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Stricter gun control laws don't do anything to prevent mass shootings. Look at the cities who have the strictest gun laws. Places like Chicago and New York City

Stricter gun control laws don't do anything to prevent mass shootings. Look at the cities who have the strictest gun laws. Places like Chicago and New York City. They have some of the countries' highest gun violence rates. If you want an obscene example? look at Mexico where guns are banned completely. Sure doesn't stop gun violence does it?? You can also look at how over the past 20 years as gun ownership has increased in the US, violent crimes (including gun crimes) have continues to decrease - something Obama likes to tout. So no, stricter gun control laws do not reduce gun crimes.

nadezhda18 10y ago
how about Australia? Canada? Europe?
- anonbanker 10y ago
  Estonia had a school shooting last year. Sweden had a mass-stabbing at a school[0] last October. Canada had a school shooting this year[1]. Australia remains free of murder sprees since that one that convinced everyone to trade-in (or bury) their guns. 0. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/23/world/europe/western-sweden-school-attack.html?_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/23/world/europe/western-swede... 1. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/canada-school-shooting-saskatchewan_us_56a2be71e4b0d8cc109a3fa0 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/canada-school-shooting-s...
  - arisAlexis 10y ago
    And because we are HN readers we dont care about statistics only individual incidences..
  - nadezhda18 10y ago
    I live in Canada and I did not hear of Canadian shooting. Thanks for bringing "Canada’s worst school violence in a decade" (4 people dead) to my attention. Because the only shooting news I hear about are from USA. Maybe, due to their sheer number of deaths? Or due to how often they happen? hhmmm
dllthomas 10y ago
Number of mass shootings is so low that "gun violence rates" may be completely unrelated to the number of mass shootings. You can certainly argue that gun crime rates are what matter, but don't confuse the two.
King-Aaron 10y ago
> So no, stricter gun control laws do not reduce gun crimes. There is solid evidence against that point of view, and has been discussed/disproven numerous times. https://vimeo.com/97417009 https://vimeo.com/97417009 The US is a special case compared to Australia, for sure, due to the massive difference in population. However many countries in Europe with similar population densities can manage low rates of mass shooting homicide via gun control laws...
- tremon 10y ago
  many countries in Europe with similar population densities can manage low rates of mass shooting homicide True... via gun control laws ... but this is unproven I think. Europe also has much better social security and mental health care, to name just a few confounding factors.
  - King-Aaron 10y ago
    but this is unproven I think. Europe also has much better social security and mental health care, to name just a few confounding factors. I do agree, to be honest
- at-fates-hands 10y ago
  There is also solid evidence that when you have more guns, you have less crime - something I pointed out in my original post. Another Harvard study concluded the same thing: http://www.law.harvard.edu/students/orgs/jlpp/Vol30_No2_KatesMauseronline.pdf http://www.law.harvard.edu/students/orgs/jlpp/Vol30_No2_Kate... While American gun ownership is quite high, many other developed nations (e.g., Norway, Finland, Germany, France, Denmark) have high rates of gun ownership," said the report. "These countries, however, have murder rates as low or lower than many developed nations in which gun ownership is much rarer. For example, Luxembourg, where handguns are totally banned and ownership of any kind of gun is minimal, had a murder rate nine times higher than Germany in 2002."
arisAlexis 10y ago
Why dont you look at Europe and see how many mass shootings we have each year per capita?
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- vlehto 10y ago
  Or why doesn't he look at India? Why didn't you ask about India? Or Sri Lanka. Or anything. You respond to his cherry picking by suggesting a different cherry picking.
  - clappski 10y ago
    He probably chose Europe because its easier to make a like-for-like comparison to in terms of culture, wealth and religion.
    - vlehto 10y ago
      Bunch of small racially homogenic nation-states with relatively even income distribution vs. large country where racial and very poor minority shoots itself. Latter also has gang culture. Something most Europeans only see in movies and football matches. U.S. is pretty unique in many ways.
    - techdragon 10y ago
      But it's not a good comparison at all... massive wealth inequality, a broken health care system that makes people fearful of getting sick, and violently partisan media and political climates... The United States of America is so unlike Europe that it's hilarious.
chrisbennet 10y ago
It's only that way because in those places, the laws weren't strict enough. If they stripped searched everyone and controlled access with metal doors all over the place, it would work. It would be a nice and safe - like prison. /s

nadezhda18 10y ago

how about Australia? Canada? Europe?

