The head of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives says he fears that a drumbeat of mass shootings and other gun violence across the United States could make Americans numb to the bloodshed, fostering apathy to finding solutions rather than galvanizing communities to act.
Director Steve Dettelbach’s comments to The Associated Press came after he met this past week with family members of some of the 18 people killed in October at a bowling alley and a bar in Lewiston, Maine by a U.S. Army reservist who later took his own life.
He said people must not accept that gun violence is a prevalent part of American life.
I’m not following, who did she think might have a gun? You? Why would she have thought that?
Also, where in the US do you live that gun violence is actually surrounding you personally? I’ve lived in different parts of the US all my life and I’ve never felt that, nor a marked difference when traveling internationally.
You’re just lucky, that’s all.
My neighbor woke up the other day and found a bullet hole in the side of his car and a bullet in his back seat.
It was a stray from someone randomly shooting their gun in a neighborhood. I’m just thankful the bullet was stopped by his car. It could just have easily hit one of our apartments.
Agreed, guns in public are not as common as this post implies. Additionally, I’m just as scared of a mugger with a knife. Seeing that video of someone drop dead within 3 seconds of being stabbed in the neck is pretty freaky…
One time I had a seizure and almost died, apparently I was screaming extraordinarily loud while convulsing. I called 911 while I was losing awareness because I thought I was having a stroke. So a fuck ton of cop cars arrived because I allegedly specifically asked for a police to come pick me up ::: spoiler (I didn’t ask for an ambulance because it’d be outrageously expensive, I ended up being transported by ambulance and then helicopter anyways, the ambulance bill was almost $1000 for a ~10-15 minute ride and the helicopter bill was multiple tens of thousands for a 10 minute ride, lol I almost died to avoid this) spoiler :::.
My friend told me after all this that, while the fuck tons of cop cars are pulled up on my lawn and I’m being carried out with makeshift bondage in a stretcher convulsing/screaming, my old ass neighbour (I’d have to guess like in his 70s) came out with a whole ass ARSENAL strapped all over his body, a rifle attached to his back, pistols and ammo around his hip, everything. And he just walks out of his house, up to the cops, and starts asking about what’s happening. I didn’t even KNOW this dude had guns, but apparently he’s a super conservative gun-owning ““enthusiast”” and he found it appropriate to flaunt what I can only presume he perceives as “badassery” to this sea of cops including the local chief.
Maybe if I wasn’t a dumbass and just asked for EMTs instead, that wouldn’t have happened haha…
This isn’t very relevant to your comment but it just reminded me of that situation for some reason lol.
I think how common guns are in public depends on where in the USA you live. The number of signs I saw in Dallas and Fort Worth that guns are not allowed inside the building was alarming.
Yeah, Texas was the only place that I’ve actually witnessed casual open carry on a regular basis but to their credit I never saw any crime with a gun. However, I know people all over the country who conceal carry and you’d never know it.
I realize this is anecdotal but I witnessed the 2022 Las Vegas mass stabbing outside my hotel that killed 2 and injured 6 people. No one even knew what was happening because it was such a quick and silent attack.
My point is not that guns and knives are comparable, but that it’s silly to feel afraid in the US simply because of guns, generally I’m more scared because of the mental health and wealth inequality crisis causing an increase in apparently crazy people wandering the streets.
Missouri here. I just got done working at a walmart for 6 years. In the time i was there 2 different people had been shot by police in front of the store. I personally saw a gun get pulled right in front of my department in a huge argument but luckily the cop was just showing up over the screaming. A little bit before I left someone pulled a gun on the guy who brings your shit to your car because he took too long. That’s just there. I have also been held up at gunpoint once and also had a random car shoot at me as it drove past.
Hearing gunshots outside is such a boring common thing I don’t even pause my game unless it sounds like its right outside, which happens a few times a year. Usually thats just people firing ‘for fun’ but about 5 months ago someone was killed in my apts parking lot.