Most Mass Shootings Target Women and Families; Study Finds Men With Legal Guns Are to Blame

[Cali_Democrat]

Data suggests that a gun present in a domestic violence situation increases the risk of homicide for women by 500 percent.

A new analysis of 56 mass shootings across America since 2009 finds women and family members are the most frequent victims, and that the shooter almost always acquired his guns legally, in cases where the gun source is known.


“In at least 32 of the cases (57 percent), the shooter killed a current or former spouse or intimate partner or other family member, and at least eight of those shooters had a prior domestic violence charge,” the Mayors Against Illegal Guns report on mass shootings said, suggesting that the problem of gun violence is far more related to violence against women in homes than rampages in public settings such as schools and theaters.

The study also found that in the cases where the source of the guns was known, almost all were acquired legally: only two examples were given of mass killings with a stolen or illegal gun. That finding runs counter to the gun lobby’s oft-cited rhetoric that only criminals abuse guns.

http://www.alternet.org/most-mass-shootings-target-women-and-families-study-finds-men-legal-guns-are-blame

Interesting read.

[gejohnston]

1. wake me up when

the study shows up in a peer reviewed criminology journal and I get to read the critiques. A claim made by MAIG or any other advocacy group isn't worth it. It is fun to read though.

[Cali_Democrat]

2. Are you disputing the data in the study?

Do you have any evidence that its bogus?

[gejohnston]

6. I'm asking if there was a study

the burden of proof is on them to back up their claims

Bloomberg tried to claim in an interview that an AR has a higher rate of fire than a NYPD issue Glock pistol, and was called out by a journalist who knew better and there are MAIG's James O'Keefe style videos that got him in trouble with the ATF.

I never take any claim by any advocacy group at face value. I went to school in the backwoods when they still taught things like critical thinking.

[slackmaster]

3. It's a tiny nit of data with very little relevance to any real effort to address violent crime.

Only a small fraction of one percent of people who are murdered die in mass shootings.

There were mass shootings, and mass murders by other means, before 2009.

Only a little over 1/4 of all murder victims are female.

...suggesting that the problem of gun violence is far more related to violence against women in homes than rampages in public settings such as schools and theaters.

"Gun violence" is predominantly a problem for poor young males who are members of minority groups.

[Straw Man]

4. From the report:

The gun-control group relied on FBI data and media reports to identify 56 mass shootings between 2009 and January 2013, where four or more people perished. These headline-grabbing incidents are less than 1 percent all gun-related deaths, the report said.

From the article:

That finding runs counter to the gun lobby’s oft-cited rhetoric that only criminals abuse guns.

"Only" is overstating the rhetoric, wouldn't you say? In any case, disproving it based on a dataset of extreme outliers is hardly convincing. What the data suggests is that one half of one percent of all gun deaths are caused by family members or intimate partners.

The study also found that in the cases where the source of the guns was known, almost all were acquired legally: only two examples were given of mass killings with a stolen or illegal gun.

Which is how many? It's a conspicuously absent number. The finding seems to be at odds with their own figure of 36% of perpetrators being "prohibited possessors."

[Cali_Democrat]

5. As the title states

This is specific to mass shootings from 2009

[slackmaster]

7. Why the arbitrary cutoff at 2009?

I think I know why.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1172109226

[ManiacJoe]

8. Link to the report:

http://libcloud.s3.amazonaws.com/9/5e/3/1252/mass_shootings__2009-13__-_feb_18.pdf

[GreenStormCloud]

9. Now let's take a closer look.

We had sufficient evidence to judge whether the shooter was a prohibited gun possessor in 42 of the 56 incidents,” the report said, referring to laws barring ex-felons, mentally ill people, drug addicts and other categories of people from owning guns. “Of those 42 incidents, 15 (36 percent) involved a prohibited possessor and 27 (64 percent) did not.”

What percentage of the population are prohibited from gun ownership? It would be a minority amount. Certainly far less than 36%

What percentage of the population is able to legally own a gun? Almost everyone. Certainly far more than 64%.

Those with prior criminal records make up a strongly disproportionate amount of the gun violence. It takes the entire population of legal gun owners, which is many times the number of prohibited persons, to get up to twice the percentage of domestic gun violence as the prohibited.

Therefore, if a woman is living with a violent criminal she needs to leave - NOW! If her husband/boy friend/ex is a law-abiding person who happens to be a gun owner also, she is in little danger.

[Eleanors38]

10. 500X? That antacid just keeps getting stronger.