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THE UNITED STATES IS UNIQUE IN SUFFERING FROM GUN MASSACRES.

“ ‘
And we’ve just got to stop this
’ ” Lynn Sweet, “Bloomberg on Only in America: We Kill People,” Lynn Sweet:
The Scoop from Washington blog
at
suntimes.com
, December 16, 2012,
http://bit.ly/11hedYG
. • “ ‘
the problem that America has with gun massacres
’ ” Rachel Maddow,
Rachel Maddow Show
, MSNBC, January 11, 2011,
http://nbcnews.to/11he9It
. • “
he murdered 69 people
” “Norwegian Youth Party to Host Summer Camp, Two Years After Anders Breivik,”
Telegraph
, January 30, 2013,
http://bit.ly/100vMuX
. • “
on November 26, 2008, 164 people were killed
” Harmeet Sha Singh, “India Remembers Mumbai Dead,”
cnn.com
, November 26, 2010,
http://bit.ly/11he5bA
. • “
sixteen kindergartners and their teacher were killed
” John Lott, “Think Tough Gun Laws Keep Europeans Safe? Think again . . . ,”
foxnews.com
, June 10, 2010,
http://fxn.ws/ZXBTRa
. • “
Two nine-month-old babies and one day-care worker were killed
” Bruno Waterfield and John Bingham, “Belgium ‘Joker’ Creche Killer Snorted with Laughter in Police Interrogation,”
Telegraph
, January 24, 2009,
http://bit.ly/11hdUgF
. • “
He murdered eight children and seriously wounded thirteen other kids, along with two teachers
” “Japan Mourns School Victims,”
cnn.com
, June 10, 2001,
http://bit.ly/100vUur
. • “
China has suppressed and censored much of the news
” Edward Wong, “Fifth Deadly Attack on a School Haunts China,”
New York Times
, May 12, 2010,
http://nyti.ms/11hdYNo
. • “
Eight were reported to be killed
” “China Executes Killer of Eight School Children,”
BBC News
, April 28, 2010,
http://bbc.in/aJDhN6
. • “
stabbed sixteen students and a teacher in an elementary school
” Jaime FlorCruz, “Execution Does Not Stop Chinese Knife Attack,”
cnn.com
, May 3, 2010,
http://bit.ly/100vZy2
. • “
stabbed twenty-eight students, two teachers, and one security guard in a kindergarten
” Jaime FlorCruz, “Execution Does Not Stop Chinese Knife Attack,”
cnn.com
, May 3, 2010,
http://bit.ly/100vZy2
. • “
armed with a hammer attacked children in a preschool
” Jaime FlorCruz, “Execution Does Not Stop Chinese Knife Attack,”
cnn.com
, May 3, 2010,
http://bit.ly/100vZy2
. • “
murdered seven children and two adults and injured eleven others
” Christopher Bodeen, “9 Killed in Latest Attack at China School,” Associated Press, May 12, 2010,
http://bit.ly/11hdKWp
. • “
killing three children and one teacher
” “Man Held Over Fatal Knife Attack at China Kindergarten,”
BBC News
, August 4, 2010,
http://bbc.in/aTu1Zi
. • “
slashed eight children
” “Eight Children Hurt in China School Attack,”
BBC News
, August 29, 2011,
http://bbc.in/oP5EKx
. • “
murdered a one-year-old and a four-year-old and four adults
” Haolan Hong and Jaime FlorCruz, “6 Die in China Ax Attack,”
cnn.com
, September 14, 2011,
http://bit.ly/11hdSFv
. • “
stabbed an elderly woman and twenty-three children at an elementary school
” An Baijie, “Suspect in School Knife Attack ‘Feared End of the World,’ ”
China Daily
, December 18, 2012,
http://bit.ly/161rlnB
. • “
with fingers and ears cut off
” “22 Stabbed Students Receive Treatment in Central China,”
news.xinhuanet.com
, December 15, 2012,
http://bit.ly/11hdIxT
. • “
stabbed to death nine people and wounded four others with a knife
” Associated Foreign Press, “Teen Kills Nine in Stabbing Frenzy,”
Herald Sun
, August 2, 2012,
http://bit.ly/100wjx1
. • “
Mass shootings happen with appalling regularity in Mexico, a place with restrictive gun control laws
” Cave, Damien,“At a
Nation’s Only Gun Shop, Looking North in Disbelief,”
New York Times,
24 July 2012.
http://nyti.ms/100wlVA
. • “
one in February when thirteen people were killed at a party
” “Juarez Police Seek Motive in Mass Shooting,”
United Press International
, February 1, 2010,
http://nyti.ms/100wlVA
. • “
in September, when eight were killed inside a bar
” CNN Staff Writer,“Bar Shooting in Juarez Leaves 8 Dead,”
CNN
, 17 September 2010,
http://bit.ly/11hD.C.9p
. • “
El Paso, Texas, which was recently named the “safest large city in America
” Borunda, Daniel, “El Paso Ranked Safest Large City in U.S. for 3rd Straight Year,”
El Paso Times
, February, 6, 2013,
http://bit.ly/11hdDtY
.

