Lighten up Joan. Some of us deal with this on a daily basis. ZERO EXAGGERATION!!! Four people were shot (two separate incidents) under a mile from my house last weekend. Two died. And I live in Wicker Park in Chicago. Probablly the second most touristy region of Chicago. Average home price over $1,000,000. (So its not a blighted area). So I ask you that before you demonish a persons coping mechanism, maybe try walking a mile in their shoes first. I do apologise though if I’ve offended…
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It doesn’t matter what percentage of the shootings are murders and suicides. Guns are more deadly and therefore where there are more guns (US) there will be more deaths. Take out the gang and other criminal activity and you still have an astounding number. Gun proponents like to say if there was no gun another implement would be used but no other implement is comparable in lethality. So the depressed person with the gun is more likely to be successful in their suicide attempt. The angry family member who owns a gun is more lethal than the knife wielding one. As horrifying as these statistics are, they are under reported and gun related research is under funded.
I’m not making an argument in favor of more “gun control.” I think the answer lies in changing the American gun worshipping culture. It’s the gun owner that is the problem, not the gun itself. Changing the culture starts with educating people and educating people starts with acknowledging the scope of the problem. As long as people excuse these deaths as “the price of freedom” no progress will be made.
In the 1980’s my ex husband’s best man was managing a cattle ranch. He got a call that an intruder was on the property. He loaded his gun and took his brother in law with him to investigate. He and Peter were shot to death because the thief was also armed. As is typical, the thief was a former employee on the ranch; most people are killed by someone known to them. There were a number of mistakes made in this tragic story but gun culture played a big role. If Jim hadn’t been raised with a wild west mentality and hadn’t owned a gun, he and Peter would be alive today. He was emboldened to go out and confront the thief. All for a pile of livestock feed and some equipment. The thief and his brother were caught. The brother turned state’s witness and he was given a life sentence. The convicted shooter was executed.
I was already a student of gun violence before this incident. My degree is in Criminal Justice and I’ve written more than one paper on the topic. This is not to say I’m an expert. But I’ve followed the topic for over 40 years and seen zero net movement on the issue. I’m not optimistic about the culture changing for the better.
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Walking in someone else’s shoes, a mile or not, equates with empathy. Like, walk in the shoes of the person who posted in some distress about their dreadful experience. I cannot empathise with your ghastly and particular experiences because I didn’t know about them. Given I now do, perhaps you can try to relate your experiences to that of the OP and offer some empathy. This may be a more successful coping mechanism for you to try, rather than attempts at humour. At the very least, a definitely kinder one that may allow you to feel less “demonished”.
Most gun violence is domestic, not gang, and is usually someone you already know.
The US is full of people saying they want to be safe so they own a gun… most of those people scare me to death. Some old angry guy making life or death decisions for me is almost too much to bear.
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You are incorrect that most gun violence is gang related. Suicide is the biggest cause of death by gun.
Even if you were correct that would be a great argument for better gun control. Gang members are people too and it’s sad when people die of gun violence. Gang members tend to be recruited when they are very young. They tend to be children who are poor and don’t have enough opportunities to succeed in life. When they die, their families are just as sad as the families of wealthy children are when they die.
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For anyone who wants to know more about guns and gun control in the U.S., I highly recommend the book Gunfight by Adam Winkler. He is a constitutional law professor at UCLA who specializes in gun law. The book is not a pro-gun or anti-gun polemic. It details the history of guns and gun violence in the U.S.
https://www.amazon.com/Gunfight-Battle-Over-Right-America/dp/0393345831/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1509468227&sr=1-1&keywords=gunfight+the+battle+over+the+right+to+bear+arms+in+america&dpID=41gDbfnJ2WL&preST=SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40&dpSrc=srch
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The guest sent me a message early saying she liked the house and said there was an incident next door with a neighbour got shot. She didn’t reply back to my message asking if they were all ok. Then I got a message that evening saying her friend thinks she left her rings there. We didn’t find them and didn’t respond to my message asking where she thought they might be. But now I’m worried the review will say ‘nice house but the neighbour was shot while we were there and someone stole our jewellery’
Grrrr!!!
I had a guest once say that his wife thought she left her diamond ring behind. Luckily he texted back that they found it!
I’d hold off on reviewing them so as not to trigger a review from them. Maybe they will be too lazy to leave a review for you.
If she does ultimately leave a review mentioning it then post back and we will help to write a response. At least she said she like the house though! And she didn’t ask for a refund so hopefully she is very reasonable?
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If I do review, I am going to town on her communication stars.
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Other than suicide is a big other as nearly 2/3 of gun deaths are suicide. Again, I don’t understand why in your mind gun violence is not a problem as long as it’s gang members dying. As I said previously, gang members are people and I’m sad when people are killed. Gang members families are just as sad as anybody else is when their family members are murdered.
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wiki=self populated=open to manipulation=unreliable source to quote.
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Transferwise. Charges are low and credits within 24 hours.
It’s confusing…shootings…money…US…Oz…
But I think you posted on the wrong thread. LOL.
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I actually had a shooting right outside my building a month ago. I was out the next morning washing blood off the sidewalk. The building is in a city setting with 4-star hotels and high end condos/apartments all around. I have five units in the building and I was 100% occupied at the time.
The entire incident was over in a matter of minutes, but the Police decided to have a press conference in front of my building about two hours after the incident with camera crews. I nearly crapped a brick.
I was proactive and contacted all my guests about the “incident.” None of them were even aware of it, and when they asked, I said it was “domestic dispute involving alcohol.” It was.
Turned out to be a non-issue, and I got 5-star reviews from all the guests.
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Serves me right thinking I’m a great multi tasker! I was trying to reply to anothet thread
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Great that you got 5 stars for your business, pity about the victim of the shooting right but I guess that’s a ‘non-issue’?
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