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Crime

Associated Press Story: Believe It or Not Mass Killings Are Not on the Rise, They Are on the Decline

Dec. 17, 2012 8:13am Jonathon M. Seidl

Story highlights:

While the perception in the wake of this year’s mass shootings has been that such acts are on the rise, the Associated Press found that it’s actually the exact opposite when you look at the data on a macro level.
“There is no pattern, there is no increase,” says criminologist James Allen Fox of Boston’s Northeastern University.
He adds that the random mass shootings that get the most media attention are the rarest.
While mass shootings rose between the 1960s and the 1990s, they actually dropped in the 2000s. And mass killings actually reached their peak in 1929, Grant Duwe, a criminologist with the Minnesota Department of Corrections who has written a history of mass murders in America, says.
Chances of being killed in a mass shooting, he says, are probably no greater than being struck by lightning.

–

This is a piece by the Associated Press and Helen O’Neill.

Mass Killing Statistics Suggest Such Acts are Not on the Rise, But on the Decline | Sandy Hook Shooting

FILE – In this Aug. 7, 2012 file photo, people cover their heads at a candle light vigil in Oak Creek, Wis., for the victims of a mass shooting at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin this summer. Credit: AP

(AP) — A gold plaque hangs next to a bullet hole in the Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wis., where a lone gunman killed six worshippers and injured three others last August. It is engraved with the words, “We Are One.”

“It frames the wound,” says Pardeep Kaleka, son of former temple president Satwant Singh Kaleka, who died in the massacre. “The wound of our community, the wound of our family, the wound of our society.”

In the past week, that wound has been ripped open with shocking ferocity.

In what has become sickeningly familiar, gunmen opened fire on innocents in what should be the safest of places – first, at a shopping mall in Oregon, and then, unthinkably, at an elementary school in Connecticut.

Once again there were scenes of chaos as rescuers and media descended on the scene. Once again there were pictures of weeping survivors clutching one another, of candlelight vigils and teddy bears left as loving memorials. And once again a chorus of pundits debated gun control and violence as society attempted to make sense of the senseless.

A photo provided by the Oakland POlice Department shows weapons taken off the streets in a buy-back program in Oakland and San Francisco, Calif., Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012. Credit: AP

“Are there any sanctuaries left?” Kaleka asked. “Is this a fact of life, one we have become content to live with? Can we no longer feel safe going Christmas shopping in a mall, or to temple, or to the movies? What kind of society have we become?”

As this year of the gun lurches to a close, leaving a bloody wake, we are left to wonder along with Kaleka: What is the meaning of all this?

Even before Portland and Newtown, we saw a former student kill seven people at Oikos University in Oakland, Calif. We saw gunmen in Seattle and Minneapolis each kill five people and then themselves. We saw the midnight premiere of “The Dark Knight Rises” at a theater in Aurora, Colo., devolve into a bloodbath, as 12 people died and 58 were wounded; 24-year-old James Holmes was arrested outside.

And yet those who study mass shootings say they are not becoming more common.

“There is no pattern, there is no increase,” says criminologist James Allen Fox of Boston’s Northeastern University, who has been studying the subject since the 1980s, spurred by a rash of mass shootings in post offices.

The random mass shootings that get the most media attention are the rarest, Fox says. Most people who die of bullet wounds knew the identity of their killer.

FOXBORO, MA – DECEMBER 16: A New England Patriots fan shows support for the 26 victims of the mass shooting that took place at Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut before the game against the San Francisco 49ers at Gillette Stadium on December 16, 2012 in Foxboro, Massachusetts. Credit: Getty Images

Society moves on, he says, because of our ability to distance ourselves from the horror of the day, and because people believe that these tragedies are “one of the unfortunate prices we pay for our freedoms.”

Grant Duwe, a criminologist with the Minnesota Department of Corrections who has written a history of mass murders in America, said that while mass shootings rose between the 1960s and the 1990s, they actually dropped in the 2000s. And mass killings actually reached their peak in 1929, according to his data. He estimates that there were 32 in the 1980s, 42 in the 1990s and 26 in the first decade of the century.

Chances of being killed in a mass shooting, he says, are probably no greater than being struck by lightning.

Still, he understands the public perception – and extensive media coverage – when mass shootings occur in places like malls and schools. “There is this feeling that could have been me. It makes it so much more frightening.”

On one spring day more than four years ago, it WAS Colin Goddard.

For two years after a gunman pumped four bullets into him in a classroom at Virginia Tech, Goddard said he couldn’t bear to listen to television reports about other shootings, or read about them. It brought him back instantly to that day – April 16, 2007 – when he lay on the floor of classroom 211, blood dripping from his shoulder and leg as he wondered if he would survive.

And then, on April 3, 2009, he turned on the computer and heard the news. A 41-year-old man had opened fire at an immigrant community center in Binghamton, N.Y., killing 11 immigrants and two workers. The shooter, a Vietnamese immigrant and a former student at the center, killed himself as police rushed to the scene.