THEN WHY ARE GUN MASSACRES NOW HAPPENING MORE THAN EVER HERE IN THE UNITED STATES?

“ ‘
help them perform mass executions like today’s
’ ” Rep. Carolyn McCarthy,
Rachel Maddow Show
, MSNBC, December 14, 2012,
http://on.today.com/11hdtmj
. • “ ‘
happening more frequently these days, it’s because that’s true
’ ” Rachel Maddow,
Rachel Maddow Show
, MSNBC, December 17, 2012,
http://nbcnews.to/11hdoiG
. • “
a total of 513 people have been killed in these attacks
” Mark Follman, Gavin Aronsen, and Deanna Pan, “US Mass Shootings, 1982–2012: Data from Mother Jones’ Investigation,”
Mother Jones
, December 28, 2012,
http://bit.ly/11hdxT2
. • “
3,696 people were killed in the United States by lightning
” Susan Donaldson James, “Fiancée Killed by Lightning During Surprise Wedding Proposal,”
abcnews.go.com
, June 9, 2010,
http://abcn.ws/11hdln3
. • “ ‘
in direct competition with . . . a Norwegian man who killed 77
’ ” Bob Orr and Pat Milton, “Newtown Shooter Motivated by Norway Massacre, Sources Say,”
cbsnews.com
, February 18, 2013,
http://cbsn.ws/100xPir
. • “ ‘
when subsequent years reveal more moderate levels
’ ” James Alan Fox, “Mass Shootings Not Trending,”
boston.com
, January 23, 2013,
http://bo.st/100y0u8
. • “ ‘
[M]ass shootings have not increased in number or in overall body count
’ ” Matt Pearce, “2012 is Tragic, But Mass Shootings Not Increasing, Experts Say,”
Los Angeles Times
, December 18, 2012,
http://lat.ms/100xQmC
. • “
there is even a slight decline in these types of killings
” John R. Lott Jr., More Guns, Less Crime, 3rd ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010), see also: Grant Duwe,
Mass Murder in the United States: A History
(Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2007). • “
dropping from 43 total cases in the 1990s to 26 in the first decade of the twenty-first century
” Matt Pearce, “2012 Is Tragic, but Mass Shootings Not Increasing, Experts Say,”
Los Angeles Times
, December 18, 2012,
http://lat.ms/100xQmC
. • “ ‘
even if they do not address the particular issues of mass shootings
’ ” Greg Ridgeway, Ph.D., “Summary of Select Firearm Violence Prevention Strategies,” National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action, January 4, 2013,
http://bit.ly/11hcPWb
. • “
mass killings an “epidemic”), without questioning their methodology
” Follman, Mark, and Aronsen, Gavin, and Pan Deanna, “A Guide to Mass Shootings in America,”
Mother Jones
, February 27, 2013,
http://bit.ly/LDEkVn
. • “ ‘
hard to defend’ or ‘not necessarily applied consistently
’ ” James Alan Fox, “Mass Shootings Not Trending,”
boston.com
, January 23, 2013,
http://bo.st/100y0u8
.

NO MASS SHOOTING HAS EVER BEEN STOPPED BY SOMEONE ELSE WITH A GUN.

“ ‘
Not a single one has ever been thwarted
’ ” Piers Morgan, “Assault Weapons in America,”
Piers Morgan Tonight
, CNN, January 9, 2013,
http://bit.ly/11hD.C.js
. • “
statistic of ’62 mass shootings
’ ” Mark Follman, Gavin Aronsen, and Deanna Pan, “A Guide to Mass Shootings in America,”
Mother Jones
, February 27, 2013,
http://bit.ly/11hdaIe
. • “
hitting nine of his fellow students and killing two
” Wayne Laugesen, “A Principal and His Gun,”
davekopel.org
, October 15, 1999,
http://bit.ly/Vh0wsp
. • “
thirty-six rounds still in his pockets
,” Bill Cole and Terri Tabor, “Armed Teachers Critics Say Putting More Weapons in Our Classrooms Will Increase Violence—No Matter Who Carries Them,”
Daily Herald Arlington Heights
, March 10, 2000. • “
he immediately opened fire, killing two teenage sisters
” “Nobles and Knaves,”
Washington Times
, December 15, 2007. • “
armed with a rifle, two semi-automatic handguns, and a thousand rounds of ammunition, he entered the church
” Valerie Richardson, “Gunman Killed by Own Bullet, Not Volunteer’s; Web Rants Targeted Christians,”
Washington Times
, December 12, 2007. • “ ‘
kill and injure as many of you [Christians] . . . as I can
’ ” Valerie Richardson, “Gunman Killed by Own Bullet, Not Volunteer’s; Web Rants Targeted Christians,”
Washington Times
, December 12, 2007. • “ ‘
she probably saved over 100 lives
’ ” Patrick O’Driscoll and Oren Dorell, “Police Seek Link in Colorado Attacks,”
USA Today
, October 10, 2011,
http://usat.ly/11hd4Am
. • “
fired several shots, wounding two students
” Kristen Hayes, “Edinboro Teen Killer Sentenced,”
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
, September 10, 1999,
http://bit.ly/XqRGG8
. • “
James Strand, grabbed his shotgun, followed the boy out, and persuaded him surrender
” Robert Moran and Susan Q. Stranahan, “Again Student Held in Slaying Andrew Wurst Is Accused of Killing Edinboro, PA, Teacher John Gillette and Wounding Three,”
Philadelphia Inquirer
, April 6, 1998,
http://bit.ly/11hd1V6
. • “
Terry shot him five times in the chest, killing him
” J. Neil Schulman, “Perspective on Gun Control: A Massacre We Didn’t Hear About: Firearms in the Hands of Private Citizens Should Play an Important Role in Protection of the Public Safety,”
Los Angeles Times
, January 1, 1992,
http://lat.ms/11hcZNd
. • “
a man entered the Player’s Bar & Grille in Winnemucca, Nevada
” Associate Press, “Three Dead in Shooting at Winnemucca Bar,”
Las Vegas Review-Journal
, May 26, 2008,
http://bit.ly/gJ6pC7
. • “
the man’s intention was to shoot ‘anyone in his line of sight
 . . . ’ ” “Gunman, Two Victims Die in Clackamas Mall Shooting,”
kgw.com
, December 11, 2012,
http://bit.ly/11hcUZU
. • “
Meli didn’t fire right away, as he was concerned about missing the gunman
” Mike Benner, “Clackamas Mall Shooter Faced Man with Concealed Weapon,”
kgw.com
, December 17, 2012,
http://bit.ly/100y9Ok
. • “
There were estimated to be ten thousand people in the mall that day
” “Gunman, Two Victims Die in Clackamas Mall Shooting,”
kgw.com
, December 11, 2012,
http://bit.ly/100y9Ok
.

