(08-04-2019 05:37 PM)tanqtonic Wrote:  

(08-04-2019 05:23 PM)Rice93 Wrote:  

(08-04-2019 10:04 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  Well, it looks as though the Democrats will be making this a main plank in their platforms, so starting its own thread seems apropos.

On CNN this morning, the anchors and guests are hard at work declaring these shootings to be Trump’s fault.

I think we have had relatively unfettered gun ownership in this country since 1776, yet these mass shootings are a relatively recent development. What was the difference between 2019 and 1919? I would like to hear some opinions.

The differences I can think of are the internet and 24 hour cable news.

The candidates are calling for more, stricter gun laws. IMO, the only law that would slow these shootings to a trickle would be total illegality of possession of guns. Even then, there would be some, because people who want to kill people really don’t don’t care about staying within the law. Most shooters use legal guns and passed background checks.

We still have shootings in countries with the stiffest ownership laws - Sweden, New Zealand, Australia, England. We have yet to have one in Switzerland. Maybe the presence of guns is not the factor that causes these.

OO... is this your original question to which you referred?

One obvious difference is the proliferation of rifles in 2019 that are easily available while being incredibly efficient at killing lots of people in an extremely short time span as compared to those rifles that were readily available to the public in 1919.

Actually not so. Ordinary citizens can (and did) own far worse guns in the 1920's.

That was a reason why the 'Tommy Gun' was the weapon of choice for the gangsters back then. Or, the BAR (essentially an early anti-armored car gun) was as easily available.

Criminy, my grandpa had a Tommy Gun.

The AR-15 has been commercially available since the late 60's, and AKs have been readily available as 'junk weapons' in this country since the 50's.

In the 1980s, (i.e. 40 years ago) the prevalance of the AK and the Chinese SKS amongst the hunters of this nation is kind of astronomical.

The Garand M1 has been a staple in the American rural areas since 1945, when literally almost every American GI in Korea and WW2 brought one home with them, *and* the US Government sold their absolute massive overstock of them.

All of those were 'readily available' to the public as of the dates mentioned. Tommy Guns dried up because of the 1934 National Firearms Act, iirc.

Please dont make facts up.

I said the proliferation of these guns. I find it hard to believe that the number of tommy guns per capita in 1919 is equal to the number of "AK-47 equivalent" (avert your eyes, Tanq) rifles per capita in 2019.