5A
OPINION
Sttnes
gainesvilletimes.com
Saturday, November 24, 2018
Shannon Casas Editor in Chief | 770-718-3417 | scasas@gainesvilletimes.com
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The First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right
of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Firearms-free
zones invite
mass shootings
BY JOHN LOTTE JR.
Tribune News Service
“This doesn’t happen anywhere else on the
planet,” California Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom
said. “We stand alone in the world in the num
ber of mass shootings,” said U.S. Rep. Carolyn
Maloney, D-N.Y. These were typical comments
after a shooter killed 12 people in Borderline
Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks, Calif.
People have been acting for a long time like
the United States is the world’s hotbed of mass
public shootings. After a 2015 mass shooting
during his administration, President Barack
Obama said: “The one thing we do know is that
we have a pattern now of mass shootings in this
country that has no parallel anywhere else in
the world.”
This belief is constantly used to push for more
gun control. If we can only get rid of guns in the
United States, we will get rid of these mass pub
lic shootings and be more like the rest of the
world, gun-control supporters preach.
But America doesn’t lead the world in mass
public shootings. We’re not even close. Just last
month, a school shooting in Crimea, Russia,
killed 20 people and wounded 65 others. But
Americans usually don’t hear about such events.
The Crime Prevention Research Center, of
which I am president, recently finished updat
ing a list of mass public shootings worldwide.
These shootings must kill four or more people
in a public place. Following the FBI definition,
the shootings we list are carried out simply with
the intention of killing. We exclude gang fights
because they tend to be motivated by battles for
drug turf. Killings that arise from other crimes
are also excluded.
Then there are politically motivated attacks,
either by or against governments. Some shoot
ings occur in the course of guerrilla wars for
sovereignty. These attacks do not meet our defi
nition. This meant excluding a lot of very deadly
shootings such as those in the Russian-Chechen
conflict. The Russian Beslan School siege of
Sept. 1, 2004, killed 385 people and wounded
783. In a three-day siege of the Dubrovka The
ater in Moscow in 2002, 130 were killed and
more than 450 were wounded.
Over the course of 18 years, from 1998 to
2015, our list contains 2,354 attacks and at least
4,880 shooters outside the United States and 53
attacks and 57 shooters in this country. By our
count, the U.S. makes up 1.49 percent of the kill
ings worldwide, 2.20 percent of the attacks, and
less than 1.15 percent of the mass public shoot
ers. All these are much less than America’s 4.6
percent share of the world population.
Of the 97 countries where we identified mass
public shootings, the U.S. ranks 64th per capita
in its rate of attacks and 65th in fatalities. Major
European countries, such as Norway, Finland,
France, Switzerland and Russia, all have at
least 25 percent higher per capita murder rates
from mass public shootings.
While Americans are rightly concerned by
the increased frequency and severity of mass
public shootings, the rest of the world is expe
riencing much larger increases in per capita
rates of attack. The frequency of foreign mass
public shootings since 1998 has increased 291
percent faster than in the U.S.
The media bias on this is overwhelming. Even
after President Donald Trump again raised the
danger of gun-free zones, the news media still
refuse to mention this fact in its reporting of
mass shootings. The attack earlier this month
at Borderline Bar & Grill occurred in a gun-free
zone. Unlike in 39 states, concealed handgun
permit holders in California are banned from
carrying permitted concealed handguns into
bars. The mass shooting Monday at Chicago’s
Mercy Hospital & Medical Center was at a place
where law-abiding citizens were banned from
having guns.
Most gunmen are smart enough to know that
they can kill more people if they attack places
where victims can’t defend themselves. That’s
one reason why 98 percent of mass public shoot
ings since 1950 have occurred in places where
citizens are banned from having guns.
The national media tend to ignore case after
case of mass public shootings being stopped by
armed private citizens. Just a couple of days
before the synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh, a
concealed handgun permit holder stopped an
alleged killer who was shooting blacks at a gro
cery store in Louisville, Ky.
National media outlets such as ABC and NBC
covered the attack, noting that the alleged
gunman told another white man that: “Whites
don’t kill whites.” It sounded as if the gunman
was merely reassuring a bystander that he had
nothing to worry about. But reporters left out
the crucial first part of the quote. The killer
said: “Don’t shoot me. I won’t shoot you. Whites
don’t shoot whites.” The other white person was
pointing a permitted concealed handgun at the
killer.
