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan in a 2007 photo (Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences)
Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, allegedly shoots and kills 13 people and injures 32 others in a rampage at Ft. Hood, where he is based. Authorities allege that Hasan was exchanging emails with Muslim extremists including American-born radical Anwar Awlaki.
April 3, 2009
13 killed, 4 injured: Binghamton, N.Y.
http://timelines.latimes.com/deadliest-shooting-rampages/
(AP Photo/Binghamton Police Department)
Jiverly Voong, 41, shoots and kills 13 people and seriously wounds four others before apparently committing suicide at the American Civic Assn., an immigration services center, in Binghamton, N.Y.
Feb. 14, 2008
5 killed, 16 injured: Dekalb, Ill.
http://timelines.latimes.com/deadliest-shooting-rampages/ (Associated Press)
Steven Kazmierczak, dressed all in black, steps on stage in a lecture hall at Northern Illinois University and opens fire on a geology class. Five students are killed and 16 wounded before Kazmierczak kills himself on the lecture hall stage.
Dec. 5, 2007
8 killed, 4 injured: Omaha
http://timelines.latimes.com/deadliest-shooting-rampages/
(EPA / Yearbook photo)
Robert Hawkins, 19, sprays an Omaha shopping mall with gunfire as holiday shoppers scatter in terror. He kills eight people and wounds four others before taking his own life. Authorities report he left several suicide notes.
April 16, 2007
32 killed, 17 injured: Blacksburg, Va.
http://timelines.latimes.com/deadliest-shooting-rampages/
Image taken from a video aired by NBC News shows Virginia Tech gunman Seung-hui Cho (Associated Press Photo/NBC)
Seung-hui Cho, a 23-year-old Virginia Tech senior, opens fire on campus, killing 32 people in a dorm and an academic building in attacks more than two hours apart. Cho takes his life after the second incident.
Feb. 12, 2007
5 killed, 4 injured: Salt Lake City
Sulejman Talovic, 18, wearing a trenchcoat and carrying a shotgun, sprays a popular Salt Lake City shopping mall. Witnesses say he displays no emotion while killing five people and wounding four others. An off-duty police officer eating dinner with his wife exchanges gunfire with the Bosnian refugee before other officers arrive and fatally wound Talovic.
Oct. 2, 2006
5 killed, 5 injured: Nickel Mines, Pa.
http://timelines.latimes.com/deadliest-shooting-rampages/ (Associated Press)
Charles Carl Roberts IV, a milk truck driver armed with a small arsenal, bursts into a one-room schoolhouse and kills five Amish girls. He kills himself as police storm the building.
March 21, 2005
9 killed, 7 injured: Red Lake Indian Reservation, Minn.
Jeffrey Weise, a 16-year-old student at Red Lake High School fatally shoots five students, a teacher, and a security guard and wounds seven others before taking his own life. Before his rampage at Red Lake, Weise kills his grandfather and his grandfather’s companion at their home on the Red Lake Indian Reservation.
July 8, 2003
5 killed, 9 injured: Meridian, Miss.
http://timelines.latimes.com/deadliest-shooting-rampages/
Doug Williams in an undated photo (Lauderdale County Sheriff's Office)
Doug Williams, 48, a production assemblyman for 19 years at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., goes on a rampage at the defense plant, fatally shooting five and wounding nine before taking his own life with a shotgun.
Oct. 28, 2002
3 killed: Tucson
Robert S. Flores, 41, a Persian Gulf War veteran and student at the University of Arizona’s College of Nursing, enters a lecture hall and gun downs two of his nursing professors. Flores then orders the students out of the classroom and commits suicide. Another associate professor of nursing is later discovered shot to death in her second-floor office.
March 5, 2001
2 killed, 13 injured: Santee, Calif.
http://timelines.latimes.com/deadliest-shooting-rampages/
Charles Andrew Williams in court during his arraignment in San Diego County Superior Court in March 2001 (Associated Press)
Santana High student Charles Andrew Williams, 15, fatally shoots two classmates and wounds 13 others on the campus. He is apprehended by police in the school bathroom, where his attack began. Williams is later sentenced to 50 years to life.
Dec. 26, 2000
7 killed: Wakefield, Mass.
http://timelines.latimes.com/deadliest-shooting-rampages/
Michael McDermott in Middlesex Superior Court in Cambridge, Mass. (John Blanding / Associated Press Photo)
Michael McDermott, a 42-year-old software tester shoots and kills seven co-workers at the Internet consulting firm where he is employed. McDermott, who is arrested at the offices of Edgewater Technology Inc., apparently was enraged because his salary was about to be garnished to satisfy tax claims by the Internal Revenue Service. He uses three weapons in his attack.
Nov. 2, 1999
7 killed: Honolulu
Byran Uyesugi, a Xerox copier repairman, shoots and kills seven coworkers with a Glock 9-mm semiautomatic handgun as they gather for a meeting to discuss his light workload. Uyesugi is a former high school sharpshooter who legally owns 11 handguns, five rifles and two shotguns. He is later found guilty of seven counts of murder and one of attempted murder for shooting at a man who escaped. He is serving a life sentence without possibility of parole.
Sept. 15, 1999
7 killed, 7 injured: Fort Worth
(Asshttp://timelines.latimes.com/deadliest-shooting-rampages/ Associated Press)
Larry Gene Ashbrook opens fire inside the crowded chapel of the Wedgwood Baptist Church. Worshipers, thinking at first that it must be a prank, keep singing. But when they realize what is happening, they dive to the floor and scrunch under pews, terrified and silent as the gunfire continues. Seven people are killed before Ashbrook takes his own life.
July 29, 1999
9 killed, 12 injured: Atlanta
http://timelines.latimes.com/deadliest-shooting-rampages/ Mark O. Barton (Associated Press)
Mark Orrin Barton, a 44-year-old chemist-turned-day trader, strolls into two investment offices and opens fire on fellow investors and office workers. The shootings at All-Tech Investment and Momentum Securities Inc., across the street from each other, leave nine people dead and 12 wounded. Barton eludes a manhunt for six hours before killing himself.
April 20, 1999
13 killed, 24 injured: Columbine, Colo.
http://timelines.latimes.com/deadliest-shooting-rampages/ (Associated Press)
Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, students at Columbine High, open fire at the school, killing a dozen students and a teacher and causing injury to two dozen others before taking their own lives.
March 24, 1998
5 killed, 10 injured: Jonesboro, Ark.
http://timelines.latimes.com/deadliest-shooting-rampages/ (Associated Press)
Middle school students Mitchell Johnson and Andrew Golden pull a fire alarm at their school in a small rural Arkansas community and then open fire on students and teachers using an arsenal they had stashed in the nearby woods. Four students and a teacher who tried shield the children are killed and 10 others are injured. Because of their ages, Mitchell. 13, and Andrew, 11, are sentenced to confinement in a juvenile facility until they turn 21.
Comments
Note: References to "spotty" relate to his Forum post http://www.telltrail.com/forum-categories/social-issues/law-order/is-a-us-ban-on-guns-the-answer
http://www.telltrail.com/forum-categories/social-issues/law-order/is-a-us-ban-on-guns-the-answer