# This Wedks's awful Mass Murder **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 4, 2019, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-wedkss-awful-mass-murder/838157 "2019-08-04T04:52:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2019, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-wedkss-awful-mass-murder/838157/161 "2019-08-14T20:47:23Z")
If I may be so crass as to quote myself: > [@I forget, do we have a general HurricaneDitka Pit thread?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-forget-do-we-have-a-general-hurricaneditka-pit-thread/805952/40): > > Nothing stains more conservative pillows with tears, other than maybe their deep, heartfelt concern over gang violence in the South Side of Chicago, triggered every time there’s a mass shooting somewhere else. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2019, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-wedkss-awful-mass-murder/838157/162 "2019-08-14T22:20:37Z")
It’s a conservative trope that every time there’s a mass shooting, and clamor is raised for gun control, conservatives start saying “whatabbout Chicago?”. Interestingly…I just finished Michelle Obama’s memoir (“Becoming”) and she devotes a considerable amount of time lamenting gun violence in Chicago. So yes: news flash: it’s possible to be horrified both by gang shootouts in Chicago and random massacres in a movie theater or elementary school. It’s not an either/or. And here’s the best part: the same solution (gun controls) helps _both_ problems! Amazing!! ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2019, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-wedkss-awful-mass-murder/838157/163 "2019-08-14T23:25:11Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > So you’ve got a white guy who walks into a store and starts firing away. Seven customers are killed, six of whom happen to be black. > > Of that set of “assailants and victims,” what percentage would be described as black? > > Bonus points if you get the answer without clicking on the spoiler box. > > 75%. That’s pretty clearly not what they meant, and I would bet everything I own that this is not what comes through in the actual data. As I demonstrated with FBI statistics in a different thread a while back, although most murders involve assailants and victims of the same race, it’s significantly more common, on a per capita basis, for a black person to kill a white person than vice versa. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2019, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-wedkss-awful-mass-murder/838157/164 "2019-08-15T00:27:41Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > So you’ve got a white guy who walks into a store and starts firing away. Seven customers are killed, six of whom happen to be black. > > Of that set of “assailants and victims,” what percentage would be described as black? > > Bonus points if you get the answer without clicking on the spoiler box. > > 75%. > [@SlackerInc](#): > > **That’s pretty clearly not what they meant** , and I would bet everything I own that this is not what comes through in the actual data. As I demonstrated with FBI statistics in a different thread a while back, although most murders involve assailants and victims of the same race, it’s significantly more common, on a per capita basis, for a black person to kill a white person than vice versa. Then I guess we need to bring back copy editor as a profession, because that’s pretty clearly what that set of words MEANS. If they meant something else, they should have used different words. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2019, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-wedkss-awful-mass-murder/838157/165 "2019-08-15T01:05:56Z")
:rolleyes: We are on the verge of the 50th anniversary of Woodstock. If you read a New York Times story that said “the vast majority of musicians and concertgoers had a great time despite the difficulties with weather and logistics”, would you really think that might mean that virtually every musician hated it but were outnumbered by the vast numbers of those in the audience who enjoyed it? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2019, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-wedkss-awful-mass-murder/838157/166 "2019-08-15T16:22:41Z")
It wouldn’t exclude the possibility. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-wedkss-awful-mass-murder/838157.md?page=8)