In the wake of the 1996 Dublane shooting when Thomas Hamilton murdered 16 primary schoolchildren the UK made gun ownership an ordeal for the few limited types of guns not banned. Indeed, some stories inquire why the current shooter's firearms license wasn't revoked when he was fired from a job after being accused of stealing building materials.
Think about that. The mere accusation and being sacked over it results in the police revoking your ability to have a firearm. No trial. No legal findings, just your employer firing you with an allegation of theft. Makes me very glad to live in the United States.
At least one comment in the news coverage suggested that mass-shootings were an American phenomena. That made me wonder if that was really true. Then I ran across this article by John Lott which shows that, relatively speaking, these mass shootings are as common in Europe as they are in America.
To summarize - The worst K-12 school shootings have not happened in America, but Europe.
18 dead - 2002 - Erfurt, Germany, high school students
16 dead - 1996 - Dublane, Scotland, Kindergarteners and a teacher.
15 dead - 2009 - Winnenden, Germany, High school students, teacher and others.
13 dead - 1999 - Columbine, Colorado, USA - High school students & teachers
11 dead - 2006 - Emsdetten, Germany
A historical look at shootings in Europe shows that the phenomena of mass shootings is not new.
2002
Feb 19: Freising, Germany: Three people killed and one wounded.
Mar 27: Nanterre, France: A man kills eight city councilors after a city council meeting.
Apr 26: Erfurt, Germany: A former student kills 18 at a secondary school.
Oct 1: Madrid, Spain: A man kills two employees and wounds another at a company that he was fired from.
Oct 15: Turin, Italy: Seven people were killed on a hillside overlooking the city.
2006
Nov 20: Emsdetten, Germany: A former student murders 11 people at a high school.
2007
Nov 7: Southern Finland: Seven students and the principal were killed at a high school.
2008
Sep 18: Naples, Italy: Seven dead and two seriously wounded in a public meeting hall
Sep 23: Kauhajoki, Finland: 10 people were shot to death at a college.
2009
Mar 11: Winnenden, Germany: A 17-year-old former student killed 15 people, including nine students and three teachers.
Mar 19: Lyon, France: Ten people injured after a man opened fire on a nursery school.
Apr 10: Athens, Greece: Three people killed and two people injured by a student at a vocational college.
Apr 11: Rotterdam, Netherlands: Three people killed and 1 injured at a crowded cafe.
May 24: Vienna, Austria: One dead and 16 wounded in an attack on a Sikh Temple.
Dec. 31: Espoo, Finland: 4 killed while shopping at a mall on New Year's Eve.
2010
Jun 2: Cumbria, England: 12 people killed by a British taxi driver.
Totals: 18 shootings. 131 dead, 43 wounded.
These mass killing sprees have nothing to do with how "easily" someone can get a gun or how many guns exist in the country. We should be firm with anti-gun arguments that these killing sprees are primariliy American or due to the easy availability of guns.
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