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Guns, stress and politics: U.S. road rage shootings on the rise

57 Comments
By Cyril JULIEN

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57 Comments

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There are few social problems that introducing more fire arms won’t make worse.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

Is anyone surprised. I think not. Welcome to normal dysfunctional USA.

4 ( +7 / -3 )

Environmental and cultural reasons.

It's why Hackney in the UK is more dangerous than other parts of London.

Hackney has an overall crime rate of 106 per 100,000 - including robbery and bicycle theft.

The US as a whole - so that’s including all those ‘safe, law-abiding’ communities - has a violent crime rate of 398.5 per 100,000.

Looks like Hackney is getting something right.

Or the US is getting something very wrong.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Wallin, a psychologist based in Pennsylvania, said that because Americans are increasingly polarized, a person cutting you off in traffic is more likely seen as the "enemy" rather than an "inconvenience."

When your health insurance can be ended for losing your job and elected politicians are working to limit your unemployment insurance because their is a "worker shortage" not a wage shortage; then it is a matter of life and death for some people.

The free labor market and competition at work.

2 ( +6 / -4 )

guns are a sacred fetish for many Americans

Exactly and proof of that is they happily go to Japan while leaving their guns behind without even complaining about it. Hunting is one thing. But other people have handguns and semi auto rifles because they like them simply. They don't really do that much to protect you.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

In Japan they use knives, clubs, and sometimes gasoline to put their anger on others. The problem is not because of the GUN. It's that people are not taught proper gun safety and respect for the dangers improper handling of a gun can cause.

The same can be said for knives. More people are killed in the USA with fist & feet, knives and clubs than with rifles. Real and very large amounts of deaths are from DRUGS in America. Far far more than guns.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

or dont provoke people in the first place, which is what happened in this case. 

unlike this site, the real world has consequences.

In the real world (outside of the US and some other hellholes) rude gestures and arguments over parking spaces don’t get you shot.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

dont provoke people in the first place, which is what happened in this case?

Were Patrick Wood Crusius or Micah Xavier Johnson provoked? And how about provoking people in Japan? People also get arrested for provoking, no gun needed, just walk away and call 110. Works well.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Absent that, was no shooting.

Then how come the shooter is in prison for defending himself from an obscene gesture? It's Stand Your Groud. Wasn't he in fear of his life from the obscene gesture?

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No it’s not. We don’t have this problem where I live

Because you live in Japan. If you lived in America, you would have this problem.

and one reason for that is, the gun laws are heavily enforced.

Japan has gun laws. America has very few gun laws to enforce.

When guns laws that are on the books are not heavily enforced like Chicago for instance then yes, you will see daily shootings and it will never end.

When the people are allowed to own guns, people in that community will be shot by guns. It's impossible to have the former without the latter.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

This is a crime problem. Millions of people in the US have firearms, and do not shoot people.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

cleoToday  10:23 am JST

Ok, so if it isn't the gun but the person who's to blame, why are there so many murderous thugs in America?

Environmental and cultural reasons.

It's why Hackney in the UK is more dangerous than other parts of London.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

Lots of guns and stupid people don’t mix. I’d be very hesitant about getting into an argument with anybody you don’t know in the USA. They’ll shoot you for the dumbest of reasons if they possess a gun.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

lincolnmanToday  12:06 pm JST

*After a speeding driver cut her off abruptly on a Californian highway in May, Joanna Cloonan gestured rudely towards the car. A passenger grabbed a pistol and fired at her vehicle, killing her six-year-old son in the back seat.*

And is it any surprise? You have red states across American loosening common sense gun control - allowing the open carry of assault rifles to permitting concealed carry with ZERO training...

The surprise is that you think California is a red state.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

if the woman had not made an obscene gesture would the person have ever fired a gun at her car?

NOPE.

If there had not been a gun in the car, would the person have ever fired a gun at her car?

NOPE

And a little girl would still be alive.

Because of a nutter.

A nutter with a gun.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

The Offspring summarized it well in their "Bad Habit":

Hey, man, you know I'm really okay

The gun in my hand will tell you the same

But when I'm in my car, don't give me no cr@p

’Cause the slightest thing and I just might snap

0 ( +1 / -1 )

If people didn’t have guns, this wouldn’t be a story.

It’s not the problem of the gun. I own a bunch of guns and I never threatened anyone with them

It IS a problem of the gun. I live in a country that doesn't allow them, and we don't have such incidents, ever. The right to own guns comes with the fact that more people in that area will get shot more often, by the very things that are supposedly supposed to protect them.

0 ( +4 / -4 )

A recent study found that every 18 hours, someone in the U.S. is either shot and killed or injured during a road rage incident.

https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/atlanta/road-rage-deaths-spiking-across-metro-reports-show/EV44YVMCEZCSZEZN3LI3UUPT3E/

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Road rage happens everywhere. 

