What Should We Do About Mass Shootings?

[fishinwrench]

A hard core reality that nobody wants to agree with or even hear about is that our society has evolved into a totally overpopulated, out of balance mess. And maybe nature is just taking over by doing what nature does..... trying to repair itself. We resist because of empathy and love for others but in the end nature will have its way and obtain a healthy balance. Floods, tornadoes, earthquakes, forest fires....none of those things are pleasant when they are happening, but the end result is always good.

I don't think it is possible to eliminate or even substantially decrease killings any more than you can eliminate or decrease other "disasters". It is just an unpleasant and hurtful thing that periodically happens.....some years more than others. And that's all there is to it, period, end of story.

[Justin Spencer]

A hard core reality that nobody wants to agree with or even hear about is that our society has evolved into a totally overpopulated, out of balance mess. And maybe nature is just taking over by doing what nature does..... trying to repair itself.

We resist because of empathy and love for others but in the end nature will have its way and obtain a healthy balance.

Floods, tornadoes, earthquakes, forest fires....none of those things are pleasant, but the end result is always good.

Exactly the reason we must have stricter laws in place as far as guns are concerned, unless we are okay with the consequences. Everyone keeps going back to the second amendment and the basis of that should stay in place, but the country (and it's technologies) have changed alot since 1791, amendments have been changed to keep pace with the changes in the country, and why guns seem to be hallowed ground baffles me. Maybe I'm too trusting, but I can see no way that gun control legislation will ever infringe on our right to bear arms for hunting, or sensible personal protection (which I can do with my hunting arms if neccesary).

My main problem in the case of natural disasters (mainly floods and hurricanes) is the governments willingness to help individuals rebuild in areas that will obviously encounter this type of disaster again in the near future, pay one time to help them move out, and be done with it.

[hfdhoosier]

Chicago has probably the toughest gun laws in the country, they dont allow you to possess one, they also have one of the highest occurences of gun violence. Gun laws dont work, only the law abiding citizen obeys laws. Criminals will get guns illegally if the laws were changed to ban all guns. The difference would be that law abiding citizen would have given his guns up and wouldnt be able to defend himself from these criminals with guns. The constituition states the right to bear arms, not for hunting or sport, but to be able to defend ourselves including against a tyrranical government. The settlers came to America and fought against their own government to create this free country. As we see, gun free zones do not work. I dont know what the answer is to the mass shootings, but taking guns from law abiding citizens is not the answer.

[David Unnerstall]

First off I don’t feel we have to do anything about it. Seventy million kids went to school, safely, that day and every day since. We are a nation of three hundred million in a world of seven billion. Those numbers are hard for our intellect to comprehend. Didn’t someone else post last year that some-thing-like seventy-six children die from choking on hot dogs each year. But with mass-media being so efficient we learn of these things immediately.

And second if there was a limit on clip-size and a ban on assault weapons I doubt if it would prevent anyone from getting a hold of such items who really wanted them.

But maybe since we assume that these characters want to outdo each other if we CAN take away their ability to stack bodies on top of each other the next lunatic might just say “The heck with it if I can’t outdo that last guy.” The problem here is we don't feel comfortable with the government going in that direction.

[Justin Spencer]

I would guess attitudes toward assault weapons would change if we were forced to look at a picture of the aftermath of the Sandy Hook school shooting. I can hardly bring myself to imagine what went on there, but for so many to be killed with only one being wounded, the only reason for that was rapid repeating gunfire. Maybe an assault weapons ban wouldn't have prevented this, but I think in this case that kid probably wouldn't have gone to the trouble of finding an assault weapon and might have just gone in with a shotgun, or a handgun that wouldn't have resulted in nearly as many being killed. Why when someone threw a brick off an overpass on to a car we put cages up there so it couldn't be done again, yet when a totally unneccesary weapon is used in a mass killings, we defend it like it is the constitution itself. We can't stop all bad things from happening, but if a new law could stop just one Sandy Hook without really affecting us (other than we can no longer blow up tv's with our AR), wouldn't it be worth it? For the record I own over 20 guns, but have never seen the need to own an assault type weapon, and recently have gone back to shooting the old Hawken and have more fun shooting a round ball out of that than anything else I own.