Goddard watched, riveted, realizing that this is what it was like for the rest of the world when a mass shooting occurs. Inside the school, or the mall, or the theater, the victims lie wounded and terrified and dying, while the rest of the world watches from afar. People glue themselves to the television for a day. They soak in the horror from the safety of their office or home. They feel awful for a while. Then they move on with their lives. They grow numb.

Duwe says the cycle has gone on for generations.

NEWTOWN, CT – DECEMBER 14: Responders gather at the scene of a mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School with police tape surrounding a vehicle on December 14, 2012 in Newtown, Connecticut. Twenty-seven are dead, including 20 children, after a gunman identified as Adam Lanza in news reports, opened fire in the school. Lanza also reportedly died at the scene.Credit: Getty Images

“Mass shootings provoke instant debates about violence and guns and mental health and that’s been the case since Charles Whitman climbed the tower at the University of Texas in 1966,” he said, referring to the engineering student and former Marine who killed 13 people and an unborn child and wounded 32 others in a shooting rampage on campus. “It becomes mind-numbingly repetitive.”

“Rampage violence seems to lead to repeated cycles of anguish, investigation, recrimination, and heated debate, with little real progress in prevention,” wrote John Harris, clinical assistant professor of medicine in the College of Medicine at the University of Arizona, in the June issue of American Journal of Public Health. “These types of events can lead to despair about their inevitability and unpredictability.”

And there is despair and frustration, even among those who have set out to stop mass killings.

“We do just seem to slog along, from one tragedy to the next,” Tom Mauser said last July, after the Aurora shootings.

Mauser knows all about the slog. He became an outspoken activist against such violence after his 15-year-old son, Daniel, was slain along with 12 other at Columbine High School in 1999. But he has grown frustrated and weary.

“There was a time when I felt a certain guilt,” said Mauser. “I’d ask, `Why can’t I do more about this? Why haven’t I dedicated myself more to it?’ But I’ll be damned if I’m going to put it all on my shoulders.

“This,” he said, “is all of our problem.”

Carolyn McCarthy enlisted in the cause in 1993, when a deranged gunman killed her husband and seriously injured her son in shooting rampage. She has served in Congress since 1997.

Known as the “gun lady” on Capitol Hill for her fierce championship of gun control laws, McCarthy says she nearly gave up her “lonely crusade” after hearing about the Virginia Tech shooting. And when she heard about the January 2011 shooting of former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords she says, “I just sat there frozen and watching the television and couldn’t stop crying.”

“It’s like a cancer in our society,” she says. “And if we keep doing nothing to stop it, it’s only going to spread.”

After the Binghamton shootings, Colin Goddard resolved that he had to get involved, to somehow try to stop the cycle. Reminders are lodged inside him: three bullets, a legacy of Virginia Tech.

He now works in Washington for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

“I refuse to believe this is something we have to accept as normal in this country,” he said. “There has to be a way to change the culture of violence in our society.”

In CONTROL, Glenn Beck presents a passionate, fact-based case for guns that reveals why gun control isn’t really about controlling guns at all; it’s about controlling us. Find out more HERE.

Back to The Blaze »

Comments (119)

whater39
Posted on December 17, 2012 at 12:56pm
3 in a couple months….. ya on the decline. Man this websites lies or re-publishes lies. And the Beck-Bots eat it up.
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- DiRT
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 1:04pm
  History goes back farther than a couple months, genius.
  
  Report this comment
- ABoggledMind
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 1:08pm
  clearly we are eating it up based on all the comments below right? just saying, speak for yourself….
  
  Report this comment
- mzk1
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 1:20pm
  One more example of the Left’s War on Science. They are allergic to statistics.
  
  Gun Control Kills.
  
  Report this comment
- debloo
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 1:33pm
  It was first reported in the Associated Press. Are you going to call the people who read the AP names also or we the only ones so proudly honored with your profane praises?
  
  Report this comment
- old white guy
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 2:24pm
  whater39, you are a moron. mybe you should change to whatever69.
  
  Report this comment
- QuincySmith
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 3:38pm
  iq39;
  
  This is not a blaze study, or story. It comes from your beloved AP. I know that hurts your credibility, but you will get over it.
  
  Report this comment
- lowerclassrepublican
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 3:55pm
  A lot has to do with public reporting. Most mass killings in smaller towns never made it past the local news. The mall shooting would of never made or at least been seen by people out side of that community . I actually thought to my self, “that made national news?” Or the other day, the barber shop shooting made national news what? it was a domestic killing that happens several times a week.
  
  Report this comment
- Colonialgirl
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 4:16pm
  Liberal trolls usually display no intelligence and are only capable of spewing complete idiocy as “whater39″ so wonderfully shows.
  
  Report this comment
- Larry E
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 6:07pm
  Yup and you progresso-commies who believe that the solution to all of societies problems is banning guns, raising taxes, and having the government run our lives. You are a moron.
  
  I’ll bet that you don’t think that crazy people should be sorted out and not be allowed to run loose either which all these mass murderers suffer from, thereby causing the rest of us to suffer.
  
  Report this comment
- MyAgendaIsTruth
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 7:10pm
  Bath School disaster 38 kids & 6 adults killed 1927 by dynamite. People today have no perspective on anything in life. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath_School_disaster
  
  Report this comment
- Gary_4
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 7:40pm
  Can someone tell me why teachers are not equipped with Tasers?
  This is a non-lethal option that at most needs 10 minutes of training to operate safely.
  
  Report this comment
- Gary_4
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 7:46pm
  Looking for a reasonalbe answere Can someone tell me why teachers are not equipped with Tasers?
  This is a non-lethal option that at most needs 10 minutes of training to operate safely.
  
  Report this comment
- tchall
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 7:47pm
  You’s be a bit more credible if you had noticed that the Associate Press published the story… The Blaze merely reposted it.
  
  Now that you know it’s not fodder for BeckBots you can re-read it with a clear mind… or not…
  
  Report this comment
- TexasKnight
  Posted on December 18, 2012 at 12:06am
  Just remember the largest school killing in the US was not done with a gun.
  49 dead by dynamite. I do believe in the 1930s. So yes, it MIGHT be on the decline.
  
  Report this comment
- freedomofspeech
  Posted on December 18, 2012 at 7:10am
  Beck bots? Hahaha please I would prefer you call me a sick twisted freak, thank you very much:) peace out.
  
  Report this comment
Die Free
Posted on December 17, 2012 at 12:29pm
Well Their is a petition up on the White House web to help cure the people of being defenseless. Please help me & other like minded forward thinkers get it into the main stream. Sign it. Look under gun control laws. It should come up.

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GrayPanther
Posted on December 17, 2012 at 11:58am
This incident causes me to be more concerned with the Obama administration and the progressive socialists. No doubt we will see a flood of legislation to control our lives and our home and personal protection. We must demand our legislators stand firm against efforts to restrict our freedoms. Contact your senators and congress person and demand they not sacrifice our freedoms over this catastrophic event in Connecticut.

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mdy616
Posted on December 17, 2012 at 11:55am
A group called CREDO is going to protest at the NRA blaming the NRA for the murders last week. here is their email address to let them know how ignorant that is: info@credoaction.com

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ABoggledMind
Posted on December 17, 2012 at 11:28am
Check this video out if you are interested. According to these guys they are on the rise indeed, they even have a reason.
http://youtu.be/UhO0Pul_FcE
or just search “the true source of random & mass shootings and violence”
I personally believe it because i experienced it myself at one point in my life, however that is in the passed. Zoloft is evil.

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Lloyd Drako
Posted on December 17, 2012 at 10:56am
Clearly we need a metric for the concept of a mass murder. Is 3 victims enough? How about 5? Double digits? If someone kills his entire family and then goes after random strangers, should the family count toward the mass murder threshold, even though they knew their killer, or just the strangers?

Just seeking clarity.

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- Patriotic Kurt
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 11:25am
  Let’s consider 3 as the metric or even 1, what do you propose to do? You can’t fix crazy and you cannot legislate goodness. Let us consider that you take away all of the guns. Timothy McVeigh used a fertilizer bomb to take down the Oklahoma building. The terrorists used planes to take down the towers of the World Trade Center. Evil is evil and if someone is hell bent on carrying it out, they will find a way. This man could have easily gotten into a car and plowed down a bus stop full of children and parents. He could have gone through one bus stop and headed down the street to others until the police or someone could catch up to him. What are you going to do? What do you propose my good-intentioned friend? I think it is safe to speak for all of us when I say, it hurts our hearts to see innocent little children gunned down in a place they should feel safe.
  
  Report this comment
- Lloyd Drako
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 11:38am
  I’m not proposing that we do anything necessarily. I suppose if you push me, I’ll mumble something about the need to promote responsible gun ownership and improve mental health delivery. Just like everyone else.
  
  My comment went to the point that, over the couple of days following Friday’s crime, a lots of news-agglomerating sites took to posting links to stories about every shooting death involving more than 1 person. Normally they would not do that, so wouldn’t you guess there was an agenda there?
  
  I do not believe in “evil.” For me, the concept “bad” does just fine. “Evil” just adds an extra frisson.
  
  Report this comment
- Trigus
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 11:47am
  Terrorist used Box Cutters and Airplanes in 9/11 attacks, The Box Cutter and Airplane are instruments. Just like a Firearm, a knife, or a vehicle.
  
  If you are looking to blame something for these senseless acts of violence then we need to look at contributing factors and not the instruments: Hollywood, Video Games, and certain Genres of music glorify Mass Murder, Rape, and Torture. We must blame ourselves for allowing these contributing factors to desensitize us. Alcohol and illegal drugs are responsible for the majority of violent crimes. These are contributing factors. Is it the vehicles fault that a family of 6 gets killed when T-boned by a drunk driver who ran a stop light? Who would you blame if you found out that person had 3 prior DUIs and was driving on a suspended license? Think people – use that thing sitting between your ears,
  
  Report this comment
- searcher619
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 11:54am
  What does it matter? Each and every person that has gone out on these shooting sprees were broken mentally. Every single one. We have decided to now institutionalize these people and allow them to live among us so we have to accept that every once in a while one will snap and hurt the people around them. More people die in car accidents than do in these events. Shall we seek to ban cars? The whole argument is idiotic. There is no way you can protect people from mentally unstable people.
  
