Kudos to the Times for a strong stance and placing this on the Front Page. However, they give the profiteers a pass. Somebody makes money on every gun and bullet in AmeriCo. Make them pay.

End the Gun Epidemic in America – The New York Times

The attention and anger of Americans should also be directed at the elected leaders whose job is to keep us safe but who place a higher premium on the money and political power of an industry dedicated to profiting from the unfettered spread of ever more powerful firearms.

It is a moral outrage and a national disgrace that civilians can legally purchase weapons designed specifically to kill people with brutal speed and efficiency. These are weapons of war, barely modified and deliberately marketed as tools of macho vigilantism and even insurrection. America’s elected leaders offer prayers for gun victims and then, callously and without fear of consequence, reject the most basic restrictions on weapons of mass killing, as they did on Thursday. They distract us with arguments about the word terrorism. Let’s be clear: These spree killings are all, in their own ways, acts of terrorism. …

It is not necessary to debate the peculiar wording of the Second Amendment. No right is unlimited and immune from reasonable regulation.

Certain kinds of weapons, like the slightly modified combat rifles used in California, and certain kinds of ammunition, must be outlawed for civilian ownership. It is possible to define those guns in a clear and effective way and, yes, it would require Americans who own those kinds of weapons to give them up for the good of their fellow citizens.

What better time than during a presidential election to show, at long last, that our nation has retained its sense of decency?

End the Gun Epidemic in America – The New York Times

See what they did in the last sentence? The New York Times labeled opposition to gun control indecent. Huzzah!

We’ve had a massive decline in gun violence in the United States. Here’s why.

Fewer Americans are dying as a result of gun violence — a shift that began about two decades ago.

In 1993, there were seven homicides by firearm for every 100,000 Americans, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. By 2013, that figure had fallen by nearly half, to 3.6 — a total of 11,208 firearm homicides. The rate of shootings that didn’t result in death declined even more precipitously, from 725 in 1993 per 100,000 people to 175 in 2013.

Older data suggests that gun violence might have been even more widespread previously. The rate of murder and manslaughter excluding negligence reached an apex in 1980, according to the FBI. That year, there were 10.8 willful killings per 100,000 people. Although not a perfect measure of the overall rate of gun violence, the decline in the rate of murder and manslaughter is suggestive: Two in three homicides these days are committed with guns.

This decline in gun violence is part of an overall decline in violent crime.

We’ve had a massive decline in gun violence in the United States. Here’s why.

igorvolsky on Twitter: “Top 10 recipients of money from pro-gun groups in 2016: https://t.co/OMHxjG9API”

Top 10 recipients of money from pro-gun groups in 2016: pic.twitter.com/OMHxjG9API

igorvolsky on Twitter: “Top 10 recipients of money from pro-gun groups in 2016: https://t.co/OMHxjG9API”

Here’s a map of all the mass shootings in 2015 | PBS NewsHour

BY Megan Hickey and Joshua Barajas December 2, 2015 at 10:28 PM EST

As details surrounding the San Bernardino, California, shooting gradually emerged Wednesday evening, President Barack Obama told CBS News that the U.S. has “a pattern now of mass shooting in this country that has no parallel anywhere else in the world.”

The mass shooting at a social services agency in San Bernardino left at least 14 dead and 17 others wounded. It is also the deadliest mass shooting in the U.S. since Adam Lanza opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, on Dec. 15, 2012, killing 26 children and adults, the Associated Press reported.

Using data from shootingtracker.com, which is maintained by a Reddit group, we’ve updated our map that documents all the U.S. mass shootings in 2015 alone. The group defines mass shootings as incidents when at least four people are killed or wounded, including the gunman. [follow the link for an interactive map]

Here’s a map of all the mass shootings in 2015 | PBS NewsHour

When we focus on the perpetrators of crimes, including mass killings, the Gun Industry and its defenders say “there’s nothing we can do” and literally shoot down any suggestions to the contrary. Every gun used in a crime belonged to someone before the criminal. In many cases, the guns were sold direct to the criminal, by a store, by a dealer, by an individual. Let’s get that guy. 

The Gun Industry will insist many guns used in crimes were stolen. Tthere are no stats, because the Gun Lobby shoots down every effort to accumulate stats. Nevertheless, the stolen gun belonged to a legitimate owner at one time. Let’s get that guy.

The Gun Industry is massively profitable. We can make the casual indifference of the bloody industry cost them dearly.  We can shutdown and sue stores and dealers who sell guns and ammo  used in crimes. We can fine and arrest owners who make no effort to secure their weapons from theft (or use by children). Make them pay.

Perhaps a few big lawsuits and arrests will wake up the Gun Industry and make them accept efforts to keep guns under control of someone who can be trusted with a gun and keep guns out of the hands of those who can’t be trusted. It can be done.