Immigration and Mass Shootings

Can you show any connection between immigration and mass shootings? Any?

Well, when they started to allow all my Irish relatives into the country, we drank a lot of beer/whisky and just started to kick asses all over the place. We ran amok until they invented the Paddy Wagon, and then we became extremely uncomfortable over the idea we may be too rowdy.

glitterbag-

I'm not sure. That's why I ask the question.

I think that Japan has a low crime rate and is largely homogenous demographically.

I suspect that diversity can lead to friction but not necessarily. I guess a mass shooting could be extreme friction.

Okay, but do you know of any mass shootings carried out by immigrants?

The Federal Assault Weapons Ban expired in 2004 despite several attempts to revive it. Since then we've seen a huge uptick in mass killings. This also comes from many states relaxing their gun laws making the bar for gun ownership nearly non-existent.

Only tangential to your question, here is an article written by a former police officer, gun trainer and NRA member on why you should not own an assault rifle.

The US has had immigration for its entire history. At one time we were so well known for it that France gave us a statue to commemorate it.

I would find a mass shooting very disturbing, wouldn't you?

I've decided not to visit the US anymore. I have friends and family there and it greatly saddens me, but it's not worth my life. I have zero trust I'll be safe.

YES, YES, YES !!!

Ha ha - I laugh because you can say that about any place - it completely depends upon where you live - it isn't like people are carrying guns everywhere it is not like the wild west.

I leave my door unlocked where I live -

In my town if some small thing happens - the entire emergency crew from fire department to police show up - my neighbors had a spark and a little smoke from their heater and the entire force showed up. Someone broke into a couple of cars and stole small items and my entire neighborhood was flooded with police cars stopping everyone. It was quite comical.

Don't travel to areas of Baltimore or Chicago and certain other places and you should be safe.

I would imagine there are places in Canada I would avoid if I would to travel there - same as almost everywhere in the world.

Not at all, Linkat. As someone posted, since Columbine there have been 0ver 200 school shootings in the US, and 3 in Canada. The reports are over 240 mass shootings in the US this year TO DATE.

"CNN
—
They were at places that seemed safe – but few spaces in America are guaranteed safe anymore.

More than a dozen people were killed and more than 70 injured in at least 13 mass shootings this weekend in the United States.

Some were at graduation parties, a nightclub, a popular entertainment district or a strip mall.

The bloodshed comes as the nation grieves a spate of killings this past month, including a massacre at an elementary school in Texas; a deadly assault at a medical facility in Oklahoma; a racist rampage at a supermarket in New York; and an attack on a Taiwanese church service in California.

