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A monstrous act of terror - a white psychopath in Las Vegas
Stephen Paddock, a 63-year-old white accountant, with no criminal record, flips and commits the most monstrous mass murder in American history.
The reason for this act is still unknown, police suspect that he acted alone, and have not found any links to political organisations.
However, despite the fear-mongering that happens in the US, between 1987 and July 2017, white people are still responsible for most mass shootings. In fact, white people have combined more mass shootings than all other races put together (50 acts of mass shootings are by white people, in comparison to 40 by all other races).
So far 23 guns have been discovered in his hotel room (as well as much more in his residence). Amongst these were handguns, as well as semi-automatic rifles with bumper-stocks and scopes. Bumper-stocks are used to turn a semi-automatic, into a fully-automatic rifle. With an upper limit of 800 rounds a minute, it could be reasoned that he brought so many weapons in order to save on the reloading time, by switching out weapons instead.
Despite this tragic episode Donald Trump, the President of the United States of America, avoids questions about gun control, saying that "we'll talk about gun laws as time goes by."
Meanwhile, in 2016 there was a pretty conclusive study published in the Epidemiologic Review, showing that increased gun control reduces gun-related violence and homicide. Meanwhile, the rest of the world grunts in unison, "well duh!"
Researcher Santaella-Tenorio (known for his work on firearm legalisation) looked at different countries introducing new packaged gun laws. Packaged gun laws consisted of the restriction of dangerous weapons such as automatic rifles, the implementation of background checks, as well as needing to have permits before purchasing guns.
Using these packaged gun laws Australia, Austria, as well as South Africa, saw a sharp decrease in gun-related homicide the years following these laws. On the other hand, when the American state Missouri repealed existing gun laws in 2007, the homicide rate jumped by 25%.
Meanwhile, the American media as has yet again shown their inability to handle breaking news of such scale, by releasing the name of Stephen's flatmate to the public, as a possible accomplice (that is before she was cleared of all suspicion). This lead to witch-hunts in a variety of online forums.
There have also been many horrid interviews, pushing the distressed brother, Eric Paddock for information, while he was undergoing evident shock.
Our thoughts go out to those affected by this horrendous act, whether due to the act of violence, or the systematic failure of the government.
Image credits to CreditJohn Locher/Associated Press