  Report this comment
- Acena
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 12:53pm
  There are established classifications of killers.
  This sorts them by serial killers ; body count. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_killers
  There are many catagories ; serial,thrill,lust,mass etc and they have subdivisions.
  
  Report this comment
- Lloyd Drako
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 2:58pm
  @Acena:
  
  Thank you for the link. Yes, exactly, there are lots of categories and classifications. You can catch a serial killer, but you can’t usually prevent him from becoming one. Dealing with terrorists of the 9/11 variety obviously doesn’t require box-cutter control; it requires border control, profiling, electronic and human intelligence and infiltration of suspect groups. A Timothy McVeigh-style bombing is something else again, because of its lone-wolf character, but even in his case, it took months to scout the intended target, assemble materials, fashion a bomb, and work out the details of delivery. Only a few people knew or suspected what he was up to, and they were accomplices, not concerned parents.
  
  The mass shootings that have garnered so much attention of late are distinctive too. The perpetrators resemble McVeigh, but somewhat younger, and usually without his military background and libertarian ideological bent. Not fully adult, they often do come to the attention of mental-health professionals in schools. They use assault rifles or jumbo-magazine pistols, because these are easy to acquire and not difficult to handle with a little practice. Weeks or days, not months, separate the decision from the deed.
  
  Then too there are mass gangland slayings. It seems the peak year for mass killings in the US was 1929–the year of the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. This was one of several events that did lead eventually to the banning of most fully automatic weapon
  
  Report this comment
- lemonfemale
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 3:38pm
  There is a definition of mass murder. Multiple victims without a “cooling off” period between killings. So someone killing his Mom as Lanza and I think Whitman did and then going straight to their next victim or victims makes it a mass murder. Do not know why you asked but that is the answer.
  
  Report this comment
@SoquelCreek
Posted on December 17, 2012 at 10:49am
Indeed, the Newtown, CT massacre is a national tragedy and we should work together to prevent future incidents if we can — but without depriving law-abiding citizens of their Constitutionally-guaranteed rights.

Based on data from the United States Census Bureau, what action kills 100 TIMES MORE innocent Americans every year than gun violence, yet is nearly 100% preventable?

What simple Congressional mandate would save nearly as many lives as ALL those killed annually by murderers using firearms?

Putting Gun Violence into Proper Perspective
http://soquelbythecreek.blogspot.com/2012/12/putting-gun-violence-into-proper.html

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- Redwing1
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 11:01am
  Nice article. Enjoyed it. I passed it along to friends and family to do the same.
  
  Report this comment
- HI_Don
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 3:20pm
  Maybe we should propose a full criminal background check prior to purchasing a vehicle and a prevention of anyone with violent criminal background from obtaining a driver’s license. I think we should have a minimum 14 day waiting period before purchasing a vehicle, and the prevention of purchasing any vehicle across state lines, unless done through a legitimate vehicle dealership. We also need to make sure that vehicles with high capacity fuel tanks and high performance engines are banned. No vehicle should be capable of going faster than the federal speed limit of 55 mph and should not have a travel range of greater than 100 miles without reloading. It is ridiculous for anyone to say they NEED a vehicle able to drive more than 100 miles or faster than 55, no matter what the “sports” drivers say. We should also prevent people from using their vehicles except for safe situations, so the use of vehicles should be only to and from work and home. Simply using your vehicle because you want to, ie “joy riding” should be prohibited. As much as possible, people should be forced to use public transportation. Let the professionals transport people. The average citizen has no need of private transportation and having your own vehicle just encourages thieves to steal it and use it to harm others. Vehicles when not in use must have a traffic wheel boot lock attacked rendering them harmless. Cars kill more people than guns.
  
  Report this comment
- bobbiejean
  Posted on December 18, 2012 at 2:38am
  @SOQUELCREEK, I noticed on the graph which you posted, the largest number of deaths
  in the US are from abortions. Yet, they are considered legal. Of all the innocents known,
  are not the unborn the most vulnerable and innocent? Yet, abortions are legal. But a crazy
  with a gun shoots X number of innocent people and there are calls for gun control? Guess
  that speaks volumes of where the priorities of the members of Congress lay.
  
  Report this comment
THX-1138
Posted on December 17, 2012 at 10:28am
“I refuse to believe this is something we have to accept as normal in this country,” he said. “There has to be a way to change the culture of violence in our society.”

What do you say we outlaw the murder of unborn children for a start? Nothing says “sanctity of life” like Legalized Infanticide for Birth Control, huh?

Idiots.