Yes, everywhere in the world, take your pick

Yes, everywhere in the world, the difference being that in places were people don't carry guns with them as a matter of course, people don't get shot.

Usually Europeans think they’re always right and never wrong especially when they critique Americans.

Well they are usually right when criticising Americans. Especially those Americans who think guns and freedumb are a religion.

That’s a problem with the person and the environment

Ok, so if it isn't the gun but the person who's to blame, why are there so many murderous thugs in America?

0 ( +3 / -3 )

I own a bunch of guns [in the USA]

Yes

We don’t have this problem where I live [in Texas]

Patrick Wood Crusius? Micah Xavier Johnson? Both in Texas

living in Chicago you’re chances of getting shot go drastically up

Only for people in the dark alleys doing dirty business. My business is at public places like Walmart which is where mass shootings happen. What happens in Chicago does not apply to me. And even if I go to Chicago that will not apply to me since my business there is NOT in the dark alley. Also, these guns in Chicago come from places with looser gun laws. They don't magically grow on trees.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

this government went around trampling its neighbors though

In the 1600s?

Rittenhouse was forced to defend himself

Yes, so? You can do the same in Japan with a baseball bat. But if KR had taken one shot carelessly and gotten someone in the background it would have been different. Now he will make a lot of money being on Hannity. Good on him, I would do the same thing myself since Trump people see him as a kid God, as well as all the chicks he's going to get. I don't blame him, especially in this Gig economy. Make hay when the sun shines. But he was lucky not to be incarcerated. Michael Dunn in Florida was not lucky.

this government isn't going to do anything to me.

Why not? They have all the guns. Why live in a country that does not allow guns?

It wasn't too long ago that this government went around trampling its neighbors though, and the populace could do nothing to prevent it.

You will need a lot more than an AR if the government decides to do this. What if they bomb your house? Let's say the National Guard comes at you with a Milkor MGL, and all you have is your little AR pea shooter?

0 ( +1 / -1 )

They are heading to civil war.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

And one wonders if this shooter had recently watched Fox Nation...

Stephen Hayes and Jonah Goldberg, two longtime conservative commentators on Fox News, said that they are quitting the network, concluding that “the voices of the responsible are being drowned out by the irresponsible.”

They specifically cited Tucker Carlson’s three-part documentary Patriot Purge, which ran on Fox Nation, which they said was “a collection of incoherent conspiracy-mongering, riddled with factual inaccuracies, half-truths, deceptive imagery, and damning omissions. And its message is clear: The U.S. government is targeting patriotic Americans in the same manner —and with the same tools—that it used to target al Qaeda.”

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/two-fox-news-contributors-quit-024253097.html

These two conservative commenters had enough - they left Fox this week because of this violence-inciting dangerous rhetoric...

0 ( +1 / -1 )

stormcrowToday  10:35 am JST

Lots of guns and stupid people don’t mix. I’d be very hesitant about getting into an argument with anybody you don’t know in the USA. They’ll shoot you for the dumbest of reasons if they possess a gun.

Highly unlikely you would be in a location at the same time a person who is prone to shoot people would also be there.

I feel less safe driving on any highway in the US. More people will be killed in car crashes than killed intentionally by someone with a gun.

Now if we are talking Mexico, Colombia, parts of Russia, then I would be more concerned about being shot.

But the gun violence in the US is segregated to small areas, and the victims of gun violence are an even more segregated group, so no worries.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

The guns used to commit crimes in Chicago come from criminals.

Yes, and they grow on trees as stated on Hannity and Tucker. It's magic!! Then the criminals harvest them.

You are safer in a Walmart than in many neighborhoods in the US.

And who pays for all this security? Now these places have armed security guards and off duty cops - as well as on duty patrol cars which are charged to the bussiness. It makes things more expensive. Popular venues have more off duty cops because of the risk of mass shootings and who pays for that. Just so the big boys can have more toys (which must be left home when they come to Japan). Thanks NRA, you have implemented an effective gun tax. Notice one reason why Japan is cheaper generally?

parking their car

At Walmart? Where exactly?

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

nishikatToday  11:20 am JST

Yes, and they grow on trees as stated on Hannity and Tucker. It's magic!! Then the criminals harvest them.

A lot more harvesting by people who do not shoot anyone.

At Walmart? Where exactly?

In a parking garage. In Chicago.

https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2021/06/20/river-north-parking-garage-shooting/

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

It's amazing the NRA2ATrump pro gun people living in Japan with no guns allowed. I'm wondering how they sleep at night since the government here has all the guns.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

After a speeding driver cut her off abruptly on a Californian highway in May, Joanna Cloonan gestured rudely towards the car. A passenger grabbed a pistol and fired at her vehicle, killing her six-year-old son in the back seat.