It is understandable that the media don’t
cover most mass public shootings in other coun
tries. But as much as it might not fit the media’s
narrative, the U.S. is a relatively safe place
from these shooting attacks. Still, we need to let
people protect themselves and each other. We
need to get rid of gun-free zones.
Giving thanks for inspiration
Any mention of Thanksgiv
ing — which I am about to
mention — must first include
a caveat that no one ever has
or ever will write a Thanks
giving column like Furman
Bisher, the late and great
sports editor of the Atlanta
Journal-Constitution. He
owns that category like Ray
Charles Robinson, of Albany,
Georgia, owns “Georgia on
my Mind.”
I am thankful for the times I spent
with Furman and his wife, Lynda, in
their home overlooking the marshes of
St. Simons Island as we watched the sun
set, enjoyed a crackling fire, an adult
beverage and listened to stories of every
body from Ty Cobb and Shoeless Joe
Jackson to Jack Nicklaus and Bobby Cox.
He knew them all.
A few of his successors have
attempted to replicate Bisher’s Thanks
giving column, but they have all turned
out poor imitations. This one likely will
be no better but it’s the thought that
counts. Some of you will see this after
Thanksgiving Day, but that is OK. I
haven’t checked the rule book but I think
it is permissible to be thankful all day,
every day.
I am thankful I live in a country where
we can dispute election results but don’t
have to worry about tanks in the street. I
pray that never changes.
I am thankful for an automobile that
tells me how to get to where I am going,
honks at me if I leave my keys in the car
and warns me when my tires need air.
All the stuff I used to have to do myself.
I am thankful for good
health, particularly after a
period in which I didn’t have
it. I discovered I was not as
invincible as I thought I was
and hope I never forget how
fragile life really is, particu
larly when it is your own.
I am thankful for our mili
tary and for our first respond
ers, and I would hate to think
of the world without them.
I am thankful for dogs that
don’t bark just for the sake of barking.
I have always thought that a dog’s IQ
could be measured by how little it barks.
And if it does bark, watch out because it
means it.
I am thankful for people like state
Sens. Lindsey Tippins of Cobb County
and Jack Hill of Reidsville, two of the
wise men in the legislature. In these days
of shout-down, camera-mugging ideologi
cal politics, they quietly and effectively
do their jobs and give me faith that we
can still get good people to run for public
office.
I am thankful for smells: Freshly
mowed grass, corn muffins in the oven,
talcum powder, roses.
I am thankful for sounds: A child’s
laughter, a trout stream, Chet Atkins’ gui
tar, Handel’s “Messiah.”
I am thankful for my church and the
people within who have loved and sup
ported us through some dark days. My
spiritual leader, Bill Burch, currently has
the assignment of trying to lead me not
into temptation but deliver me from evil.
It is full-time work.
I am thankful for the chiming of the
grandfather clock during the night. For
reasons I don’t quite understand, it gives
me reassurance that everything is OK
and to go back to sleep.
I am thankful for our public school
teachers. We expect them to shut the
doors on society’s ills and teach kids how
to read and write and think. Somehow,
they do it despite of all the obstacles we
put in their path and I thank God for
them.
I am thankful for a family better than
I deserve, including in-laws. They have
taught me over the years that success
isn’t measured in how many awards
you win but in whether or not you have
earned their love and respect. I think I
have but I don’t know how.
I am thankful I have had an opportu
nity over the past 20 years to share my
thoughts with you on everything from
broccoli (I hate it) to the University of
Georgia, the oldest state-chartered uni
versity in the nation, located in Athens,
the Classic City of the South (I love it.)
And that you tell me when you agree and
when you disagree. I am also thankful to
the editors who make it possible for us to
meet like this.
Finally, thank you, Furman Bisher, for
the inspiration for this column. You can
rest easy, my friend, that I did my best
but didn’t come close to your legendary
Thanksgiving columns. For that, we can
all be thankful.
Dick Yarbrough is a North Georgia
resident whose column regularly appears
Saturdays. Contact him at P.0. Box
725373, Atlanta, GA 31139; online at
dickyarbrough.com; or on Facebook.
