Got that. Top post, thanks I think it's difficult to understand when you aren't a in the same country and don't fully understand the culture. It's easy to judge.
We're all ears, what are they real problems and how can they be addressed? And what constitutes crazy gun control? Competent background checks? Removing semi-automatic weapons? Keeping military grade assault rifles out of the publics hands?
I don’t think the discussion was particularly party political, although maybe because many on here, including me, don’t really understand the party politics of gun control in the States But leaving politics out of it, I am interested in what things that you think could be done instead of gun control to address the issue of mass shootings? What are the real problems and how could they be addressed? I’m not picking a fight (not with someone so well armed! ) but I am genuinely interested as gun control does look from the outside as part of the solution, but that may be because the notion of so many guns is so alien to us
Gun control for all amercians would not be possible imho The question is Why are so many young people wanting to do it Infamosy imho Each massacre killer is made famous
There's absolutely no possible, reasonable, justification for giving the public access to semi-automatic weapons. It's the ability to inflict a mass slaughter that's the biggest issue and doing nothing about it is beyond bizarre to most right thinking people.
My mates brother lives over there and two of his three kids go to that school. The eldest was off school poorly (her teacher was shot in the classroom she would have been in, but doing well in hospital) but his fourteen year old son had his best friend shot and killed and , as you can imagine, is devastated. They were all over here for Xmas so got to meet them all.
Absolutely spot on, the only purpose of those weapons is to cause the highest number of casualties possible in the shortest amount of time. There's not a single argument for gun ownership that can justify owning one of those weapons.
I think the biggest problem is that Americans (or at least the ones you hear of in the press) do not regard gun ownership as the problem but rather the solution for example arming teachers and others so that they are better able to defend themselves against such maniacs. So bearing that in mind I do not think there is a 'cat in hells' chance off any tightening of gun laws anytime soon or maybe ever!
Quite true. But the fact remains that many countries where guns aren't legally available have far higher rates of murder than the USA.
But I'd guess these other countries don't have mass slaughter rates higher than the US? I don't imagine too many people lose sleep over Mafia bods or drug gangs offing each other.
Mexico has loads of mass slaughters and guns aren't freely available there. As do other places. Someone was on this morning about guns being available means America is the most dangerous country n the world. Despite these appalling incidents it way down the list for murders. Not that I don't think making weapons so easily available shouldn't be stopped.
People think owning a gun will protect them ignoring the fact that the majority wouldn't have the skill or the nerve to take down an active shooter if the situation were to arise. They may feel safer but they may as well be armed with a banana, it would be just as effective.
Since 1963 there have been 1.5m deaths due to gun related incidents (non-law enforcement). Presumably most of those would be alive today. The solution isn't to give even more people guns, much like pouring petrol on a fire isn't an answer to putting it out just because petrol is a liquid. Arming teachers is ridiculous, it's just putting a weapon into a place where there shouldn't be one... "dare you to break into the lock box and steal teacher's gun". Somebody suggested putting armed veterans into schools. Which is even stupider. Because these attacks are nearly always pre-meditated and planned out, the veteran would be the first target. So you'd have a veteran dead, then lots of children. The answer is obvious. Americans don't need guns to protect themselves, much like the rest of the developed world doesn't. The fact that their government hasn't made a single change to this is obscene. The right to a firearm doesn't mean you need one. It's based on a document written in 1776 ffs. It's now 2018. Stop ****ing shooting each other.
Well, passing laws which cannot (or will not) be enforced is crazy to me. This guy should have never passed a background check, but he did. Why? That is still being determined. This happens far more than we are hearing, and it is usually because some bureaucrat fails to enter pertinent data into a system. In this case, where police were called to his home over 30 times, where he was reported to the FBI, where he was on medications for mental health problems, etc., etc., one can reasonably expect that somewhere, likely in many places, someone failed to do their job. There are problems beyond that. Tens of thousands are turned down due to failed background checks every year. It is an illegal act to even attempt to purchase a firearm with a criminal history. How many of these are prosecuted? Far less than 1%. Back in the 90s, the Gun Free Schools Act was signed into law. Great. What good has it done? What we need is better classified as reform rather than more law.
It's easy to say someone else doesn't need a gun. Having used one in self-defense back in 1990, I would argue otherwise. For full disclosure, I did not have to fire the weapon (thankfully). I merely had to point it at the guy who'd come into my house in the middle of the night, and he ran out the window he'd come in.
