214
submitted 9 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

The head of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives says he fears that a drumbeat of mass shootings and other gun violence across the United States could make Americans numb to the bloodshed, fostering apathy to finding solutions rather than galvanizing communities to act.

Director Steve Dettelbach’s comments to The Associated Press came after he met this past week with family members of some of the 18 people killed in October at a bowling alley and a bar in Lewiston, Maine by a U.S. Army reservist who later took his own life.

He said people must not accept that gun violence is a prevalent part of American life.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] Varyk@sh.itjust.works 12 points 9 months ago

It's chilling talking to Americans about gun violence.

They are well past any early desensitization.

And they definitely accept gun violence as a prevalent part of their lives.

Citizens from other countries are truly horrified if you posit the idea if a mass shooting to them, especially involving children.

American responses range from "look, the thing is...bullshit false rationalization they don't understand" to "I know, it's fucking bullshit!" followed by a shake of their head and a shrug of their shoulders.

Those are the extremes. Usually it's just an exasperated sigh.

That's because we know our leaders don't give a fuck about the will of the people, and they've stacked the deck so voting really doesn't matter anymore.

[-] Varyk@sh.itjust.works 16 points 9 months ago

Not true, that's a lazy conservative talking point.

It isn't "the leaders" and it isn't both sides, conservatives have led a successful concerted effort to shackle the effects and rights of voters for decades precisely because of how important voting was and still is.

You throwing up your hands and falsely implying there's no point in voting is dancing to the tune of those who want voting not to matter.

People voted out trump, for example.

Skin of their teeth, but voting got it done.

[-] Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social 5 points 9 months ago

It's been 25 years since Columbine and I've been voting the whole time. When will it start to work?

[-] Varyk@sh.itjust.works 6 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

You notice trump not being elected president in 2024?

The keystone xl pipeline being canceled.

Transgender ban in the military being reversed, funding for LGBTQ civil rights groups.

Student debt relief in the tens of billions.

Rejoining Paris climate agreement.

Hundreds of thousands of government buildings and vehicles being renovated or replaced to follow sustainable guidelines.

The largest American infrastructure update and development in history.

These changes and many, many more happened in three years because trump was voted out.

Voting matters.

[-] Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

I am not convinced that if I hadn't voted those things wouldn't have happened anyway.

Also: Still guns.

[-] force@lemmy.world 6 points 9 months ago

I mean that's just the paradox of voting. One vote doesn't "matter", in the sense that elections with thousands to millions of voters are almost never decided by a minute number of votes, but the impact of contributing to a culture of "my vote doesn't matter" is that people just don't vote, enough to change the outcome of an election.

[-] Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social 1 points 9 months ago

I vote and just assume in won't do anything. That keeps my expectations low so I'm not disappointed and stop voting.

[-] Varyk@sh.itjust.works 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Good point about guns, Biden created the first ever white house gun violence prevention office, provided funding to focus on gun violence prevention, passed the most significant gun reform legislation in decades, launched new strike forces to combat illegal arms trafficking, begin an interagency cooperation program to combat suicide rates, and tons more for gun violence prevention.

Dumps: "I was proud to be the most pro-gun, pro-Second Amendment president you've ever had in the White House" before promising to expand gun rights.

Voting matters

[-] Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social 1 points 9 months ago

Ooo yeah, hit me with that "If you're disappointed then you want Trump" shit. That's my fucking kink.

[-] Varyk@sh.itjust.works 3 points 9 months ago

I'm not sure what that means.

[-] Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social 1 points 9 months ago
[-] Varyk@sh.itjust.works 3 points 9 months ago

A common symptom, you getting confused?

[-] Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social 1 points 9 months ago

God centrists are fucking lame

[-] Varyk@sh.itjust.works 3 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

If you're disappointed in yourself, you should choose a side.

[-] Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social 1 points 9 months ago
[-] Varyk@sh.itjust.works 2 points 9 months ago

Nah, I just have loads of free time and care about civil rights.

this post was submitted on 24 Feb 2024
214 points (100.0% liked)

News

23376 readers
1889 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS