# Uvalde, Texas school shooting - the political thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [May 24, 2022, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uvalde-texas-school-shooting-the-political-thread/965036 "2022-05-24T21:36:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2022, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uvalde-texas-school-shooting-the-political-thread/965036/61 "2022-05-24T23:58:00Z")
> [@Chingon](#): > > The hubris is amazing The hypocrisy is the worst thing. Oh, except for the dead children. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2022, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uvalde-texas-school-shooting-the-political-thread/965036/62 "2022-05-25T00:01:36Z")
Sorry, I missed the _mass_ shooting qualifier. I thought you were questioning that the US has more school shootings than elsewhere. Let me rephrase my reply: The US has way more school shootings AND mass school shootings than any other nation in the world. We may not have more than one mass school shooting per month, but school isn’t in session all 12 months of the year. If it was, we’d be there. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2022, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uvalde-texas-school-shooting-the-political-thread/965036/63 "2022-05-25T00:07:16Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > Oh, except for the dead children. Hypocrisy is Republican’s highest form of self-aggrandizement. \_If they wanted to live they should have armed themselves._ \ Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b77776/32.png) [@Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_was_in_Saudi)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2022, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uvalde-texas-school-shooting-the-political-thread/965036/64 "2022-05-25T00:13:43Z")
> [@wguy123](#): > > Sorry, I missed the _mass_ shooting qualifier. No problem. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2022, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uvalde-texas-school-shooting-the-political-thread/965036/65 "2022-05-25T00:15:04Z")
I think you missed the point of my response. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b77776/32.png) [@Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_was_in_Saudi)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2022, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uvalde-texas-school-shooting-the-political-thread/965036/66 "2022-05-25T00:15:34Z")
Good night. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2022, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uvalde-texas-school-shooting-the-political-thread/965036/67 "2022-05-25T00:20:25Z")
> [@Martin\_Hyde](#): > > Because I perceive the forum to be hostile to solutions for most of these homicides and additionally, uninterested. There’s a serious problem in the US in that any time any one makes the smallest suggestion that we follow the example of other nations that DON’T have this sort of problem you get people hyperventilating YA’LL GET MUH GUNZ FROM MUH COLD, DEAD HANDS!!! The one obvious solution that has been tried elsewhere and succeeded multiple times is summarily dismissed out of hand: Regulate guns and restrict gun ownership to people who have a reason to carry and are actual responsible citizens. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2022, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uvalde-texas-school-shooting-the-political-thread/965036/68 "2022-05-25T00:20:55Z")
Do you think “appeal to other countries”, is an effective political strategy? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2022, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uvalde-texas-school-shooting-the-political-thread/965036/69 "2022-05-25T00:22:20Z")
What the hell does politics have to do with it? We’re the only wealthy, industrialized nation that has this level of people being shot dead. Other peer nations do not have this problem. Obviously WE are doing something WRONG. It is time to see how other people avoid this problem and apply the lessons. It’s not a matter of “appealing” to anything. It’s a matter of acknowledging that what we’re doing is ineffective and trying something different. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2022, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uvalde-texas-school-shooting-the-political-thread/965036/70 "2022-05-25T00:23:21Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > What the hell does politics have to do with it? This thread is specifically for the politics of this incident and incidents like it. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2022, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uvalde-texas-school-shooting-the-political-thread/965036/71 "2022-05-25T00:23:38Z")
> [@Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](#): > > Is that the case? It is not my area of special interest, but on the face of it, your statement seems unlikely. To address your easily answered question, [looking at Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_school_shootings_in_the_United_States) (which is admittedly lazy but I don’t feel like sifting through NCS-X right now, so I assume it is at least reasonably accurate) 2022 has been a little short but 2021 had a bumper crop from May 2021 onward; recall that schools in many states were closed or curtailed since early in the pandemic through March or April of 2021. Looking back through 2019 it is certainly a more clustered than evenly distributed phenomenon but I count 8 mass shooting events (categorizing a “mass shooting” as three or more casualties) which is close enough to the typical 9 month school year to not be hyperbole. I don’t have the interest or enthusiasm after this monumentally frustrating day to go back further but please feel free to rebut me if you are so inclined, or just ask more questions if that’s your vibe. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2022, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uvalde-texas-school-shooting-the-political-thread/965036/72 "2022-05-25T00:34:28Z")