The blood of these children is on the hands of the gun control advocates, the school district, the Democrat party and Barack Hussein Obama.

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- Chromo200
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 10:46am
  I agree .. there is no outcry on the 50 babies killed daily in my town, but such tragedy becomes a national issue of gun control, not what caused this man to snap.
  
  Report this comment
- gc68314
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 2:15pm
  LOL… you have got to be kidding. This has absolutely nothing to do with abortion. And what is the Democrat Party?
  
  Report this comment
- gc68314
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 2:17pm
  And Obama had absolutely nothing to do with this, either. Get a clue.
  
  Report this comment
- TexasKnight
  Posted on December 18, 2012 at 12:03am
  I must respectfully dissagree.
  The libs are not to blame here. Nor are conservatives. Nor gays (WBC is nuts).
  Nor anti-gun (Do you think the kindergarden teachers would have been carrying? or this principal?
  The shooter is to blame! Only the shooter. Not the gun. Not the car he drove there with. Not video games. Not the ammo. Just the shooter, one evil young man.
  It is a shame that his mother taught him how to shoot, knowing just how troubled he was.
  She can take some of the blame.
  
  Report this comment
rfycom
Posted on December 17, 2012 at 10:26am
Oh so I feel so much better now.

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sinner-saint
Posted on December 17, 2012 at 10:09am
The primary problem and common denominator in all mass killings is the individual that does the killing. These people are unstable and have mental/emotional/behavioral problems. Its not the chosen weapon that is the problem.

This country has a serious morality problem. Moral decay is the real culprit and the moral decay of this country and its people is directly connected/linked to the liberal ideology that has infected this country and many of it’s people. The more liberal people become, the more immoral they become and as a result, the more problems we have in our society.

Making laws that ban weapons, ban movies, ban videos, ban games, and more do nothing to solve the problem. They never have and never will. Liberallism and the liberal ideology has brought death and destruction to more civilizations than anything….Rome, Greece, Soddom…..the list goes on and on into modern day society. Until immorality and the liberal ideology is addressed, nothing is going to change in this country. Unfortunately, the very people who embrace liberalism and who do the most hollaring are the very people who are at fault. They refuse to accept personal responsibility/accountability for themselves. Instead they blame other people, places, things and situations in life instead of themselves. Liberalism is an addiction. Addiction is self-destructive behavior. Their addiction and addictive lifestyle does one thing very well. It kills people dead.

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- Fubared
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 10:26am
  Very well said. It is akin to the ladle making Mikey Moore corpulent.
  
  Report this comment
- rfycom
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 10:27am
  But if a person has a six shooter he would do less destruction than with an assault rifle. Don’t you think Mr. Poopy pants.
  
  Report this comment
- GhostOfJefferson
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 10:30am
  @RFYCOM
  
  Tim McVeigh didn’t have any firearms on him, and slaughtered untold numbers of people, including innocent children.
  
  So much for your spoon fed talking point. Bye.
  
  Report this comment
- THX-1138
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 10:30am
  “But if a person has a six shooter he would do less destruction than with an assault rifle.”
  
  How about a person with no guns?
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath_School_disaster
  
  Information is our friend.
  
  Report this comment
- ElChupaCabraDeUSA
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 10:39am
  The common link is acute psychosis induced by adverse affects of Psychotropic (mood masking) prescription drugs like prozac, paxil, cymbalta…..etc. Until we start looking at the corrupt circle jerk going on between big pharma, university med professors, the psychiatry racket and and the FDA we will see more of these. If your teenager is asked to take the “TEENSCREEN” test run! This leading questionnaire can score any normal teen as having some sort of disorder that can be cured by psych meds.
  
  Report this comment
- WarMunger_Al
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 11:24am
  rfycom-
  With a six gun he would still have killed the same amount of people, as there was no one there able to stop him. He could have easily reloaded, and reloaded with no interference from anyone until the cops arrived. We not only have a culture of violence, but a culture of sheepishness. We are taught to huddle and hope for the best, when we should be taught to attack our attackers. It is why 9/11 was able to be perpetrated with box cutters and plastic knives.
  
  Report this comment
- Acena
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 12:46pm
  How many parents deny their children are mentally ill and dangerous ?
  How many children are seriously mentally damaged by rampant – societal sponsored and government ignored drug abuse?
  How many children are sexually abused in schools ?
  How many of the 72 % of our fatherless children are drawn into violence and crime at home and school ?
  How many kids are bullied ?
  The MSM glorifies, feeds and encourages the people who commit these crimes with 24/7 coverage .
  Schools are teaching children Americans and white people are evil. In Tx they are learning the original Boston Tea Party was terrorism .Violent muslim ideology is being taught in school.
  The government forces the mentally ill,violent,drug addicted children into our schools.
  The government finances terrorists ,drug cartels ,wars,and celebrates violent entertainers ,drug addicts and terrorists .
  The president is financed and is a fan of violent people like Jay Z who shot his own brother.
  
