Thoughts And Prayers

Some people think "thoughts and prayers" are just fine as a response to a shooting. Okay, I'll try it.

http://www.shootingtracker.com/

My thoughts and prayers to those in the Parkland High School shooting (Feb. 2018)
My thoughts and prayers to those in the Sutherland Springs Baptist Church shooting (Nov. 2017)
My thoughts and prayers to those in the Las Vegas Concert shooting (Oct. 2017)
My thought and prayers to those in the Orlando nightclub shooting (June 2016)
My thoughts and prayers to those in the San Bernardino shooting (Dec. 2015)
My thoughts and prayers to those in the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting (Dec. 2012)
My thoughts and prayers to those in the Fort Hood shooting (Nov. 2009)
My thoughts and prayers to those in the Binghamton shooting (April 2009)
My thoughts and prayers to those in the Virginia Tech shooting (April 2007)
My thoughts and prayers to those in the Columbine High School Shooting (April 1999)

My thoughts and prayers to those who have ever been in any shooting.

https://www.abc15.com/news/data/mass-shootings-in-the-us-when-where-they-have-occurred-in-2018

Didn't work, did it? Those who died didn't magically come back to life because of my "thoughts and prayers". Each "thought and prayer" didn't stop the next shooting. It didn't stop someone from ending more lives way too soon. I didn't stop more parents from the sharp pain of having to bury your child. It didn't address what makes people do this. It didn't provide the support the shooter needed to NOT do this. It didn't make life safer.

What about praying for these shootings to not take place to begin with? I have been praying for them never to happen. I am not the only one praying BEFORE they happen. Prayer doesn't work. Prayer didn't get emotional support where needed. Prayer didn't get the ignored kid friends. Prayer didn't stop them from being able to obtain their weapons in the first place. Prayer didn't help.

It's time to do more then pray. It's time for strict gun laws. It's time to make it harder to get and keep a gun. It's time to limit where that gun is allowed to be and who can own it. It's time to check out everyone even considering buying a gun and recording it for future reference. It's time to consider conflict-resolution training, gun safety training, shooting training. It's time to remember why law enforcement and the military require so much training for being around guns. If you want to be a hero, get that training. You won't be stopping a mass shooting with your gun. You might make things worse!

https://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=8B3E8400-766E-4B5E-B59B-C800BB52A973

That link is a press release from November 2017. Senator Feinstein, wrote a bill for banning assault rifles. Many democratic senators signed on. Including, proudly, both of mine! It makes it clear that not all guns would be banned:

Exemptions to bill

• The bill exempts by name more than 2,200 guns for hunting, household defense or recreational purposes.

• The bill includes a grandfather clause that exempts all weapons lawfully possessed at the date of enactment.

You can keep your handgun at home from protection and hunting riffles.

Key provisions

• Bans the sale, manufacture, transfer and importation of 205 military-style assault weapons by name. Owners may keep existing weapons.

• Bans any assault weapon that accepts a detachable ammunition magazine and has one or more military characteristics including a pistol grip, a forward grip, a barrel shroud, a threaded barrel or a folding or telescoping stock. Owners may keep existing weapons.

• Bans magazines and other ammunition feeding devices that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition, which allow shooters to quickly fire many rounds without needing to reload. Owners may keep existing magazines.

Other provisions:

• Requires a background check on any future sale, trade or gifting of an assault weapon covered by the bill.

• Requires that grandfathered assault weapons are stored using a secure gun storage or safety device like a trigger lock.

• Prohibits the transfer of high-capacity ammunition magazines.

• Bans bump-fire stocks and other devices that allow semi-automatic weapons to fire at fully automatic rates.

In that chart I see a pattern. Do you? The stricter the laws, the lower the gun related deaths.

Below are what two Army veterans have to say about assault rifles.

https://agingmillennialengineer.com/2018/02/15/fuck-you-i-like-guns-2/

https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/i-m-army-veteran-gun-owner-good-guy-gun-theory-ncna821976