timschochet said:
These incidents seem to be happening with greater frequency- not sure that's statistically true, but it sure feels like it...
I just did a quick search on mall stabbing, and we've had quite a few of these this year yes well. Doesn't seem you hear as much about those.Kitchen knives for everyone!
I definitely believe the 24hour news cycle, plus the country's insatiable appetite for all things gun related, particularly shootings, has pushed these stories national in far greater proportions than ever before. Plus every time a gun is discharged these days, it is a "mall shooting", instead of a "domestic dispute involving a gun in a public place". I blame the media, but even more than them, I blame the dumb herds of people who get glued to their TVs to find out every bit of info, right or wrong, immediately upon a gun shooting taking place.
The number of people killed in random mass shootings, while tragic to those individuals involved, is statistically insignificant in a nation of 310 million people. Far more people are killed by lightning strikes, it's probably about the same as people killed by dog attacks, less than 10% of those killed in bicycle accidents, about 1% of those killed in drownings, less than 10% of those killed by cars backing up, about 1% of pedestrians killed by cars, far less than 1% of those killed by binge drinking, etc. Those killed in mass shootings by
unregistered guns is a fraction of that.
But because it touches a political hot button, the liberals (generally) jump all over it as if the world was coming to an end, and the conservatives (generally) rise to defend the status quo. Tempest in a teapot.