You cannot stop all gun violence

[GMDino]

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2018/05/11/australia-mass-shooting-family-7-dead-including-4-children/601181002/

Quote:CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A family of seven including four children was found dead with gunshot wounds Friday at a rural property in southwest Australia in what could be the country's worst mass shooting in 22 years, police and news media said.


The children died with their mother and grandparents. The three generations had moved in 2015 to Osmington, a village of fewer than 700 people near the tourist town of Margaret River, to grow fruit, media reported.

Police would not comment on the possibility of murder-suicide, but said they are not looking for a suspect.
After being alerted by a phone call before dawn, police found the bodies and two guns at the property, Western Australia state Police Commissioner Chris Dawson said. Police wouldn't say who made the call.

The bodies of two adults were found outside a house and the others were found inside. They all resided at the property, he said.

Police said they have no information that would raise concerns about wider public safety, suggesting a shooter is not at large.

"Police are currently responding to what I can only describe as a horrific incident," Dawson told reporters.

"This devastating tragedy will no doubt have a lasting impact on the families concerned, the whole community and, in particular, the local communities in our southwest," he added.

Police were attempting to make contact with the victims' relatives, Dawson said. He declined to release the names or ages of the dead.

Philip Alpers, a Sydney University gun policy analyst, said the tragedy appeared to be the worst mass shooting in Australia since a lone gunman killed 35 people in Tasmania state in 1996, prompting the nation to introduce tough gun controls.

Australia's gun laws are widely acclaimed as a success, with supporters including former U.S. President Barack Obama saying Australia had not had a single mass shooting since they were implemented.

The generally accepted definition of a mass shooting — four deaths excluding the shooter in a single event — has been met only once in Australia since then. In 2014, a farmer shot his wife and three children before killing himself.

Police have revealed few details about the recent killings, and it is not clear whether there was more than one shooter.

Farmers are allowed to own guns under Australian law because they have a legitimate need to use them to kill feral pests and predators or sick or injured livestock. But automatic and semi-automatic rifles and shotguns are banned from public ownership.

Osmington is a collection of a few streets, farms, vacation accommodations and vineyards supplying the premium winemaking district known as Margaret River.

Samantha Lee, chair of the Gun Control Australia lobby group, said rural areas were over-represented in Australian gun deaths, including suicides.

"Regional and rural areas are particularly vulnerable to these sorts of tragedies, because of the combination of isolation, sometimes mental or financial hardship and easy access to firearms," Less said in a statement.

"Although the details of this tragedy are yet to come to light, Australia has a tragic history of higher rate of gun deaths in rural areas," she added.

It is interesting that the only two "mass shootings" were both murder/suicides (based on the assumption this one is).

Hard to imagine the number of lives saved by their laws though.

[fredtoast]

Mass shooting are a cultural phenomenon in the US.  Mass shooting (not family related murder/suicide) have more to do with our society's obsession with fame than gun ownership.

A higher percentage of US citizens owned guns in 1970 than now, but back then mass shooting were almost unheard of.  And I am sure we had just as many crazy people.

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

(05-11-2018, 12:25 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Mass shooting are a cultural phenomenon in the US.  Mass shooting (not family related murder/suicide) have more to do with our society's obsession with fame than gun ownership.

A higher percentage of US citizens owned guns in 1970 than now, but back then mass shooting were almost unheard of.  And I am sure we had just as many crazy people.

Pretty much this. Anytime there's a shooting, it gets plastered over the entirety of the internet and national TV now. There's a reason why it seems like all these people have extensively researched and obsessed over past shooters.

That youtube shooter is a great example. She was a big 'ol nobody that was trying to be famous online and floundering. She goes and shoots some people, and suddenly for a week or two, everyone in the country knows her name and her material gets more attention than it ever did prior.

That's a problem with 24-hr news/internet news/social media. Everyone is looking for something to fill all of that time with, so criminals are being enshrined in national and sometimes even global attention more than ever.

I checked a news feed on my phone earlier today and saw there was some school shooting that happened today in California. 1 person was injured, and it's on CNN, CBS, ABC, the LA Times. I live in Ohio. In the past I would have never heard of that happening. One person got injured and it's national news now.

[Dill]

(05-11-2018, 03:04 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Pretty much this. Anytime there's a shooting, it gets plastered over the entirety of the internet and national TV now. There's a reason why it seems like all these people have extensively researched and obsessed over past shooters.

That youtube shooter is a great example. She was a big 'ol nobody that was trying to be famous online and floundering. She goes and shoots some people, and suddenly for a week or two, everyone in the country knows her name and her material gets more attention than it ever did prior.

Except that she doesn't get to know how famous she is. She is dead.

I don't think she was one of the ones who obsessed over shootings, was she? 

She was just angry Youtube was messing with her outreach.