Mass shootings in the United States

"Republicans tell us more guns will make us safer when they know for a fact that America is the only place in the civilized world where mass-murder has been reduced to just another way of life — before death, that is... I have lived all over this world, and America is the only place I worry about being shot to death when I go into a mall, a movie theater, a restaurant, a school, a library, a museum, a zoo, or attend a parade or a ballgame. People in other countries think we are completely out of our minds. You know why? Because they know that if we didn’t have all of these guns we wouldn’t have all of these shootings. They aren’t twisted. Are you still twisted? Is this hard to understand? It shouldn’t be, because again: Guns kill things. The more guns, the more killings."

"I grew up in the 1960s and 70s. There were almost no school shootings, and I was raised in a pretty tough city in New Jersey. Nobody worried about being shot in school. Make that NOBODY. Did these things happen on the rare occasion? Of course, but almost never. And when they did, people — Republicans and Democrats — were appropriately outraged by it, and vowed to make sure they would do everything possible to make sure it never happened again. Because what kind of society would we be living in, if we accepted the slaughter of our children in their classrooms, as business as usual in America? What kind of society would we be if the best that one of the two major parties could offer up in response to these killings, was some stupid prayer. So no, shootings weren’t a major problem when I was growing up, because there weren't all these guns that Republicans have since eagerly introduced. Again, please don’t get this twisted. And let me duck in here and ask a quick question: Do you want more guns, or less guns? I bet you want less guns, because you care about our children. Everything should be done to protect our children. Democrats believe that. Republicans don’t."

"I haven’t touched a gun since I was in the military, because guns kill things. People who have guns have them for one reason: to kill things. But, sure, let’s introduce more and more guns into our society. Let’s make them available everywhere. Let’s make guns easier to get than registering to vote. All these guns are a Republican problem. They have even gotten to the point of telling us that more guns make us safer."

"The children in our cities, small towns and suburbs are under attack from mass-murdering madmen with guns. So what’s he doing? Sending our military and their guns into our cities, while warning about immigrants eating our dogs and cats in those suburbs. Talk about twisted. This afternoon, hundreds of lives will never be the same because a man with a gun slaughtered two children and wounded 17 others in a church attended by Catholic school children in Minneapolis. Who then has the gall, besides every grotesque Republican in America, to think the appropriate response to this tragedy is to pray for these children, when they were shot in a church … praying? Apparently they don’t see the sheer hypocrisy and evil insult in this. Twisted. America has Republicans to thank for our children’s bloody bodies being splattered all over the walls, floors and ceilings of our schools. THEY ARE TO BLAME."

"A child’s birthday party — a usually joyous event —turned into the site of a mass shooting Saturday night that left three children and one other person dead and 11 wounded, with the suspected shooter still on the run. The tragedy in Stockton, California, adds to a growing list of American communities whose everyday spaces – schools, shopping centers, bars and office buildings – have experienced gun violence. Children and adults were among those shot, according to Heather Brent, a spokesperson for the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office. Officials did not immediately release the conditions of those taken to area hospitals. “Early indications suggest this may have been a targeted incident,” Brent said at a news conference. “This is a very active and ongoing investigation, and information remains limited,” she said. Those killed were ages 8, 9, 14 and 21, Brent said Sunday. Authorities have not released the names of the victims."