[Daryk Campbell Sr]

What is wrong with the laws we already have? It is already illegal to shoot someone unprovoked. The problem is enforcement. Lets keep threatening the public, but never do anything. It works for parents.... oh, wait, it doesn't work.

Make stricter laws all you want, if someone is willing to commit suicide, you will not win, PERIOD.

You can not have a Minority Report type of government. You will not find all of the mentally disturbed people, how would you start? by asking? "are you crazy?" "NO!", "Oh, sorry we had to ask..." I've said jokingly for years "Crazy people think they are normal". If someone who is mentally disturbed says that they aren't, can you uphold that as a lie? Think about it.

[Wayne SW/MO]

I would guess attitudes toward assault weapons would change if we were forced to look at a picture of the aftermath of the Sandy Hook school shooting.

What about all the kids killed by drunk drivers? Where is the blame there, the alcohol or the individual?

The last three shooters, CO, AZ, and CT have had contact with psychiatrist and that is how you identify, but the question is what do you do about it?

[DaddyO]

Stricter gun control laws will not make a difference, in mass killings, Period!

a. Criminals don't obey laws.

b. Mass murderers will get the guns they want, if they want them. How? See point a.

c. If guns are not available, Mass murderers will use some other method, i.e. bombs, poisons, etc..

Look, bad things happen. Is it sad and hurtful when they do? Yes. But the reality is that these events are caused by people not objects. Shame on us for allowing the politicians and media to use these events to forward their own personal agendas.

[Justin Spencer]

Stricter gun control laws will not make a difference, in mass killings, Period!

a. Criminals don't obey laws.

b. Mass murderers will get the guns they want, if they want them. How? See point a.

c. If guns are not available, Mass murderers will use some other method, i.e. bombs, poisons, etc..

Look, bad things happen. Is it sad and hurtful when they do? Yes. But the reality is that these events are caused by people not objects. Shame on us for allowing the politicians and media to use these events to forward their own personal agendas.

I respectfully disagree. No one knows the effects of certain gun control measures one way or the other, and to act like you are right PERIOD is what makes liberals (and some like me who are independent) dispise the almighty right wingers who are always right and can't compromise or even consider for one second that they might be wrong. Every day I become more of a physcal conservative, and at the same time have a real hard time supporting the republican party because of there unwillingness to see both sides of an issue and realize that compromise is the only way to improve ourselves as a nation. Whoops guess I brought politics into this but unfortunately it seems to play a big role in this issue.

First of all many mass murders are not criminals before their "final act", and I think the ease with which they can get weapons allows them to wreak more havoc than just hurting themselves.

Do you really think the Sandy Hook kid would have made a bomb?

People against gun control please answer me this. What is your reason behind not being for any kind of new gun control measures? Do you think this will eventually lead to all guns being banned, or do you just want your AK's so you can play with them.

[Justin Spencer]

What about all the kids killed by drunk drivers? Where is the blame there, the alcohol or the individual?

The last three shooters, CO, AZ, and CT have had contact with psychiatrist and that is how you identify, but the question is what do you do about it?

It is illegal to drink and drive, if this was legal and people were dying I could see the relavence, but this arguement makes no sense in a gun control discussion.

Obviously people are to blame in all cases, but the ease of availability to dangerous things increases the likelyhood the "evil doers" will use them for bad. If they sold bombs at Wal-mart we would probably see more people being killed in bombings in this country. It wouldn't be the bombs killing people it would be the people using them, so should we legalize bombs, sure would be fun to blow stuff up.

The question of what the psychiatrist should do is a tough one, we fear gun control will take away some of our freedom, as would turning in every person who went to a psychiatrist that seemed a little crazy, 99.99999999 percent of whom pose no risk to the general public.

We can't stop all bad things from happening, but the laws we have in this country try to minimize the risk to the general public by outlawing things like drinking and driving, texting and driving, no bombs in church, etc. Were your lives really that bad back when we had a ban on assault rifles?