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‘Gun Society’: Foreign Countries Issue Warnings to Their Citizens About ‘Indiscriminate’ US Gun Violence

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At least six countries have warned their citizens about gun violence and mass shootings in the U.S.

Foreign countries are warning their citizens to exercise caution and avoid areas and events where large groups of people gather while in the United States, in response to America’s epidemic of deadly gun violence.

The three most recent warnings come from Japan, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

Uruguay’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Monday, after a weekend of deadly domestic terror and mass shootings, warning citizens about “growing indiscriminate violence” in the U.S., as the L.A. Times reports.

“The Foreign Ministry warns compatriots traveling to the United States to take precautions against growing indiscriminate violence, mostly for hate crimes, including racism and discrimination, which cost the lives of more than 250 people in the first seven months of this year,” the travel alert reads, according to a Google translation.

“Given the impossibility of the authorities to prevent these situations, due among other factors, to the indiscriminate possession of firearms by the population, it is especially advisable to avoid places where large concentrations of people occur, such as theme parks, shopping centers, festivals artistic, religious activities, gastronomic fairs and any kind of cultural or sporting events. In particular, it is recommended not to go with minors to these places,” the alert warns.

It also suggests Uruguayans “avoid some cities, which are among the 20 most dangerous in the world, such as Detroit (Michigan), Baltimore (Maryland) and Albuquerque (New Mexico).”

The Times adds that the “Japanese Consul in Detroit on Sunday published an alert that said Japanese nationals ‘should be aware of the potential for gunfire incidents everywhere in the United States,’ which it described as ‘a gun society.'”

Japan, Uruguay, and Venezuela are just the latest in a list of countries warning their own citizens about traveling to the United States because of gun violence and mass shootings. France, New Zealand, and Germany have previously warned about the dangers of gun violence in America.

Researchers at the Institute for Economics and Peace create the annual Global Peace Index, which measures peacefulness in nations and regions.

Out of 163 countries, Iceland ranks number one. Afghanistan ranks last at 163. Canada ranks number 6. Honduras ranks 123. The United States ranks 128. The GPI for 2019 reports the homicide rate “in the US rose 9.7 per cent from 4.9 to 5.4. The country continues to struggle with gun violence, ranking 104 out of 163 for its homicide rate.”

The United States is the only country for which the GPI discusses gun violence.

Image: SWAT team arrives at scene of El Paso, Texas shooting. Screenshot via VOA News/YouTube

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4 Dead and 4 Injured With 2 ‘Shot in the Back of the Head’ in Second Chicago Mass Shooting in Four Days

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Four people were shot to death and another four people were injured in the second mass shooting in Chicago in four days. Two of the injured were “shot in the back of the head,” according to WTTW.

Citing police, the report says “shots were fired following an argument. The shooting occurred at roughly 5:42 a.m. and four victims were pronounced dead at the scene.”

“This is the second mass shooting Chicago has seen in the last four days” ABC affiliate WLS adds. “A 29-year-old mother of three was killed in a Chatham shooting that left nine others hurt on Saturday morning.”

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot “blamed illegal guns for the mass shooting, and said the city needs federal help to help stem the flow of violence. Lightfoot said the White House reached out early Tuesday to offer assistance.”

According to the Gun Violence Archive there have been 275 mass shootings this year. 19,920 people have been killed by guns this year, including by suicide.

This is a breaking news and developing story. 

 

Image by Tony Webster via Flickr and a CC license

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‘Guns Apocalypse’: Legal Experts Deliver Warnings After Supreme Court Decides to Take Up Big Second Amendment Case

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Could Make It ‘Easier to Have a Gun Than a Car’

Legal experts are issuing warnings after the U.S. Supreme Court announced Monday it will take up a major Second Amendment case, its first in a decade – and warning of a “guns apocalypse” given the extremely conservative makeup of the Court.

“This case is likely to pave the way to the Supreme Court declaring a constitutional right to concealed public carry, overriding many state and local restrictions on the ability to bear concealed arms in public,” Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern writes.

In theory what that might mean is not only an explosion of people carrying guns, but people carrying guns that you cannot see – until it’s too late. It quite literally is the Republican Party’s dream.

Vox’s Ian Millhiser warnsThe Supreme Court guns apocalypse is now upon us.” 

The case is New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Corlett. Millhiser says the Supreme Court’s ruling in the case, which would come in about a year from now, “could transform the judiciary’s understanding of the Second Amendment and lay waste to many of the nation’s gun laws.”

In short, he says, it “could make the NRA’s dreams come true.”

The case, as Millhiser describes it, focuses on a 108-year old New York State law that requires anyone who wants a gun to obtain a permit, and to show “proper cause,” in other words, to prove they have a need for it. Someone “who merely wants to carry a gun, because of a general belief that it would be useful if they are ever the victim of a violent crime, cannot obtain a license.”

The Second Amendment has just 27 words: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

The 6-3 “Trump Court” is more than likely to strike down the New York law.

“Indeed,” Millhiser writes, “Corlett could potentially dismantle more than a decade of judicial decisions interpreting the Second Amendment, imposing prohibitive limits on lawmakers’ ability to reduce gun violence.”

To paraphrase Oprah, “And you get a gun, and you get a gun, and you get a gun.”

Here’s what some other legal experts are saying:

Former DOJ prosecutor:

Law professor, Georgia State Law:

Former US Attorney, now MSNBC/NBC Legal analyst and Law Professor:

Slate’s Stern (quoted above), author of “American Justice 2019: The Roberts Court Arrives”:

Attorney, politics and law reporter at NY’s Fox5:

 

 

 

 

 

 

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NRA Snuffs Out Background Checks Bill as a ‘Non-Starter’ – and Falsely Claims Its ‘5 Million’ Members Agree

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On the same day a group dedicated to protecting children from gun violence released a difficult-to-watch viral video, the top gun lobby group issued a statement insisting universal background checks legislation is a “non-starter.” The NRA also falsely claimed its “5 million members” oppose background checks too.

“This missive is a non-starter with the NRA and our 5 million members because it burdens law-abiding gun owners while ignoring what actually matters: fixing the broken mental health system and the prosecution of violent criminals,” Jason Ouimet, the executive director of the NRA’s activist arm, the Institute for Legislative Action, said, according to Politico.

The “missive” is a draft of a gun background check proposal the White House has begun circulating among lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

While House Democrats have sent several gun control and background check bills to the Senate, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has totally deferred to President Trump, as if he were the Senate Majority Leader. In fact, McConnell says he will not even consider any legislation until President Trump gives it his blessing.

Despite that President Trump more than a month ago promised America he would sign a background check bill, as usual he caved when the NRA came calling. He then started claiming – falsely – that mental health, not easy access to guns, is the real problem.

The NRA has the exact same position, as they noted today.

Meanwhile, polls show that “83 percent of gun owners support expanded background checks on sales of all firearms, including 72 percent of all NRA members.”

RELATED STORIES:

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Tomi Lahren Warns Americans Will ‘Be Armed and Ready’ in Case They Need to Shoot Immigrants: ‘Who Knows Who’s Coming In?’

Stop ‘Gun Grabber’ Mark Kelly ‘Dead in His Tracks’ Urges Arizona GOP Party Chair

 

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