Calls for more gun control

Within minutes the Louisiana theater tragedy had been politicized by the gun controlists. I don’t recall them saying much when an illegal alien felon shot a woman walking with her father in San Francisco.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/crime/2013/12/19/mass_shootings_in_america_northeastern_criminologists_james_alan_fox_monica.html

But it’s a myth that mass shootings are on the increase.  News 24/7 makes it seem that way.   And that’s not the only myth this research busts. Especially more laws.

And, perhaps most dispiriting, the authors argue that pretty much every policy proposal intended to reduce mass shootings has been worthless. Increased funding for and access to mental health treatment? A well-meaning idea, but likely ineffective in preventing mass murder, given that, “with their tendency to externalize blame and consider themselves as victims of mistreatment, mass murderers see the problem to reside in others, not themselves,” and thus would likely avoid all opportunities to receive psychiatric help. Would renewing the 1994 federal assault weapons ban do any good? Probably not: “a comparison of the incidence of mass shootings during the 10-year window when the assault weapon ban was in force against the time periods before implementation and after expiration shows that the legislation had virtually no effect, at least in terms of murder in an extreme form.”