Black lives matter?

[Nearly Sane]

You look at the graph and it seems barely comprehensible

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-36732908

[Nearly Sane]

And now this, incredibly sad that something you thought we might have begun to move past is still so powerful


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-36742835

[floo]

It is awful!

[Gonnagle]

Dear Sane and Floo,

Strange, but the only thought flitting through my wee brain right now is a saying my old Mother was heard to say, "it will get worse before it gets better".

I hope and pray that this is the catalyst, that strong minds come together and say enough.

Gonnagle.

[Nearly Sane]

Looking at the stats on black men killed by police  each month, it's been 'worse' for them for a long time.

[Harrowby Hall]

I share Gonnagle's hope.

But the USA has got to get rid of its obsession with firearms.

[floo]

If the insane Trump becomes president he will probably arm babies with guns as well!!!!

[ad_orientem]

What a fucked up country!

[Udayana]

I'm surprised that ISIS or other terrorists haven't exploited such a raw trigger point over the last few years.

[Brownie]

Give it time.

[Bubbles]

White lives matter too.


Dallas shooting: Gunman 'wanted to kill whites' says police chief


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-36745862

That's awful too.

 

Racists come in all colours.

[Udayana]

"While outside in the whitewash
Where the guns are always, always right
A shooting star has summoned
Deaths dark angel from its night"

Roy Harper, I Hate The White Man.

[Maeght]

What a fucked up country!

I was amazed by the story of the man they mistakenly suspected originally who had taken a semi-automatic rifle along to the protest. They asked his brother why he had done this at a supposedly peaceful protest and he replied 'Because its his right'.

The gun lobby seem to say that people should have guns to protect themselves and to prevent mass killings - but I've never heard of an incident where a civilian has acted to prevent one of these type of tragedies. Anyone know if this has happened?

[floo]

White lives matter too.


Dallas shooting: Gunman 'wanted to kill whites' says police chief


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-36745862

That's awful too.

 

Racists come in all colours.

In America it is more often the blacks who are on the receiving end of hate crime, not the whites!

[Udayana]

I was amazed by the story of the man they mistakenly suspected originally who had taken a semi-automatic rifle along to the protest. They asked his brother why he had done this at a supposedly peaceful protest and he replied 'Because its his right'.

The gun lobby seem to say that people should have guns to protect themselves and to prevent mass killings - but I've never heard of an incident where a civilian has acted to prevent one of these type of tragedies. Anyone know if this has happened?

Texas law was changed this year to allow open carrying of rifles.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_laws_in_Texas#License_to_Carry

To openly carry is the deliberate choice of some protesters as part of the protest. The gun carried by Mark Hughes, the man you mention, was not loaded. The right to carry is a significant part of the problem - black people carrying guns or feared to be carrying are far more likely to be killed by police, disproportionately to white people.

It does occasionally happen that a "mass killing" is prevented by armed non-police persons. This is interesting:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2015/10/03/do-civilians-with-guns-ever-stop-mass-shootings/
 

[ad_orientem]

I was amazed by the story of the man they mistakenly suspected originally who had taken a semi-automatic rifle along to the protest. They asked his brother why he had done this at a supposedly peaceful protest and he replied 'Because its his right'.

The gun lobby seem to say that people should have guns to protect themselves and to prevent mass killings - but I've never heard of an incident where a civilian has acted to prevent one of these type of tragedies. Anyone know if this has happened?

The thing is that if people have the right to carry concealed weapons the police are also going to be more ready to use theirs because anyone, in theory, could pull one out on them. It's just a vicious circle and completely nuts.

[floo]

The thing is that if people have the right to carry concealed weapons the police are also going to be more ready to use theirs because anyone, in theory, could pull one out on them. It's just a vicious circle and completely nuts.

Agreed.

The American's love affair with firearms results in terrible tragedies so very regularly, yet they still can't put two and two together!

[Harrowby Hall]

Agreed.

The American's love affair with firearms results in terrible tragedies so very regularly, yet they still can't put two and two together!

What is so sickening, Floo, is that so many Americans appear to believe that possession of firearms is the solution to, and not the cause of, their problem.

[floo]

What is so sickening, Floo, is that so many Americans appear to believe that possession of firearms is the solution to, and not the cause of, their problem.

Yes that would appear to be the case, they need to get real!

[jakswan]

Words fail me, those two deaths looked like executions.

[Hope]

I'm surprised that ISIS or other terrorists haven't exploited such a raw trigger point over the last few years.

I thought that they had.  Haven't some of the recent events occurred 'in support of' ISIS, etc?

I haven't seen the footage of the 'original' trigger event so am not sure whether it was purely a 'white' on 'black' event, but is the best response to then target police officers?

[Hope]

Whilst I fully agree with the purpose of the phrase that has been used in the thread title, I sometimes wonder whether concentrating on the importance of all human lives - not just black, white, brown, yellow, etc. - might not be more effective.

[wigginhall]

There's an interesting reply to the slogan 'All lives matter' - you go to the doctor with a broken arm, and he says, 'all bones matter', and you might say, yes, indeedy, but could you fix this broken one?

[Hope]

There's an interesting reply to the slogan 'All lives matter' - you go to the doctor with a broken arm, and he says, 'all bones matter', and you might say, yes, indeedy, but could you fix this broken one?

And an answer to that could be along the lines of 'were you thinking about the consequences when you were doing whatever resulted in your breaking a bone?'

[wigginhall]

Another analogy: standing outside a breast cancer clinic, shouting 'all cancers matter'.