  Teach children they are bad and unwanted, they come from bad people
  Teach them violence and crime are acceptable entertainment .
  Demonstrate violence is cool and presidents like violent people .
  Tell them they are born victims .
  Rape,abuse and ignore them.
  Promote drugs,immorality and crime as an American right .
  And this is what you get.
  
  A gun is a tool. A hammer,a car, an axe,fertilizer ,cell phones….
  
  Report this comment
- gc68314
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 2:24pm
  This has absolutely nothing to do with liberalism or conservatism. Shame on you for trying to politicize this.
  
  Report this comment
- walkintruth
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 5:13pm
  I couldn’t agree more. Our society encourages this type of immorality. Then when something like this happens people are shocked. We have been desensitized to violence and murder. It isn’t the weapon that causes the deaths of innocent people. It is the morals of the society that slowly erodes away what is considered unacceptable. And yes the liberal mentality is not helping our country achieve decent, moral behavior. Just look at what is accepted in society. It is acceptable to murder an unborn baby right up to the moment it could be born. Does anyone even flinch at that horrible murder? No. It is called “choice”. Society says it is perfectly normal.
  
  We will all pay the price for the influence of society.
  
  Report this comment
RIGHT_WHERE_IT_HURTS
Posted on December 17, 2012 at 9:56am
Team 0bama speaks…YAWN.

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- rfycom
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 10:28am
  Wake you ass up and pay attention
  
  Report this comment
BlackCrow
Posted on December 17, 2012 at 9:52am
Never let a crisis go to waste.

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liberalism_is_mental_retardation
Posted on December 17, 2012 at 9:46am
High Highly suggest everyone, watch the program by LT. Col. Dave Grossman called ‘Bullet Proof Mind’….this will put a lot of things in perspective, and help some who support gun control understand a lot of things.

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RayOne
Posted on December 17, 2012 at 9:43am
It will be a test the see if the most intelligent man in Washington, DC has learned anything about Morsi and deeming in darkness.

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RaydocX
Posted on December 17, 2012 at 9:12am
You cannot blame the games or tv… For every shooter there re MILLIONS of kids who play as much or more and can separate reality and fantasy.

This emphasizes how quick and adept BHO and the MSM are about creating reality from partial disclosure of the facts… Ask any American and it seems we have more of these events. To learn the opposite is true leaves me embarrassed… I should know by now the press manipulates… They get the facts wrong, make no effort to correct themselves, and intentionally bias their reporting.

But addressing inherent dishonesty in media reporting will never be attempted by our politicians… And really it shouldn’t; we should know, and should fix the problem by not patronizing these networks that casually lierotica us.

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- G-WHIZ
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 9:44am
  All part of King)’******’s Prog-Agenda!
  
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- Silvertruth
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 10:32am
  It’s not so simple to say ‘this’ or ‘that’ is or is not the cause of something like this. Like an accident, many factors have to line up to create the situation, but there are many, many paths to those factors. The media, politicians, even commenters like ourselves have the flawed thought that it’s a chain and you take out one link (media, gun control, etc.) and the issue goes away. It doesn’t. Mass murders existed before fire-arms, by both sane and insane people.
  
  What these incidents prove is that police are incapable of stopping them. The cowardly killers intentionally pick soft targets. The more cowardly the killer, the softer the target.
  
  We cannot stop these killings, but we can do something about reducing the links that allow them to crop up.
  Eliminate the violent cultural approval:
  Stop reporting on these things with names, just call the killers cowards, stop labelling the shootings. Report on them for one day and then say no more. We need to turn our backs on the glory these cowards seek.
  Move all violent content into the adult world. Violent TV, Movies, Video Games, make consumption of them require parental permission or being 18 years of age. This way parents are fully liable for the actions of their children and themselves. (I play violent video games, but I’m mature enough to know the difference between fantasy and reality and also see the emotion effect it has on me and deal with it accordingly.)
  
  There is much more to do, but this wo
  
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- Walkabout
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 11:13am
  You cannot blame the games or tv…
  ***
  ” They point out that research done at Rutgers University suggests that most children are not affected by video games; only children that were already at a high risk of expressing violent behavior due to certain personality traits, such as the trait of acting impulsively, seemed to be at risk for displaying violent behavior due to the violence in video games.”
  
  http://voices.yahoo.com/does-violence-video-games-cause-violence-real-11644776.html
  
  The study from Rutgers I believe
  
  Also I would like to point out ” is the cure worse than the poison”? Would it be better to have no video games or dumbed down video games? I think not.
  
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- WarMunger_Al
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 11:32am
  Walkabout-
  Video games are a “training tool” used by our armed forces. Normal kids might not be influenced to murder by them, but they receive the same training benefit in how to kill. there is a great book called “on Killing” it discusses this aspect well, as well as the effects on professional soldiers and police officers. Also, these games raise children’s levels of aggression. Add to that a lack of parenting, mixed with social disconnection that is becoming more common today and you get a recipe for disaster. Children involved in disciplined sports rarely ever become these killers, it is almost always a “smart” kid, who has few friends and no disciplined sporting activity.
  
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izukiddin
Posted on December 17, 2012 at 9:04am
If we are going to change the culture, we need to start with the realization that there is good and there is evil. Murder is evil and the 6th Commandment prohibits this act. But, the ancient commandment hasn’t stopped murder and neither will gun banning laws. We have a 2nd amendment to protect ourselves from evil people and the evil of governments foreign and domestic. The 2nd amendment isn’t to protect our right to shoot targets or hunt. Do we start segregating people with emotional disorders? Do we jail parents with poor parenting skills? Do we prevent the freedom of expression in movies, books, video games and television programming? Do we turn 100,000,000 law abiding gun owners into criminals by banning guns? No law would have prevented Aurora, Columbine or Newtown from happening, nor will any law ever prevent evil things from happening.

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- LatvianinUS
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 9:58am
  Here we go. This is what people need to hear, not the 5 people with a TV camera and a mic.
  
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- GhostOfJefferson
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 10:11am
  I agree. Here are my views on it in detail.
  
  http://www.patriotsdonotcomply.com/index.php/articles/harshness-reality/
  
  If you like the site, join the discussion forum and participate, we need people to start discussions that are longer than the “Characters Remaining” limit here on this pseudo-forum.
  
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BookMDanno
Posted on December 17, 2012 at 8:59am
With no intent to diminish the tragedy here; the administration’s Fast & Furious gun-walking program killed more people than Lanza. They’re hoping you’ll let the story go away. Will you?

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- Fubared
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 9:25am
  Nope. Fast and Furious continues to kill innocents, and we will never know the entire tally.
  
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SpankDaMonkey
Posted on December 17, 2012 at 8:41am
.
Mass Killings may be on the decline, but Mass Stupidity thats a whole other story………..

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- DougHuffman
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 8:49am
  The conspiracy of ignorance masquerades as common sense.
  
  In another story, hundreds of thousands of books have been written by a computer algorithm and copyright, for sale on amaXon.
  
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- zelskid
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 8:55am
  no way on decline
  
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- DougHuffman
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 9:19am
  @Zalman on Skidrow, heck of an argument there, premises, syllogism and conclusion in few words – of bald opinion. The conspiracy of ignorance masquerades as common sense.
  
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GhostOfJefferson
Posted on December 17, 2012 at 8:33am
“In what has become sickeningly familiar, gunmen opened fire on innocents in what should be the safest of places – first, at a shopping mall in Oregon, and then, unthinkably, at an elementary school in Connecticut.”

Explain to me how any place on earth, anywhere, is safe, if humans are involved? What people need to lose is this Disneyland view of reality that presumes safety. The universe is cold, harsh, violent and has zero pity or remorse. You either come to terms with that and prepare yourself accordingly, or you spend your life wringing your hands, lamenting how none of your feel good and frankly stupid and/or insane “laws” do nothing to protect you. So far, the last 20 years, people have been doing the later. It doesn’t work. Train and arm yourselves, and never, ever fall for the hand wringing and screams that you disarm, to face an army of armed monsters afterwards.

Give up nothing. Submit to nothing. Feel pity for the dead, vow to be there to defend them if that happens in your vicinity. Never, ever give up your rights. Your life depends on it.

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- raderby
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 9:03am
  amen.
  
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- HOLYSMOKES
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 9:07am
  Exactly my sentiments. You said it perfectly. This world is never going to be utopia. The world always has been and always will be unsafe.
  
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- RDavis49
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 9:08am
  Very well said…….
  
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- RDavis49
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 9:13am
  @ zelskid ……. “no way on decline”
  
  And you base your opinion on what statistics ?????
  
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- rfycom
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 10:30am
  So we give up and go to arms. Pure chicken ****
  
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- GhostOfJefferson
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 10:45am
  @RFY
  
  Give up? No, recognize the harsh realities of life and stop pretending that somehow, your squishy touchy feely unrealistic world view holds any credence. No man should ever allow himself to stand defenseless before evil. Evil certainly won’t disarm, and YOU either know that and wish us harm, or you’re so detached from reality that your opinion cannot be trusted in any matter.
  
  Get this through your thick skull, RFY, you can not stop evil by writing words on paper. Even if the words on paper say “this type of weapon is illegal”, that will not stop them from using that type of weapon. What kind of madness do you suffer from that you wish to see this tragedy occur over and over again, because you refuse to acknowledge reality.
  
  Arm, train, be ready to confront evil with force. That’s the only sane choice. Everything else is leading humanity, en masse, into the slaughterhouse.
  
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- dosdelgados
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 11:22am
  They’re not “safe” if we are all rendered sitting ducks by not permitting us to protect ourselves. A mall cop on a Segway isn’t going to stop a bullet for my kids, is he?
  
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Tirabi
Posted on December 17, 2012 at 8:32am
Please link original article. I’d like to read this for myself.

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- DougHuffman
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 8:36am
  http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_YEAR_OF_THE_GUN?SITE=CAORL&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
  
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- Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 8:38am
  Agreed.
  
