Comments on: The Existential Fall Out after Newtown

By: Yrro Simyarin

Yrro Simyarin — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 13:11:00 +0000

Very true. Spree shootings, though horrible, are isolated events. The number of murders in schools actually went *down* the year of the Columbine killings.

By: Smartie Pop

Smartie Pop — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 06:13:00 +0000

I completely agree with you. And I am all for the smallest of steps because they are steps in the right direction. And President Obama’s inclusion of the “Chicago street corner” in the long list of places where senseless shootings take place was one of them. If you notice, no one had anything to say about that. But in reality he was equating the type of mass shooting that we saw this week with the shootings that happen in the inner city (not letting racism play a role in how we see these deaths). Like I said, it’s a small step. But small steps add up, usually without anyone really noticing.

By: Hal

Hal — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 05:03:00 +0000

I am being repressed by the ableist fascism of the sociological establishment.

By: Jooyoung Lee

Jooyoung Lee — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 03:42:00 +0000

decius, yeah you are right. homicide and suicide are not the leading cause across the board for all age groups…but, imagine if we as a society could dramatically reduce–or even eliminate it–from the board altogether? Wouldn’t that be amazing?

By: decius

decius — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 03:30:00 +0000

No, I’m planning on focusing my lifesaving efforts on ways to mitigate existential risk. One of the ways to mitigate existential risk long term is to maximize the peak intelligence of children in the next few generations, and that can be better accomplished through third-world basic healthcare programs.

By: decius

decius — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 03:24:00 +0000

I was cutting off ‘children’ at 14; I suspect that the raise in the 15-19 age group is due to the same factors as the peak in the 20-20 age group. Also, those statistics show that ‘unintentional injury’ is a greater killer in every singe age group than homicide and suicide combined (including non-gun intentional killings).

By: Hal

Hal — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 02:31:00 +0000

Socimages Nazis deleting my post. Boycott Socimages.

By: Lunad

Lunad — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 01:18:00 +0000

also, I should point out that the number of deaths by car accident in that age group in 1999 was over 3000.

By: Lunad

Lunad — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 01:16:00 +0000

I’m not sure you are aware, but deaths of children by car accident has been dropping for years. 1,600 children under the age of 16 were killed in car accidents in 2010. 571 children under 16 were killed by firearms. The point is not that firearms kill more children than cars do, but that there can be a lot more regulation on guns and they still wouldn’t be close to as regulated as car ownership and operation.

By: The Existential Fall Out after Newtown » Sociological Images « National-Express2011

Mon, 17 Dec 2012 01:03:23 +0000

[…] It has reminded me of lessons learned while studying the families of murder victims.[…]See on thesocietypages.org Sharen mit:TwitterFacebookGoogle +1TumblrPinterestEmailMoreLinkedInLike this:LikeBe the first to […]

By: Hal

Hal — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 00:24:00 +0000

There is easy answer to the double standard. Don’t feel sorry for nobody. Just ignore it.

By: LegoLewdite

LegoLewdite — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 22:31:00 +0000

Are you planning on saving them by petulance and false analogies?

By: Jooyoung Lee

Jooyoung Lee — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 22:31:00 +0000

decius, the point of my post was not just about cost effectiveness. it was about the different ways that we as a society view murder. I agree with Lego above: the way somebody dies has a profound affect on loved ones. Murder is especially difficult to process because family members imagine their loved one feeling sheer terror before they are taken away from them. this mental image–whether empirically true or not–has consequences for how people interpret/make sense of their loss.

also, from an empirical stand point, the 200 per year count is off. according to the CDC, there are approximately 2,000 firearm homicides each year amongst “children and youth, ages 0-19). This makes homicide a 3 cause of death for many age groups. If you include suicides done with firearms, the number gets even larger.

So, my point is not to say: one area of intervention should get more funding than another, but to point out that this is a big problem and that many of us unintentionally make distinctions between school shootings and street shootings.

Anyways, thanks for your points…here are some links to the data I referenced:

Top 10 leading causes of death by age:
http://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/pdf/10LCID_All_Deaths_By_Age_Group_2010-a.pdf

Firearm deaths by age:
http://www.bradycampaign.org/xshare/Facts/One_Year_-_U.S._Firearm_Deaths_and_Death_Rates_by_Age_Group__Intent.pdf

By: decius

decius — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 21:21:00 +0000

How many children could have been saved this year by magically eliminating all guns in the country? (don’t count additional deaths that such magic would cause-this is a best case counterfactual)

Based on statistics, about 200 per year. Maximum.

How many more children, net, could be saved by unpopular vehicle inspection requirements, limits of personal freedom, and aggressive enforcement of ‘minor’ violations of existing regulatons?

By: Malachai

Malachai — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 21:15:00 +0000

We’ve addressed child deaths in vehicle accidents via new legislation. We have NOT addressed child homicide/gun deaths via new legislation.

No one is under the impression that we are going to stop children from being killed. That doesn’t mean we should not work to lower the numbers, as we did with vehicular deaths.