Let me understand this. The latest mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, which killed 14 people and injured 21 others, represented the 355th such mass shooting in 2015. Mass shootings are usually defined as incidents in which four or more people, including the gunman, are killed or injured by gunfire. According to the Reddit tracker, the number of mass shootings so far this year in the U.S. has already surpassed the total number of mass shootings in 2014. At this pace, the total will be well above 2013’s pace, when a total of 363 mass shootings were recorded.
What is really difficult to understand is why Congress would block an attempt to ban the sale of weapons to persons on the American potential terrorist watch list. According to the Government Accountability Office and The Washington Post’s Wonkblog, more than 2,000 terrorism suspects purchased guns in the U.S. between 2004 and 2014. Democrats have repeatedly proposed closing that loophole, but the National Rifle Association and its Republican allies have apparently blocked those efforts, so it’s still legal.
In addition, just hours before this latest mass shooting, more than 2,000 physicians from around the country petitioned federal lawmakers to lift a restriction on research. For nearly two decades, the restriction essentially blocked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from conducting research on gun violence. The doctors spoke about the need to view gun violence as a public health epidemic and research ways to solve it – as the country would with any disease causing thousands of American deaths each year. The removal of the restriction would have in no way infringed on the rights of gun owners.
As in the case of other mass killers, the authorities discovered that the assailants had large caches of lethal arms and ammunition in their possession. Police found more than 1,600 rounds of ammunition on or near the California couple, suggesting that they were prepared for a long siege. Police recovered two assault rifles and two 9mm pistols, all legally purchased, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Kind of makes you wonder why such large quantities of munitions and the purchase of assault rifles wouldn’t have raised some eyebrows!
When one person dies in America every 16 minutes from a gun, people discuss an urgent need to talk about remedies. Democrats, including President Obama, want to address America’s problems with guns. Republicans talk about the need to address mental health. Both are right. Society routinely constructs policies that reduce the toll of deadly products and activities all around us. That’s what we do with cars (driver’s licenses, seatbelts, guardrails). It’s what we do with swimming pools (fences, childproof gates, pool covers). We often pre-examine and licence people (police officers, military personnel, drivers, pilots) so as to prevent persons with mental or other health issues from potentially endangering public safety. Indeed, when it comes to improving universal background checks, recent polls have shown that a majority of gun owners would approve such an initiative. So one can only ask why Americans aren’t ready to really deal with this issue? I don’t have an answer or logical explanation. Maybe you do.
FROLITICKS 
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