As a responsible gun owner, I am very concerned about these shootings and what are the best ways to drastically minimize, if not altogether eliminate, these shootings. These poor, tragic families. Too many. Way too many. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2022, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uvalde-texas-school-shooting-the-political-thread/965036/73 "2022-05-25T00:41:42Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > What the hell does politics have to do with it? Unfortunately, politics has everything to do with it. Until there’s the political will to fix this problem (or any problem), it will not get fixed. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2022, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uvalde-texas-school-shooting-the-political-thread/965036/74 "2022-05-25T00:42:01Z")
> [@Martin\_Hyde](#): > > > [@Broomstick](#): > > > > What the hell does politics have to do with it? > > This thread is specifically for the politics of this incident and incidents like it. Maybe it _shouldn’t_ be political. Maybe it should be about solving a problem in our society. Bullets don’t care about the politics of the people they kill, after all. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2022, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uvalde-texas-school-shooting-the-political-thread/965036/75 "2022-05-25T00:46:05Z")
I don’t believe a meaningful political solution can be found until one party regains a sense of basic human empathy and decency. Not holding my breath. Meantime, this current broken state of our society leaves me beyond bereft. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2022, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uvalde-texas-school-shooting-the-political-thread/965036/76 "2022-05-25T00:50:01Z")
> [@Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](#): > > It is not my area of special interest, but on the face of it, your statement seems unlikely. I didn’t realize you are the “mass shooting guy” on this board. Why is it now not your area of special interest? Why did you feign that you were ignorant in this topic? Is it because it is a mass school shooting? I’m genuinely curious because it doesn’t make sense to me. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2022, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uvalde-texas-school-shooting-the-political-thread/965036/77 "2022-05-25T01:36:25Z")
> [@Martin\_Hyde](#): > > Do you think “appeal to other countries”, is an effective political strategy? Apparently not, but it sure SHOULD be. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2022, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uvalde-texas-school-shooting-the-political-thread/965036/78 "2022-05-25T01:41:47Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Maybe it _shouldn’t_ be political. Good luck with that. The GOP in particular has politicized everything from voting rights and immigration to climate change and access to basic medical care, even though these issues have real harms and benefits with objectively non-partisan solutions. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2022, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uvalde-texas-school-shooting-the-political-thread/965036/79 "2022-05-25T01:42:54Z")
Martin is right. [https://apnews.com/article/uvalde-texas-school-shooting-b4e4648ed0ae454897d540e787d092b2](https://apnews.com/article/uvalde-texas-school-shooting-b4e4648ed0ae454897d540e787d092b2) We need the common sense background checks on all gun sales. The GOP has blocked them consistently: _A year after Sandy Hook, Sens. Joe Manchin a West Virginia Democrat, and Patrick J. Toomey, a Pennsylvania Republican, negotiated a bipartisan proposal to expand the nation’s background check system. But as the measure was close to being brought to the Senate floor for a vote, it became clear it would not get enough votes to clear a 60-vote filibuster hurdle._ _Last year, the House passed two bills to expand background checks on firearms purchases. One bill would have closed a loophole for private and online sales. The other would have extended the background check review period. Both languished in the 50-50 Senate, where Democrats need at least 10 Republican votes to overcome objections from a filibuster._ **And** we need the media to stop naming the shooters. He is correct in that. However, we can do BOTH. There is no blame for the Democrats here. The GOP won’t even let mild common sense gun control laws get passed. > [@Broomstick](#): > > Regulate guns and restrict gun ownership to people who have a reason to carry and are actual responsible citizens. And see, that would violate the Bill of Rights. And if we can’t even get mild, common sense effective gun control laws passed, the chance of repealing the 2nd Ad is exactly zero. > [@Broomstick](#): > > We’re the only wealthy, industrialized nation that has this level of people being shot dead. Cherrypicking. But here is the issue. Nations like France, England, Canada didn’t have a big gun violence problem before they passed gun control. And the new gun control laws in Australia have not reduced gun violence there. Canada has LOTS of gun, it is the 5th or 6th in Guns per capita. But they don’t have a big gun violence problem, now or in the past. Do you think that the _only_ difference between Canada and the USA is number of guns? Not ghettos, poverty, drugs? It clearly isn’t _just_ they have less guns. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2022, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uvalde-texas-school-shooting-the-political-thread/965036/80 "2022-05-25T01:50:39Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Canada has LOTS of gun, it is the 5th or 6th in Guns per capita. But they don’t have a big gun violence problem, now or in the past. Do you think that the _only_ difference between Canada and the USA is number of guns? Not ghettos, poverty, drugs? > > It clearly isn’t _just_ they have less guns. US has 120 guns/100 people. Canada has 34/100. The scale of difference between #1 and Canada is shocking. From [Estimated number of civilian guns per capita by country - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estimated_number_of_civilian_guns_per_capita_by_country) If I am doing the math correctly (not a sure thing), we’d have to get rid of 280 MILLION guns to get to Canada’s LOTS OF GUNS status. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uvalde-texas-school-shooting-the-political-thread/965036.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uvalde-texas-school-shooting-the-political-thread/965036.md?page=5)