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tajloc
Posted on December 17, 2012 at 8:26am
Yesterday 100,000,000 folks who are legal gun owners did not commit a crime with their weapon.
We aren’t guaranteed weapons because we hunt… we need them for protection and attack.

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DougHuffman
Posted on December 17, 2012 at 8:20am
“The deadliest school massacre in US history was in 1927. Why its aftermath matters now.” There were no consequent restrictions on freedom – and history and conventional wisdom forgot.

http://qz.com/37069/the-deadliest-school-massacre-in-us-history-was-in-1927-why-its-aftermath-matters-now/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath_School_Disaster

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Dushman Kush
Posted on December 17, 2012 at 8:20am
AP? Associated Press is not a credible news source. In this morning’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution, they stated that a Bushmaster assault rifle was used in the Newtown school massacre. The Fact is that only handguns were employed by the sicko. Let’s never consider AP as legitimate, Comrades.

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- azcowboy1
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 9:00am
  Dushman, where did you find out what guns were used?
  
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- BookMDanno
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 9:05am
  Agree. They are SO partisan it’s unbelievable to me. When I was in journalism school, they were considered the gold standard for excellence. Now their reporters write as if they were employed by Chris Matthews, Ed Schultz, or Rachel Maddow..
  
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- spfoam1
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 10:37am
  There were confusing reports at first, as would be expected. I read several stories yesterday that mentioned the .223 casings all over the floor. Your hammer and sickle is showing.
  
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- gc68314
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 2:21pm
  Um, a Bushmaster *was* used inside the school. Try paying attention and you won’t end up making dumb posts like this.
  
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- Calv017
  Posted on December 23, 2012 at 2:25am
  Here is a youtube video that connects the dots for the doubters. https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ju_NllT1iDo Its fairly short but there is news footage of them retrieving the bushmaster from the trunk of the car. Originally there were three guns 2 pistols recovered at the body and the rifle in the trunk. Later it was changed to 4 pistols and 1 rifle and the rifle in the trunk supposedly caused all the wounds the medical examiner found? WTF? are you guys seriously that blind and ignorant? Sorry Dushman it irritates me when people don’t do the research. thanks for posting the truth.
  
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- Calv017
  Posted on December 23, 2012 at 2:36am
  http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/14/us/connecticut-school-shooting/index.html This article states that three weapons were recovered at the scene, two pistols and a 223 rifle in a car in the parking lot. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2248197/Adam-Lanza-How-honor-student-goth-killer-massacring-20-children-Sandy-Hook-Elementary.html Another article stating that 2 pistols were used and the rifle was in the car. Now unless a second shooter was involved how the HECK was the rifle that was in the trunk of the car the one that was used? I can give you guys more if you want.
  
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bayoucastine
Posted on December 17, 2012 at 8:18am
Where is the outrage at the real source of the kind of behavior shown by ALL the ‘shooters’? The source? All the TV shows, “game” DVDs, movies etc. that ‘glorify’ bloody gun battles etc. for profit while at the same time the Hollywood elites demand ‘gun control’. This type of visual ‘entertainment’ is TEACHING those of weak minds and souls what and how to get the maximum ‘attention’. Ask any teacher about the effectiveness of visual aids in teaching students and you’ll discover what educators already know. These are very effective as teaching tools, especially for those who do not read well. A gun is no more than a tool that can be used for good or evil. A gun cannot jump up and shoot anything without someone grasping it.
Folks, those who have done all these mass shootings have been TAUGHT how and have seen the ‘glory’ through all these vile visual tools. The best offense against this sort of indoctrination is not government intervention but for the parents [BOTH] to take charge and not allow this filth in the house – or in schools. [When, if ever, have YOU attended a school board meeting or city council meeting – and voiced YOUR opinion?] It is pass time to put God back into our families, into our government[s] [local, state & federal] and in OUR country.
If ‘you’ don’t like OUR country, OUR culture – move, go live somewhere else.
Banning guns will not be the answer. Self defense, defense of home, family and innocents is

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- rrice66
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 9:11am
  I may not have all the facts straight; as this all happened before I was born, but I’ve been told…
  
  During World War II, the United States military had a problem. A large percentage of the soldiers were unable to pull the trigger of their guns the first time they had a human target in their sights, (because they knew it was inherently wrong.)
  
  Somewhere between the end of WWII and the begining of the Vienam Conflict the U.S. military solved this ‘problem.’ They discovered that video game style simulation training greatly reduced the percentage of soldiers that would ‘freeze’ when encountering their first human target as a result of being de-sensitized to targeting other humans.
  
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- Iamnotanumber
  Posted on December 17, 2012 at 4:45pm
  To try to add a bit more credence to what you have provided, we have also closed how many mental health facilities in the last two decades nation wide, and medicated a generation of children who were raised on, and “enjoyed” the video game culture. I think it all adds together concocting the recipe for our current state of social disaster!
  
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blanco5
Posted on December 17, 2012 at 8:17am
That’s brazen of “associated propaganda!”

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