DICK YARBROUGH
dick®
dickyarbrough.com
JOEL PETT I Tribune News Service
Quitting Facebook: Isolating, freeing
BY D. RYAN SCHURTZ
Tribune News Service
I was a regular Facebook user for
about 10 years, and I still keep an
account open that I check from time to
time. But, shortly after my children were
born, I decided that using Facebook
was not helping me to live my life in a
meaningful way and might have been
adding to my re-emerging feelings of
depression. So, after a few false starts, I
stopped using it. I found that after I quit,
I really did not miss it very much. Sure,
I lost touch with what was happening
with some of my acquaintances and felt
a little more isolated, but I also felt oddly
freed.
As a social psychologist, the idea that
having less social contact with people I
considered “friends” might be making
me feel better really surprised me. How
ever, a closer look at the science of Face-
book suggests that I should not have been
surprised at all. Several studies of Face-
book users have indicated that “Face-
book Depression” is a consequence for
many users and that the more a person
uses Facebook the worse they will feel.
There are two possible reasons for this.
First, the social connections it helps us to
make are not always satisfying, and sec
ond, we may become infected with the
negative emotions of others.
This seems very counter-intuitive,
given the mechanics of Facebook. The
friend requests, the pokes and the likes
all suggest that Facebook is a nurturing
and supportive environment. In fact, one
research study showed that the more
college students used Facebook, the less
lonely they felt. Facebook is, in many
ways, an excellent social platform. It
helps us to reunite with old friends and
to stay connected to new ones. It encour
ages us to share information and experi
ences that help us to feel connected with
each other.
But consuming the experiences of
others can be a dangerous game. Many
social scientists believe that humans
have a need to evaluate themselves rela
tive to others. Seeing a friend’s photo
graphs from their trip to Tahiti, hearing
about how great your cousin’s kids are
at soccer, seeing your neighbor’s “beach
body” or hearing about how much your
classmate loves her new job, can trig
ger feelings of envy and inferiority. The
more obnoxiously the posts brag about
how great our friends’ lives are, the
more painful they can be to us. We have
a natural tendency to want to rank our
selves with others and a tendency to feel
badly when we don’t measure up.
Of course, not all posts are brags about
athletic prowess or carefully curated
selfies. Some posts are downright
depressing: people complaining about
their coworkers, their finances or politi
cians. Some people, it seems, use Face-
book as a cathartic outlet for their rage,
disgust, pain and sadness. It would make
sense, given the fact that positive posts
might make us feel bad about ourselves,
that these negative posts might make
us feel better about ourselves. Unfortu
nately, that doesn’t seem to be the case.
Recent research suggests that nega
tive emotions can spread through social
networks. A study from California found
that rainy days lead to more negative
Facebook posts, and those posts, in turn,
lead others to post negative things. Given
that something as benign as a rainy day
can send ripples of sadness through a
social network, one can only imagine the
impact that other events (break-ups, ill
nesses, car accidents) might have.
For me, quitting Facebook was a little
thing that I found made me a lot happier.
My depression didn’t automatically dis
sipate overnight, but I felt like I wasn’t
wasting time comparing myself to other
people. I felt less inferior to people I
hadn’t seen in years.
But, of course, I do feel a little lonelier.
Your government officials
President Donald ftump, The White House, 1600
Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20500,202-
456-1111,202-456-1414, fax, 202-456-2461; www.
whitehouse.gov
Sen. Johnny Isakson, 131 Russell Senate Office Building,
Washington, DC 20510, 202-224-3643, fax, 202-228-
0724; One Overton Park, 3625 Cumberland Blvd., Suite
970, Atlanta 30339, 770-661 -0999, fax, 770-661 -0768;
isakson.senate.gov
Sen. David Perdue, 383 Russell Senate Office Building,
Washington, DC 20510, 202-224-3521, fax 202-228-1031;
3280 Peachtree Road NE Suite 2640, Atlanta 30303,404-
865-0087, fax 404-865-0311; perdue.senate.gov.
U.S. Rep. Doug Collins, 1504 Longworth House Office
Building, Washington, DC 20515, 202-225-9893; 210
Washington St. NW, Suite 202, Gainesville 30501,770-
297-3388; dougcollins.house.gov
(The fumes
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Shannon Casas
