I just messaged my Airbnb guest for tomorrow and told them there is an active shooter in Midland/Odessa (4 hours from here) driving around randomly shooting at people. A significant number of my guests drive through there to get here so I figured I might as well drop her a message on the remote chance that she is going through there today.
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Looks like they’ve taken him out. Headline says killed 20!
I can tell you from experience that lots of misinformation comes out in real time.
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You’re right. Went looking for the story. One dead and 20 injured. I’m sure it will change again as more details become available.
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Oh dear. Here we go again. 
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I am so f***ing sick of this, it’s pretty bad when we sigh and think ONLY one killed and 20 injured. The second amendment needs amending.
RR
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It’s 5 dead and 21 injured. I’m guessing one dead is the shooter.
Although I agree about the 2nd Amendment and the nature of the problem my post wasn’t so much about that I guess as just, how it can affect us as hosts. I know I wondered if the shooting in El Paso was going to make people feel less safe traveling through. Knowing that no place is safe (other than maybe staying inside your home) has to put a damper on commerce and travel eventually doesn’t it? Or not. We really are numb now?
That is seems like a good idea to tell a guest to avoid driving a stretch of interstate because there’s a shooting rampage ongoing seems surreal to me.
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Beto summed it up pretty well 
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Having a gun in the home is associated with an increased risk of firearm homicide and firearm suicide, regardless of storage practice, type of gun, or number of guns in the home.1 Guns kept in the home are more likely to be involved in a fatal or nonfatal unintentional shooting, criminal assault or suicide attempt than to be used to injure or kill in self-defense.2 Rather than conferring protection, guns in the home are associated with an increased risk of homicide by a family member or intimate acquaintance.3
Research published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that living in a home where there are guns increased risk of homicide by 40 to 170% and the risk of suicide by 90 to 460%.4
So…unless you live alone, home isn’t the safest place to be either, unless there are no guns.
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Thanks for this thoughtful post.
I know all this as I’ve been researching gun violence since the 1980’s. My bachelor’s degree is in Criminal Justice and one of the major research papers I wrote in grad school was on “The Role of Handguns in Familicide.” I used it in my PoliSci research methods class and when forced to take another research methods class in Education when I got my Master’s I reworked it. My professor, a Kinesiology guy, couldn’t understand why someone in education would be interested in that topic. When I connected family violence to problems in schools you could see the light bulb go off in his head. Combined with the fact that I still own my father’s shotgun, grew up in a traditional conservative gun owning family and was in a relationship with a NRA-NMLRA member gun aficionado for 8 years as a young adult I have a good understanding of both sides of the issue. The best man at my wedding (my husband’s best friend) was killed as a result of gun ownership and still, no change in my ex husband’s or his family or friends’ position on guns.
Something will eventually turn in the culture, surely it has to. Doesn’t it? More Americans have been killed domestically by gun owner violence than by all our wars. More by gun owners than all the terrorists. We spend trillions “protecting” against enemies both foreign and domestic but don’t have the will to enact even the most basic reforms.
But debating it here won’t accomplish anything. In a purely selfish way I hope the multiple shootings in Texas recently don’t negatively impact my Airbnb business. Maybe that’s what is will take, businesses not investing here, people moving, tourism declining because the proliferation of guns makes it less safe. New laws encouraging more guns take effect in Texass today.
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Gosh!! I’m so glad I live in Oz!!
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As someone who HAS been shot, I am now locked and loaded… the 2nd Amendment will be “amended” over my dead body… This is a MENTAL HEALTH ISSUE, until we put politics aside and address with the REAL issue this will continue…Americans have ALWAYS had guns. And actually the murder rate by gun has gone DOWN in the last 20 years… It’s just “odd” how no one GAF about the mass murders going on in Chicago, etc., on any given weekend. And btw, I was shot by MS13… one of those people so many are fighting to protect… #RIPKateStienle #IamTheNRA…
But we digress from the Airbnb business.
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Was “Beto” saying it while he was shaving, having his teeth cleaned or waxing his ears? #Beto@1% What an embarrassment “Beto” is to American men. He should be named “Beta” 
My rentals are in the San Antonio TX area and we have had guests bring rifles and shotguns as they were coming to area for hunting season. Some mention it, others don’t and we just see the gun cases being unloaded. Each of the 3 houses on the property have safes that are 16.9" x 13.8" x 26.0" (L x W x H) not tall enough to hold a rifle or shotgun. I advise all of them to use the house alarm systems at all times or they can put them in my personal safe in my studio apartment on the property that is large enough to hold them if they are leaving to go out without them say to dinner or something.
First time this happened I had to put in a call to my insurance company to make sure I was covered, I was. This is Texas after all. My son goes to the University of WY and he can store his hunting rifles and shotguns there with the campus police. He just goes there to pick them up and drop them off when he’s done using them. A lot of the students do this, it’s very commonplace for the area and a bunch of other schools where hunting is a big deal as have this rule.
I live in Chicagoland and Crook County. It is a total disgrace of our politicians the shootings that go on daily here. I have a license to carry and do so. The people doing all of the shootings here are all using guns purchased illegally, go figure; which they are trying to use as an excuse to take away our legal guns, which will only leave all the illegal ones still on the streets.
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I am very sorry that you had to message your guest with this news. It was most honorable of you.
With nearly 400 million guns, America is a gun culture. When I cross the border, it is a risk that I accept, same as there are risks in other countries.
My country is no different. Canada has a huge underground sexual slavery business. It also does little to protect Aboriginal women. We are not angels.
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Luckily she wasn’t passing through at that time. But I thought better safe than sorry same as I message guests about dust storms in New Mexico in spring.
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One of the problems is that the majority of illegal guns are coming in to your state from states with lesser gun restrictions i.e. Indiana.
It must be a hard challenge to solve this major problem
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The myth of self-protection is a great American succes and the NRA has indeed succeeded in their mission of selling a ton of guns.
It’s nearly impossible to bust myths in the US because the level of trust is so low, so most gun owners won’t be looking to fancy elite research studies but rather trust their gut.
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The real issue is we have too many guns. The real issue is my kids have to have active shooter lockdown drills in school. The real issue is our country is not safe. The real issue is the 2nd amendment was only put in place for slave militias. I could go on. Sorry you got shot, maybe if everyone did not have guns it would not have happened.
RR
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