School Walkouts

[knieft]

quote:

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Originally posted by PaulW
How about 26 deaths in 90 days (2018 YTD), does that get your attention?

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Yes, but...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/data/...story.html

Chicago alone has had between 400 and 900+ deaths per year for decades, with over 450 deaths so far this year. How come 26 deaths nationwide get attention over 450 deaths in Chicago alone? Racism? Classism?

"Gun violence is most common in poor urban areas and frequently associated with gang violence, often involving male juveniles or young adult males.[14][15] Although mass shootings have been covered extensively in the media, mass shootings in the US account for a small fraction of gun-related deaths[16] and the frequency of these events steadily declined between 1994 and 2007, rising between 2007 and 2013.[17][18]"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_violen...ted_States

Probably 60% of gun violence is suicides, 3% accidental, the remaining 30+% is accounted for mostly by gang violence.

Makes one wonder, not only about the utility of stricter gun control laws, but also how the outrage of gun violence in proportion to the incidents is so skewed to school violence--especially in relatively rich and relatively white locales. 17 deaths (adult and student) in Florida have caused justified outrage and demand for some sort of reform, while many thousands of gangbangers (mostly black and latino) killing each other and bystanders every year is just background noise for the most part. Maybe part of what makes the school shootings more vile to many is that the shooter is a white male as opposed to a minority male...? Or just the victims?

Gang violence accounts for the vast majority of non-suicide gun deaths (mostly handguns btw), but it takes a school shooting in "the safest city in Florida" for true outrage. The outrage in gang-ridden areas is usually directed at police shootings and generally ignores the rest.

So, at least statistically, something is fishy.

Hawaii is certainly well behind the mainland in gangs and mass shootings and will hopefully stay that way. I doubt that Hawaii's strict gun laws are responsible for that but maybe so in part.

Cheers,
Kirt