Connecticut school shooting 12/14/12

http://www.ksn.com/news/local/story...bgO-Pk2w9cT9v9PELg.cspx#.UMzG6xcw2Nw.facebook

http://www.kake.com/news/crime/head...At-Alabama-Hospital-183637611.html?mobile=yes

... you guys may want to keep up with the news now too. One guys starts shooting in an Alabama Hospital. Another kid was going to start shooting kids in the auditorium and blow up the doors on police.

 

I heard there was a bust in NM where dudes wanted to take out Bieber.

 

So maybe we all need to do a better job of looking out for warning signs that people may need psychiatric help.

 

Guy was already in prison for mental instability. Don't think he was going to be able to castrate him from prison.

 

I just don't get it anymore.

 

in before the re-lock

 

I just don't understand how people can continue to say there isn't an issue of gun control in this country, regardless of whether or not this particular incident could have been prevented. The fact that generally law enforcement officers would be subject to background checks, psychological exams/profiling, firearm training, etc. yet the average Joe having never held a firearm before can walk into a gun shop and leave with a gun is ridiculous. I remember after the movie theater shooting a reporter did an investigative report where he walked into a Colorado gun shop(and being from out of state) and went in and left within a half hour with an AR-15. I'm not by any means as I mentioned previously against gun ownership, but the fact you can just walk in, and walk out with that shows there are major fundamental flaws with our laws. Save me the bullshit about finding other ways of killing and criminals still gaining possession illegally, etc. A criminal committing a crime with an illegal firearm is doing so with one that generally entered the system as a legal firearm. We don't need to find ways to at least TRY to stop this from happening? The whole guns don't kill people, people do argument is getting tiring, yes, it's true. A person can commit mass killings via other means. But it's harder to make a functioning bomb to kill lots of people, it's harder to go into a public place with a bat or a knife and kill tons of people, it's harder to hijack a plane and fly it into a building and kill lots of people. It's NOT hard to take a legally purchased firearm that is in your house into a public place and shoot people. Perhaps there need to be stricter screenings that go beyond just the person trying to purchase the firearm themselves. Maybe someone with a child with a history of mental illness should have much more difficult hurdles to jump through in order to obtain firearms. I don't know. But there needs to be a conversation. Yes, there are other issues to regarding our culture, mental illness, etc. But to say this is NOT a gun control issue at all is completely ludicrous. And remember, we need to look past just one incident. Gun control isn't just about mass shootings. Several times a week I'm seeing on the news a child gaining access to a firearm in their house and accidentally killing themselves or a friend or sibling. Gun control goes beyond just who can get them and how easily, there needs to be further common sense education. Why are we okay with justifying the fact that we have the highest gun violence rates out of any other civilized country by saying we have the most guns so it makes sense, and then people think we need MORE guns. Sure, maybe some crime would go down, but more guns out there just means we're going to end up with more accidental gun deaths, too. Goes both ways.

It doesn't matter, no one wants the conversation. The advocates against even having a conversation around this issue will continue to use scare tactics by making people believe a conversation on control means their guns are going to be taken away. It's no different than any other political issue. Lie and skew facts to get people on your side. I just can't believe we live in a society, as evident by a couple posters here that are willing to pretty much imply their right to more easily obtain firearms is more important than a 6 year olds right to have a life. Which is what it really boils down to when you say "why should my rights be taken away in order to protect someone elses?'

And sorry if the unlocking of this thread meant there couldn't be any more debate. But I think now is the time when we need to be discussing this. Not in a couple weeks when everyone is forgotten and the issue goes away. Yes, we need to mourn these poor kids, but we also need to at least ATTEMPT to look at solutions rather than just let it fall to the side until the next tragedy, which WILL happen brings the issue to the forefront once again.

 

This is an excellent post.

 

Well said

 

I don't really want to get banned but...

 

So take the gun away, would that stop someone from speeding through a school crosswalk right after school and killing a dozen kids there? There isn't a right answer, there will always be mentally unstable people that will do this stuff. With the way our culture is and the US is heading this kind of stuff is going to continue to happen unfortunately.

 

no one seems prepared to move past partisan rhetoric and engage in a discussion on why these types on shooting incidents occur in the US so much more frequently than in other countries

Just sayin

 

It doesn't happen more frequently, just more reported on.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rampage_killers

Asia, and the islanders have more.

 

I agree that taking guns away altogether isn't the answer. But can we not try to at least reduce the number of guns getting into the hands of people that shouldn't have them? Remember, cars serve a purpose of transportation. Knives have a purpose of utility, food prep, etc. Guns serve a purpose of killing. ANY item can be turned into a means of death, but we're talking about something that's sole purpose is death. I mean I could push someones face into sand and suffocate them if I wanted to, but obviously we don't need stricter sand regulations.

There definitely isn't one right answer, I absolutely agree. I just think we can do better than accepting our society as is and our only solution is "well if only the teachers had been armed." Do we want kids in classrooms with teachers walking around with holstered sidearms?

 

That graph isn't by nation unless I'm looking in the wrong place

 

9-11

 

Ain't gonna happen. Weren't you the one that started the "Why can't people discuss anymore" thread? People can't discuss civilly these days. Everyone has to be right, don't accept another opinion, gets offended too easily, and has too thick of a skull to think intelligently before speaking. If things get a little personal and one person snaps, shit rolls downhill quick and innocent people sometimes end up between the dispute.

 

True , and yes that is my thread

 

*harder

 

it must be a combination of access to firearms and something within our society that leads psychopaths to deem mass shooting as a mean of spreading their anger