The US has suffered at least 246 mass shootings in 2022 – far more than there have been days so far in the year, according to the Gun Violence Archive. That’s the same number of mass shootings in 2021 through June 5."

~~~~
I'm not afraid to travel - I've been all over the world and never been mugged or anything. In the US, I could be at a restaurant or a bookstore and there might be a mass shooting. They are happening all over the place... it's a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I wouldn't expect that in other countries, but I do expect it in the States. I'll just go to another country, or stay in my own.


Full article here: https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/06/us/mass-shootings-weekend-list/index.html

Well I expect you will never ride in a car or many other things that you are more likely to die from.

This is Time article that addresses this fear that people seem to have.

"Statistically, the average American has a greater risk of dying from heart disease or cancer than from a firearm, according to the National Safety Council. Car crashes also kill about the same number of people in the U.S. as guns do each year, CDC statistics show."

But thing is also to take into consideration - who typically and where typically would someone likely to be a victim of gun violence?

"Criminologists and other experts who study U.S. violence say the fear of guns may be more warranted in certain parts of the country, specifically low-income areas within cities. According to the CDC, about 14,500 Americans were murdered with guns in 2017. More than half were young black men killed in metro areas, which has been the pattern for at least the last five years, data shows. “Firearm violence and firearm injuries take different forms, depending on where you live, your gender, your race and ethnicity and your age,” says Phoenix-based criminologist Jesenia Pizarro, who is studying firearm injuries and deaths among children and teens as part of a National Institutes of Health-funded research consortium. “If you’re a racial minority who lives in an inner city that has a high crime rate,” she adds, “then the levels of fear are more heightened, and the actual data would support that it is something you should actually be concerned about.”"

That's not to say it will never happen in a safe community, however, statistically that is small -

"“People overestimate how likely it is to happen to them because they can easily think of an example,” says social psychologist Frank McAndrew. “When they think of how likely am I to be killed in a mass shooting, they can think of all the examples of mass shootings they’ve seen in the news.”

The day-to-day probability of being involved in a random high-casualty attack in public is still low,"

https://time.com/5476998/risk-of-guns-america/

I like this quote - because it is true of everywhere. And I would change it to "there are no spaces that are guaranteed to be completely safe." This is true any where. Is there a guarantee that you will be safe in your backyard? No you could have a tree fall on you or any number of things.

Honestly it is up to you - but it is an irrational fear. But many people avoid things because of irrational fears.

That's a great article! Thanks!

No. I'm much more likely to be shot in the US than anywhere else in the world. I'm talking about the odds. How many mass shootings occur in Albania, Bulgaria, Italy, Greece, etc? You never hear about them because they are rare.

I would never travel to a war zone which I basically consider the US to be. If you can be killed while waiting in line to get an ice cream at Dairy Queen and the like, why go there?

It's not an irrational fear, Linkat - it's a matter of common sense. I'm not afraid at all because I'm not putting myself in harm's way. I have a choice. You don't.

Actually I have a choice – if it bothered me or if I was fearful for my life or my family's lives I would move somewhere else – I am close enough to retirement I could do so with little financial impact. I could even seek out an area even safer than where I am now. I could completely avoid going into Boston and taking any public transportation to avoid and limit my chances. But I realize the chances of harm are small – I also know to avoid real and avoidable danger- I do not stroll through higher crime areas (whether domestically or internationally) flashing off my expensive jewelry or making myself a target. That is common sense.

What comes across as irrational is that you said “I have friends and family there and it greatly saddens me, but it's not worth my life. I have zero trust I'll be safe.”

That sounds irrational as you voice that you are greatly saddened not to go but yet the statistics show that you are more likely to die in car and “The day-to-day probability of being involved in a random high-casualty attack in public is still low,"

“…Car crashes also kill about the same number of people in the U.S. as guns do each year, CDC statistics show." This statistic is overall when you take in the statistic that –“ … According to the CDC, about 14,500 Americans were murdered with guns in 2017. More than half were young black men killed in metro areas,..”

You are not a young black male and unlikely to tour in this unsafe area - So if you are more likely to die in a car accident, then should you stop driving or riding in a car?

That is why it is irrational – because you do things that are of a higher risk of dying without giving it another thought, but avoid doing something which results in you being sadden but yet the risk to public is low. I understand everyone has to do what they feel comfortable with (completely what this Time article was referring to how people are so frightened by shootings) – many people do/avoid things because of irrational fears – when I went to Chicago – I did not go out on the “ledge” as I have an irrational fear of heights, I was not comfortable with that and saw no reason to do so. So I did not – reward vs risk.


I think in part mass shooting are so horrific that people become irrationally afraid and avoid anywhere there would be a group of people.

For how mucn longer?

It's not just mass shootings, the stand your ground law basically legalises murder. All someone has to say is they felt scared and they call kill wnoever they want.

It's just not worth it, my next break is going to be Morocco, far safer.

I am not talking about walking around at night in a bad area, Linkat. I'm talking about getting an ice cream cone or even just going to work. Going to church or a festival SHOULD be safe, right? Well, for thousands of Americans who just wanted to enjoy life, it wasn't.



Statistics mean nothing to the dead killed by a firearm. Tell that to the dead people's families.

I am saying it's more prevalent in the US than anywhere else and it's because of your cowardly/criminal politicians who won't enact proper legislation to save people at the risk of not being re-elected. Not to mention how your Second Amendment has been reinterpreted. I am pretty sure that's not what your founding fathers had in mind.

Why would I risk getting shot at while getting a coffee at McDonald's when I can goto pretty much any other country and not face that danger? The more this happens, the more people won't want to visit the States.

Mass shootings have occurred in museums, bars, cafes and restaurants, a library, a town hall, synagogues, churches, subways, supermarkets, theatres, workplaces, medical centres, hospitals... general places where ordinary people go every day. This is not about going to a crime-ridden neighbourhood and flashing jewellery and to use that as an example is demeaning.

If this is true (from Wikipedia), why aren't your politicians listening?

A May 2022 Politico/Morning Consult poll found respondents supporting:[35]

- background checks on all gun sales, by a net 80 percentage points;
- creation of a national database with information about each gun sale, by a net 57 points;
- banning of assault-style weapons, by a net 42 points;
- closing the gun show loophole, by a net 70 points;
- requiring gun owners to store their guns in a safe storage unit, by a net 62 points.

A June 2022 ABC News/Ipsos poll found that 70% of Americans believed enacting new gun control laws was more important than protecting gun ownership rights.[36]

that is state by state and there are various levels behind it depending on the state - I live in a state in which there is no such law. So without you knowing the "real" laws just what you hear on your news - how can you possibly understand. All you hear is what is being sensationalized on the news.

I honestly find it a bit funny how some people view it like everyone is packing and ready to pull out a gun at least little thing.

I'm good with you all not coming here - makes vacations and traveling easier for me less crowds.