Thread by @ChrChristensen

22 years ago, a gunman entered Dunblane Primary School in Scotland, killing 16 kids and a teacher. The UK govt responded by enacting tight gun control legislation. In the 8000+ days since, there have been a total of 0 school shootings in the UK. #SantaFeHighSchool

And, by the way, to those who say London has a higher murder rate than New York...no. These are the murder per 100,000 rates from the last year that INCLUDE the recent months with large murder numbers in London. Still WAY below US cities.

And, about knife attacks in the UK: in 2016, Texas (pop 28m) had 1,459 murders; England & Wales (pop 58m) had 723 murders. In Texas, which has HALF the population of Eng/Wal but DOUBLE the murders, 175 of those murders were stabbings.

In 2016, 1,600 people were murdered in the US with knives. That’s ON TOP of the 12,000 people murdered with guns. So, spare us all the “But people in Britain stab each other” rationale, as if no-one is ever stabbed in the US.

24 hours later: I'm from the US but lived in the UK. Some unsurprising-yet-depressing reactions to these 4 tweets. A common denominator in many of the comments was the clear, pervasive influence of disinformation about both Britain and gun control. And poor math skills.

Most common response to me: "Were there mass school shootings BEFORE Dunblane?" Answer: No. But, the fact that UK govt took action after one event showed what I consider to be decisive action. Gun control clearly made it less LIKELY to happen again, and that is the whole point.

And then there’s this: the NRA blames school shootings on Ritalin. Not insane, unfettered access to weapons of war. Ritalin. #SantaFeHighSchool

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