And is it any surprise? You have red states across American loosening common sense gun control - allowing the open carry of assault rifles to permitting concealed carry with ZERO training...

https://www.10tv.com/article/news/politics/house-committee-passes-bill-allowing-for-concealed-carry-of-guns-without-training/530-2319005a-deb3-4db8-bca7-b27928cc8b19

It's wild west time - carry your piece and use it to solve any grievance...

Welcome to MAGA-world....

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

nishikatToday  11:52 am JST

It's amazing the NRA2ATrump pro gun people living in Japan with no guns allowed. I'm wondering how they sleep at night since the government here has all the guns.

It wasn't too long ago that this government went around trampling its neighbors though, and the populace could do nothing to prevent it.

And not being Japanese myself, this government isn't going to do anything to me.

It is easy to see a pattern in the US, with the 100s of insurrections the past year, and the accompanying gun violence by the participants.

Even the Kenosha insurrection where Rittenhouse was forced to defend himself was filled with gun violence two days before he even showed up. For his safety, he should have stayed away from where these criminals tend to assemble.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

It IS a problem of the gun.

No it’s not. We don’t have this problem where I live and one reason for that is, the gun laws are heavily enforced. When guns laws that are on the books are not heavily enforced like Chicago for instance then yes, you will see daily shootings and it will never end.

I live in a country that doesn't allow them,

That’s your country and if that’s the law, that’s fine. But I’m my State, we CAN own a firearm and as I have just mentioned, we have a farm and if we didn’t have and own firearms we would be in a world of trouble.

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

Yes, everywhere in the world, the difference being that in places were people don't carry guns with them as a matter of course, people don't get shot.

Well, again it depends and I will say this, living in Chicago you’re chances of getting shot go drastically up, it depends, not where I live, could it happen, it can. But I just never seen anything like that even when I was in California..

Well they are usually right when criticising Americans.

As we are criticizing them.

Ok, so if it isn't the gun but the person who's to blame, why are there so many murderous thugs in America?

A lot of them surprisingly aren’t Americans which is also a huge and growing problem.

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

Lots of guns and stupid people don’t mix. I’d be very hesitant about getting into an argument with anybody you don’t know in the USA. They’ll shoot you for the dumbest of reasons if they possess a gun

there are a lot of stupid people in the world without guns as well and dangerous and why would anybody want to argue with anyone? I think the best thing is to avoid any argument with anyone, that would be the best solution, talk things out, easy to resolve issues and when people make it about themselves, that’s when things start to happen, things that are easily avoidable.

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

nishikatToday  10:56 am JST

Only for people in the dark alleys doing dirty business. My business is at public places like Walmart which is where mass shootings happen. What happens in Chicago does not apply to me. And even if I go to Chicago that will not apply to me since my business there is NOT in the dark alley. Also, these guns in Chicago come from places with looser gun laws. They don't magically grow on trees.

The guns used to commit crimes in Chicago come from criminals.

People get shot in Chicago walking down the sidewalk in the daytime, or parking their car in a garage.

You are safer in a Walmart than in many neighborhoods in the US.

https://www.thetrace.org/2020/09/mass-shootings-2020-gun-violence-black-neighborhoods/

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

But it causes it. Why do you keep changing the words? No one said it was justified.

what caused this entire incident? An obscene gesture. Absent that, was no shooting.

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

The guns used to commit crimes in Chicago come from criminals.

People get shot in Chicago walking down the sidewalk in the daytime, or parking their car in a garage.

You are safer in a Walmart than in many neighborhoods in the US.

Bingo! Exactly.

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

not who is to blame, but what CAUSED it.

if the woman had not made an obscene gesture would the person have ever fired a gun at her car?

NOPE.

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

You know how this never happens?

hint:

Joanna Cloonan gestured rudely towards the car.

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

 I mean, are you serious?

yes, absent her gesture there would have been no shooting. correct?

-5 ( +0 / -5 )

If people didn’t have guns, this wouldn’t be a story.

It’s not the problem of the gun. I own a bunch of guns and I never threatened anyone with them, most people in my city have guns and all of them are respectable and law-abiding citizens.

Road rage happens everywhere.

Yes, everywhere in the world, take your pick

Americans, with their arrogant assertions that they are always right and never wrong,

Usually Europeans think they’re always right and never wrong especially when they critique Americans.

and their beloved guns, however, make a situation where tempers fray into a potentially lethal confrontation

That’s a problem with the person and the environment as well as the city or state that doesn’t enforce its gun laws, that’s the real issue. Also, I have a farm and you are out of your mind if don’t possess a few firearms. If you don’t have livestock I guess so, but if you do, then that’s a very different story.

-6 ( +3 / -9 )

or dont provoke people in the first place, which is what happened in this case.

unlike this site, the real world has consequences.

-6 ( +1 / -7 )

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