Perhaps all shootings

[SheilaT]

like the one that happened yesterday should result in wall-to-wall media coverage for a few hours. Every single one. Then maybe people would begin to understand just how often this happens in our country, and would finally be motivated to do something about the guns.

Instead, some high-profile shooting occurs, gets coverage for a day or few, and then disappears. Until the next high-profile one. But every single day about thirty people are murdered with guns. And that doesn't count "accidental" shootings or suicides. I guess all the ones where a toddler finds a gun and kills his mother, or a five year old who gets a gun as a gift and then kills his little sister, those are probably counted as accidents. But some of them also deserve wall-to-wall coverage.

[Lizzie Poppet]

1. It's only big news when there are multiple victims (or the victims are non-poor white people).

The majority of homicides are not only committed by people with significant criminal records, the victims commonly have similar criminal histories. To a lot of people, those deaths are unimportant, are "scum kills scum" murders. To me, that's an appalling POV, and one that smacks of racism, given how over-represented blacks (and to some degree Hispanics) are in homicide stats, but it might help explain why those murders aren't big news.

After all, it's only brown people.

[SheilaT]

2. And that's my point.

Not all multiple victim shootings get much coverage, other than locally. It's why so many people don't understand the degree of carnage.

Some years back the Kansas City Star did a series about every single motor vehicle death in one month's time. I think they took a week to cover all of them, and I don't recall how many there were. But they did at least a small story on each person so that you got a sense of who they were. Now, I do know that often the gun apologists point to highway deaths as if that somehow makes the gun deaths okay, which it doesn't. But the point is, each and every person has a story, had a life. The same with those who die by guns.

I'm old enough to remember when Life Magazine published the photo of every single soldier who died in Vietnam in some specific time frame. I think it was a week, but I don't remember exactly. It was powerful, and help bring the war home to all of those (myself included) who didn't have anyone over there.

And keep in mind, the thirty a day who die from direct murder by gun, are only about a third of all of those who are killed by guns every day. Around half are suicides. The rest are "accidents".

[Tommy_Carcetti]

3. I really thought that 20 dead first graders would be a major shift in policy.

And what did we get from it?

Shots of psychopaths lining up at the doors of gun shops rushing to buy AR-15s because they were scared they might stop selling them.

We live in a sick society. The "response" to Sandy Hook brought it home.

[Gormy Cuss]

5. No joke.

Still smh over that.

[Orrex]

6. As always, the most important thing is to protect the gun industry.

[Orrex]

4. Most live-on-air shootings do enjoy significant media exposure

Others, less so. It's the nature of the medium.



Hey, man, nice shot.