REGARDLESS, IF WE REALLY WANT TO STOP MASS SHOOTINGS WE NEED TO BRING BACK THE ASSAULT WEAPONS BAN.

“ ‘
and drums that hold more than 10 rounds
’ ” Sen. Dianne Feinstein, “Feinstein to Introduce Updated Assault Weapons Bill In New Congress,”
feinstein.senate.gov
, December 17, 2012,
http://1.usa.gov/100yccN
. • “ ‘
from Columbine to Oak Creek
’ ” Sen. Dianne Feinstein, “Feinstein Introduces Bill on Assault Weapons, High-Capacity Magazines,”
feinstein.senate.gov
, January 24, 2013,
http://1.usa.gov/100ydxz
. • “
Nothing we’re going to do is going to fundamentally alter or eliminate the possibility of another mass shooting
” Hunt, Kasie,“Biden: New Gun Controls Likely Won’t End Shootings,”
NBC News
, 31 January 2013,
http://nbcnews.to/100yh0e
. • “
she references a part of a 1997 study
” Sen. Dianne Feinstein, “Stopping the Spread of Deadly Assault Weapons,”
feinstein.senate.gov
, accessed March 7, 2013,
http://1.usa.gov/100ykt4
. • “ ‘
caused a reduction of 6.7% in gun murders
’ ” Jeffrey A. Roth, Christopher S. Koper, William Adams, and others, “Impact Evaluation of the Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act of 1994,” (report, The Urban Institute, Washington, D.C., March 13, 1997),
http://bit.ly/100ylx9
. • “ ‘
and local initiatives that took place simultaneously
’ ” Jeffrey A. Roth, Christopher S. Koper, William Adams, and others, “Impact Evaluation of the Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act of 1994” (report, The Urban Institute, Washington, D.C., March 13, 1997),
http://bit.ly/100ylx9
. • “ ‘
we found no statistical evidence of post-ban decreases
’ ”
Jeffrey A. Roth, Christopher S. Koper, William Adams, and others, “Impact Evaluation of the Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act of 1994” (report, The Urban Institute, Washington, D.C., March 13, 1997),
http://bit.ly/100ylx9
. • ’ ”
[W]e cannot clearly credit the ban with any of the nation’s recent drop in gun violence
’ ” Christopher Koper with Daniel Woods and Jeffrey Roth, “An Updated Assessment of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban: Impacts on Gun Markets and Gun Violence, 1994–2003,” (report, National Institute of Justice, United States Department of Justice, Jerry Lee Center of Criminology, University of Pennsylvania, June 2004),
http://1.usa.gov/100ypNc
. • “ ‘
rarely used in gun crimes even before the ban
’ ” Christopher Koper with Daniel Woods and Jeffrey Roth, “An Updated Assessment of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban: Impacts on Gun Markets and Gun Violence, 1994–2003,” (report, National Institute of Justice, United States Department of Justice, Jerry Lee Center of Criminology, University of Pennsylvania, June 2004),
http://1.usa.gov/100ypNc
. • “ ‘
the assault weapon ban did not have an effect on firearm homicides
’ ” Greg Ridgeway, Ph.D., “Summary of Select Firearm Violence Prevention Strategies,” National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action, January 4, 2013,
http://bit.ly/11hcPWb
.