I am in the process of doing research about past incidents of mass shootings. I am examining the weapons used, the death and injury totals, etc so that I can have facts to rationally discuss the how certain types of weapons relate to mass shootings. I am trying to work quickly on it as the the issue is a pressing one.
A very interesting statistic is the number of mass shootings from 1984 until 1994 when the AWB was passed and the number of mass shootings from 1994 until 2004 when it expired. In '84-94 there were 16 such shootings. From 94-2004 there were 16 mass shootings. It would seem the AWB did absolutely nothing to reduce the number of such incidents.
There were 7 such shootings this year. The most during the AWB in a single year was in 1999 when there were 5 such shootings. Overall the frequency during that period seems to be roughly comparable.
I'm totaling the numbers still but so called assault weapons do not appear to be the most commonly used guns. Rather handguns appear to be used nearly three times as often. Revolvers in particular have been used almost as often as anything one could categorize as an "assault weapon."
A very large number of the shooters armed themselves with multiple weapons. This ability to simply switch to the next gun suggests that 10 round magazine limits would be of little practical value (to say nothing of the ability to reload).
I'm still compiling numbers on the deadliness of the attacks and how it relates to the weapons used, however one of the deadliest attacks was the shooting at Luby's Cafeteria in which 24 people were killed and 20 more injured. The shooter had a Glock 17 and a Ruger P94. Neither gun hold 44+ rounds indicating that this shooter had time to simply reload and/or switch guns and then simply keep shooting people. Below is the powerful testimony of one of the victims present discussing the need for CCW and why gun control is not the answer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvTO-y-B2YM
Again, I need to do more research and tally the numbers but a trend that seems to be emerging is that the number of deaths and injuries seems to be correlated to number of people present in the immediate area and the amount of time before the shooter is confronted with response as much as anything else.
The research thus far has left me even more convinced that there is little in the way of rational arguments for instituting an AWB as a response to some of the recent tragedies.
A very interesting statistic is the number of mass shootings from 1984 until 1994 when the AWB was passed and the number of mass shootings from 1994 until 2004 when it expired. In '84-94 there were 16 such shootings. From 94-2004 there were 16 mass shootings. It would seem the AWB did absolutely nothing to reduce the number of such incidents.
There were 7 such shootings this year. The most during the AWB in a single year was in 1999 when there were 5 such shootings. Overall the frequency during that period seems to be roughly comparable.
I'm totaling the numbers still but so called assault weapons do not appear to be the most commonly used guns. Rather handguns appear to be used nearly three times as often. Revolvers in particular have been used almost as often as anything one could categorize as an "assault weapon."
A very large number of the shooters armed themselves with multiple weapons. This ability to simply switch to the next gun suggests that 10 round magazine limits would be of little practical value (to say nothing of the ability to reload).
I'm still compiling numbers on the deadliness of the attacks and how it relates to the weapons used, however one of the deadliest attacks was the shooting at Luby's Cafeteria in which 24 people were killed and 20 more injured. The shooter had a Glock 17 and a Ruger P94. Neither gun hold 44+ rounds indicating that this shooter had time to simply reload and/or switch guns and then simply keep shooting people. Below is the powerful testimony of one of the victims present discussing the need for CCW and why gun control is not the answer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvTO-y-B2YM
Again, I need to do more research and tally the numbers but a trend that seems to be emerging is that the number of deaths and injuries seems to be correlated to number of people present in the immediate area and the amount of time before the shooter is confronted with response as much as anything else.
The research thus far has left me even more convinced that there is little in the way of rational arguments for instituting an AWB as a response to some of the recent tragedies.
