The Right Way to Keep Bare Gubs

[S485122]

From that same article, near the end :

After federally funded research in the 1980s and 1990s began to reach a consensus that firearms in the home were linked to higher chances of violent death in the home, the National Rifle Association (NRA) lobbied successfully for an end to federal funding of firearms research.

no comment needed.

Jacob

[only_human]

Los Angeles police find stash of 1,200 guns in dead man's home

Los Angeles police investigating a man's death discovered an arsenal of more than 1,200 firearms and approximately two tons of ammunition in his home and garage Monday.

[Xyzzy]

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world...ting-1.2298482

US presidential hopeful Rick Perry has said filmgoers should be able to take their guns into cinemas in order to help stop fatal shootings.

[xilman]

Not sure whether this should be in the bare right arms, science news, or Hmmmm threads.

[xilman]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-34062118

[kladner]

Originally Posted by xilman

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-34062118

More bitter fruit to lay at the door of gun fanatics. I'm sure one or more of them have trotted out the canard that had others been armed, the shooter could have been stopped. I cringe at the thought of bullets flying wildly in all directions in a mall.

[kladner]

Speaking of bears, see the last panel.

[Uncwilly]

Originally Posted by kladner

More bitter fruit to lay at the door of gun fanatics.

Not addressing the gun aspect of this, I want to make a few other points.

This was effectively a 'work place' incident.
I have had an occasion to talk to a work place violence expert (more details below). He has personally (and his partner) responded to numerous previous shootings and other events of severe trauma on the job. His firm is hired by companies to educate employees how to spot indicators that someone might 'go off'. While these incidents may seem sudden, other employees will indicate that the person had been known to have major problems (and often the other employees were worried about them). During the training he plays news clips where fellow employees of the shooter tell how they knew the person was peeved. Company management rarely contacts the police for assistance ahead of time, or his firm (or similar consultants.)

My employer has suffered more than one fatal incident of work place violence. This is why they had the consultants train employees to recognize threats. When the police are contacted and the right resources brought in (the shrinks), there can be a defusing of the tension. Those that do perpetrate the violence have psychologically painted themselves into a corner. They see only 2 likely outcomes: their death or life in prison. From what little I have heard, the man in question should have been identified, had the staff taken the problem seriously.

(The one-on-one time that I spent with the expert {he has been called a "recognized leader in the field of workplace violence prevention."}, was during a time of general low morale at work. I had a particular 'beef' with the bosses and they thought I might be a threat. His assessment was that chatting with me was a waste of his time. The bosses had only looked at a single aspect of the situation. His 360 interview with me proved that I had a fine life outside work and would get over the slight {I was more upset about the problem being bad for the work group and not so much a personal slight. Management could not understand that.})

While a gun was the weapon of choice this time, workplace violence also comes in the form of poisonings, stabbings, beatings, and things like pushing someone off a ledge. The way to prevent workplace shootings is also the way to prevent the others. Recognise potential threats, assess the threat, defuse the problem. Often it is just a case of the employee sitting down with someone significant in management along with a mediator or specialist and maybe the employee's union/guild rep or lawyer. Once they feel they have been fairly heard and given the reasons why the decisions where made the way they were, they are satisfied and can move on. Often they have problems in their personal life. If the employer can get them help dealing with that, it can make a profound difference.

[kladner]

I agree with your analysis. I understand your experience. Still, the untrammeled availability of firearms makes such outcomes easier. The same is true of guns in the home. Availability leads to more gun violence against residents in a domicile, more suicides, and more little kids shooting each other out of ignorance of what they found in Dad's bedside table drawer.

[ewmayer]

Originally Posted by kladner

More bitter fruit to lay at the door of gun fanatics. I'm sure one or more of them have trotted out the canard that had others been armed, the shooter could have been stopped. I cringe at the thought of bullets flying wildly in all directions in a mall.

The guys who tackled the shooter on the French train last week were also unarmed - I shudder to think at how many more passengers might have been killed/injured with a bunch of Rick-Perry-fantasy vigilantes blasting away in a crowded train compartment. The darkened-theater example Perry himself trotted out is an even more nightmarish scenario. We can at least be thankful that the only one 'hopeful' of a Perry presidency is Perry himself.

But all this talk of right-wing sexual fantasies of gunfire in a crowded space gives me an idea of how to, um, 'liven up' one of the upcoming Republican presidential-hopeful debates, and winnow the number of such at the same time: 'Whichever of you emerges first from the darkened Old West Saloon theatrical set with your NRA-approved 30-round extended clip empty, gets the nomination'.

[kladner]

'Whichever of you emerges first from the darkened Old West Saloon theatrical set with your NRA-approved 30-round extended clip empty, gets the nomination'.