yeah, i mean i’m not scared for myself. i have few of the risk factors. i’m wondering about adjacency. how long before we all know someone?
( and i know there are already some portions of the us where everyone does know someone. so maybe the whole thing is when are white americans affected enough that things change?
unfortunately i rank that possibility higher than white americans fixing the systemic issues which are causing the disparities between the various american communities. )
with great power comes… no responsibilities.
it’s the american way
A work colleague of mine lost a nephew in a school shooting that closely followed Columbine.
Can’t really give that a like as it is too depressing for that.
Yeah, and now that rocket launchers are criminalized, only criminals have rocket launchers. And that is a good thing. Rocket launchers don’t often accidentally wind up in teenagers hands or get used impulsively by mentally ill people.
Note that while we have a lot of guns per capita here in Finland, they’re mostly shotguns and bolt-action hunting rifles. Handguns are rather rare here. Thus, the favorite murder weapon is the classic knife, usually used by a drunk and probably alcoholic man on another drunk and probably alcoholic man.
The reply to “If guns are criminalized, only criminals will have guns”? It is this: “Yes, that’s exactly how we want it. And when the police do their job properly there will be fewer and fewer criminals with guns.” Of course that’s contingent on the police doing their job properly, but if you’re a good citizen you have to cross your fingers and hope.
Its only confusing if you are from the US. The liberal party really do have a history as libertarians.
That, however, is the problem with calling for gun regulation in the current USA. The laws do not fall with equal weight upon all people, and we know which people they will fall heaviest upon.
…and liberals were never really left wing, in either country.
Bob Menzies’ older brother was named Frank Gladstone Menzies, BTW. Not coincidentally.
The closest I’ve come is I was around during the Johnson Space Center shooting, which technically wasn’t a mass shooting.
Search and ye shall find… 
Estimating Global Civilian-held Firearms Numbers | Small Arms Survey
Seems to be the Beeb’s source or at least refers to the same “Small Arms Survey 2018” and has the same figures.
Switzerland is not on there because it falls outside the Top 10 with a mere 27.6 firearms per 100 residents. Israel doesn’t come close with just 6.7/100.
As you would expect there are a whole load of caveats about the data and its accuracy.
In the case of Switzerland and Israel, I would imagine there is an issue about who counts as a civilian for the purposes of the survey. It relies in large part on national databases of ‘civilian’ firearm holdings.
Are Swiss or Israeli reservists and their weapons counted as ‘civilian’? I would guess not given that at other points the survey talks about “non-state” groups holding firearms.
Thanks for writing.
I completely get it about alcohol and violence, which so often coincide.
And wow–knives.
I actually cringed and felt my stomach turn reading this (I was a hospital volunteer in 1980s in St. Louis, Missouri for a while, and the gun gore was bad enough but those knife wounds can be yet another level of scary bad).
Yeah St. Louis has a ridiculous number of handgun owners in its population. Many “regular people” including friends on mine would simply get a handgun because they saw it as the only way to “defend” themselves and thus, the 
arms race just goes on and on there. 
This is how Texas would prefer to characterize itself–like Finland in this way–but honestly it’s looking more and more like St. Louis every day.
Does Finland have any specific rules about semi-automatic or automatic weapons in the hands of its citizenry? AR-15 kinda stuff?
Slightly OT but because I am such a fan of Finland’s successes, I want to share that Finland has absolutely nailed down at least one angle on a healthy society [which would include its future gun and knife owners]:
My thanks to every Finnish taxpayer and parent for giving us a positive and functional model.
Yeah, it’s a thing.
A very bad thing.
I understand what you’re saying, and I agree, mostly. My thought, though, is that if guns are criminalized then they will be illegal to SELL, which would be the more significant point. But I’m with you on a well-rounded, comprehensive approach being needed. And on the inequality of the law as it is upheld (or enforced) at present.
In addition to improperly stored weapons being stolen by criminals, there’s also the problem of children and suicidal or deranged members of the household getting access to them.
This is one of the reasons I think mandatory firearms insurance (with discounts on premiums for proof of safe storage and transport) would be helpful in mitigating the problem.
Recall the old truism that "Switzerland does not have and army, Switzerland is an army.
Wut? The United States education sector is increasingly run by people who want to turn it into a profit-generating business. Even most Democrats are all about the supposed glories of euphemistically named “charter” schools.
Finland may be producing a highly educated and discerning populace, but that’s the last thing most people running US education factories want. Such a populace would see through the ruse.
So is it too soon to talk about it?
I guess this is a run of the mill shootings and not one of those alt-right Chan inspired racist war killings.
The Icelandic figure is always something of a shock - nearly a third of the country which has precious little hunting, next to zero crime and no military. There is also essentially no gun crime.
It’s near impossible to get a gun in Iceland if you’ve been in any trouble. Prospective gun owners need to prove they have no criminal record, then they need to be signed as fit by a doctor who evaluates their mental health and eyesight. There is a mandatory three day course followed by an examination on gun safety and relevant laws, followed by a practical exam on gun safety. THEN you need to show the police you have a gun safe and keep ammunition in a separate place. Naturally all sales of guns and ammunition are tracked on a government database.
