Despite gun violence in ordinary places, experts say 'safer now than in long time' (CNN)

[petronius]

--- Snip ---

But experts say that the individual tragedies of such situations notwithstanding, there is nothing new to worry about.

"These incidents still remain relatively rare," said J. Peter Blair, associate professor of criminal justice at Texas State University. "For the most part, we'll never directly experience one of them. It's safer now than it's been in a long time."

--- Snip ---

Still, the number of active shooter events -- defined as one or more persons whose primary motive is mass murder in a confined or populated area, not including gang and family-related shootings -- has risen somewhat in real numbers, but the numbers are small.

--- Snip ---

"The least typical events become those we fear the most," said Bruce Shapiro, executive director of the Dart Center for Journalism & Trauma at Columbia University. "For good reason -- we do have a social contract that depends on feeling safe as we go about our everyday activities."

--- Snip ---

http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/18/us/weeklong-u-s-gun-violence/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

Nothing shocking here, but it does point out (again) how outliers drive debate in so many arenas...

[SecularMotion]

1. "You can't shoot your way into a safe society,"

Still, every new report of a mass shooting takes Shapiro back to the night in 1994 when a deranged man stabbed him and six others in a New Haven coffeehouse.

"It was very fortunate that he had a knife and not a gun," he said. "I think about that every time I hear about one of these mass shootings."

The question of what makes a safe society is fundamental.

"You can't shoot your way into a safe society," he said.

[gejohnston]

3. even more fortunate that he

didn't have a Molotov cocktail instead of either a knife or a gun.

[DonP]

4. Thanks heavens Shaprio wasn't armed!

Wow! Imagine the carnage (gun control "fans" often do I know) if he would have been able to actually stop him after the first victim.

I'm sure the widowers and families of the 5 women that were executed at Lane Bryant, down the street from me, are equally happy their loved ones weren't armed in any way and to not have that on their conscience either.

[gejohnston]

2. the old adage

dog bites man isn't news, while man bites dog is. Millions of planes landing safely every day doesn't make it to CNN, but let one crash every couple of years, people are convinced that it is safer ride a motorcycle in a blizzard.