anonbanker 10y ago
Estonia had a school shooting last year. Sweden had a mass-stabbing at a school[0] last October. Canada had a school shooting this year[1]. Australia remains free of murder sprees since that one that convinced everyone to trade-in (or bury) their guns. 0. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/23/world/europe/western-sweden-school-attack.html?_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/23/world/europe/western-swede... 1. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/canada-school-shooting-saskatchewan_us_56a2be71e4b0d8cc109a3fa0 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/canada-school-shooting-s...
- arisAlexis 10y ago
  And because we are HN readers we dont care about statistics only individual incidences..
- nadezhda18 10y ago
  I live in Canada and I did not hear of Canadian shooting. Thanks for bringing "Canada’s worst school violence in a decade" (4 people dead) to my attention. Because the only shooting news I hear about are from USA. Maybe, due to their sheer number of deaths? Or due to how often they happen? hhmmm

dllthomas 10y ago

Number of mass shootings is so low that "gun violence rates" may be completely unrelated to the number of mass shootings. You can certainly argue that gun crime rates are what matter, but don't confuse the two.

King-Aaron 10y ago

> So no, stricter gun control laws do not reduce gun crimes. There is solid evidence against that point of view, and has been discussed/disproven numerous times. https://vimeo.com/97417009 https://vimeo.com/97417009 The US is a special case compared to Australia, for sure, due to the massive difference in population. However many countries in Europe with similar population densities can manage low rates of mass shooting homicide via gun control laws...

tremon 10y ago
many countries in Europe with similar population densities can manage low rates of mass shooting homicide True... via gun control laws ... but this is unproven I think. Europe also has much better social security and mental health care, to name just a few confounding factors.
- King-Aaron 10y ago
  but this is unproven I think. Europe also has much better social security and mental health care, to name just a few confounding factors. I do agree, to be honest
at-fates-hands 10y ago
There is also solid evidence that when you have more guns, you have less crime - something I pointed out in my original post. Another Harvard study concluded the same thing: http://www.law.harvard.edu/students/orgs/jlpp/Vol30_No2_KatesMauseronline.pdf http://www.law.harvard.edu/students/orgs/jlpp/Vol30_No2_Kate... While American gun ownership is quite high, many other developed nations (e.g., Norway, Finland, Germany, France, Denmark) have high rates of gun ownership," said the report. "These countries, however, have murder rates as low or lower than many developed nations in which gun ownership is much rarer. For example, Luxembourg, where handguns are totally banned and ownership of any kind of gun is minimal, had a murder rate nine times higher than Germany in 2002."

arisAlexis 10y ago

Why dont you look at Europe and see how many mass shootings we have each year per capita?

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
vlehto 10y ago
Or why doesn't he look at India? Why didn't you ask about India? Or Sri Lanka. Or anything. You respond to his cherry picking by suggesting a different cherry picking.
- clappski 10y ago
  He probably chose Europe because its easier to make a like-for-like comparison to in terms of culture, wealth and religion.
  - vlehto 10y ago
    Bunch of small racially homogenic nation-states with relatively even income distribution vs. large country where racial and very poor minority shoots itself. Latter also has gang culture. Something most Europeans only see in movies and football matches. U.S. is pretty unique in many ways.
  - techdragon 10y ago
    But it's not a good comparison at all... massive wealth inequality, a broken health care system that makes people fearful of getting sick, and violently partisan media and political climates... The United States of America is so unlike Europe that it's hilarious.

chrisbennet 10y ago

It's only that way because in those places, the laws weren't strict enough. If they stripped searched everyone and controlled access with metal doors all over the place, it would work. It would be a nice and safe - like prison. /s