14 kids dead and one teacher at Texas school shooting.

by jojorabbit 117 Replies latest social current

• 

  jhine

  So it's acceptable that someone who has serious mental health problems, as you suspect the shooter does, to be able to get their hands on a gun ?

  Speaking from a British point of view l am so happy to live in a country where we can send our kids to school KNOWING that they won't be shot . Or that l can pop to the shops , which is where the last mass shooting occurred, and KNOW that l won't be killed by a schizophrenic with a legal gun

  Or l won't be killed by a child playing with Pop's revolver because it's fun .

  That is freedom.

  Jan
• 

  TonusOH

  We aren't going to get rid of guns. The 2nd Amendment isn't going anywhere and gun ownership is very high here. We have regulated legal firearms every way we can. I doubt that we will ever really even attempt to get rid of gun ownership in the US. We should increase the penalties for illegal gun ownership dramatically as one step.

  Then we can ask ourselves why so many shootings occur in schools. I think a major reason is that there are no armed guards or police allowed at the schools. Go to a school with a loaded gun, and you're the only armed person there. You are able to shoot at teachers and children until either an unarmed person risks their life to stop you, or someone with a gun arrives to stop you. The latter happened in this case, after 21 people were shot, 19 fatally.

  As for societal acceptance of the dangers of gun ownership- many of us drive cars, even though we know that hundreds of thousands of people die every year in auto accidents, with millions more injured, some seriously. We drive anyway. We also keep working to make cars safer and drivers smarter and more responsible. We could eliminate auto deaths by getting rid of cars, but we have come to accept a death toll far higher than that from guns because we cannot see our way to doing that.

  There are no perfect solutions. If you can get rid of guns, get rid of them and enjoy a safer society. If you can't, keep working to make society safer in other ways. Trying to score political points every time someone massacres a bunch of innocent people doesn't make anyone safer.
  
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  carla

  It's amazing how many mass shooters were actually on pharma meds -

  https://thoughtcatalog.com/jeremy-london/2019/09/37-mass-shooters-who-were-on-antidepressants/
  
• 

  joey jojo

  TonusOH:

  "We should increase the penalties for illegal gun ownership dramatically as one step

  we know that hundreds of thousands of people die every year in auto accidents, with millions more injured, some seriously. We drive anyway. We also keep working to make cars safer and drivers smarter and more responsible."

  Have you ever lived in another country, or visited a country that has strict gun controls so you can get a different perspective?

  Your regular school shootings/ mass shootings make news headlines around the world. The rest of the world has trouble comprehending how and why it's allowed to continue.

  
  
• 

  TonusOH

  I haven't lived or spent much time outside of the US. I lived for many years in a densely-populated east-coast city with very strict gun control laws and very little legal ownership, and now I live in a relatively sparsely-populated city in the midwest which allows gun ownership and concealed carry. I feel far safer in the latter. And the only time I was ever threatened with a gun was in the former.

  Don't get me wrong, I'd be perfectly fine if we did not have guns. I have never fired one (aside from a BB pistol) and would not own any, as I would worry about accidental discharges harming or killing someone. But I am also aware that it won't happen. I believe that the bigger issue here is that we do not punish illegal ownership as harshly as we should, while also not realizing how legal ownership can -counterintuitive as it may seem- make a community safer.
  
• 

  Simon

  It's amazing how many mass shooters were actually on pharma med

  Exactly. Can we shine a torch at the medical industry? They are the cause of a significant number of issues in society.

  Doctors. Over prescribing. For money. Often to young kids.

  Just wait till the new generation of kids who have been medically castrated grow up, angry, and bitter at what society did to them.
• 

  DesirousOfChange

  I believe that the bigger issue here is that we do not punish illegal ownership as harshly as we should,

  Seems to me that we don't "punish" illegal anything now.

  Also, I had to stop and take note of the commenter who compared abortions to shooting deaths.

  Over 600,000 unborn babies "murdered" vs fewer than 25,000 homicides by all means, and about 500 deaths from mass shooting incidents (worst year, 2019).

  We need a new bumper sticker: "(Only) Some Lives Matter"
  
• 

  Simon

  Other things to look at:

  Why can't schools be secured? It kind of mirrors the border and bathrooms issue - just why can't we stop people who shouldn't be some place from being in that place?

  There are a disproportionate number of attacks in public schools than private schools. Why is that? Is it because of the generally poor standards at government run institutions? Prevalence of bullying, poor attainment, poor discipline?

  Jewish schools have security, because they are under higher threat, and they have fewer mass shooting attacks as a result. It can be done.

  Don't tell me they don't have money as they can print and piss it away on anything else they want, especially wars.
• 

  truth_b_known

  From the statistics I found the top 10 countries in the world with the highest Murder rate share something with the top 10 countries in the world with the lowest Murder rate - private citizens are legally prohibited from owning firearms. I can't tell, but the U.S. may actually be #4 on the list for top 10 countries with the highest Murder rate, but it could just be the Virgin Islands.

  In 2020 over 8,000 Murders in the U.S. were committed with a handgun. 455 with a rifle (this includes "Assault Weapons"). 662 with hands/fists/feet.

  https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/murder-rate-by-country

  https://www.statista.com/statistics/195325/murder-victims-in-the-us-by-weapon-used/

  There is something going on in the U.S. and it has more than just easy access to firearms. Mass Murder incidents have been going on in the U.S. and other countries for over a century. Something has happened in the past 20 years or so that caused the frequency of them.

  It is a multifaceted issue. What is sad is when events like this happen there seems to be a popular reaction to look to government as if the government were a god and demand to know why the incident was not prevented. It is as if the almighty government had the duty and the power to grant eternal life to all being.

  Then there is always a demand for new legislation. The U.S. is over legislated.

  In the U.S. there are criminal laws that determine who can purchase, own, or possess a firearm and who can't.

  • Possession of a firearm by a felon is a criminal offense punishable by imprisonment.
  • Selling a firearm to someone mentally ill is a criminal offense punishable by imprisonment.
  • Leaving a firearm where a minor can gain access to it is a criminal offense punishable by imprisonment.
  • Assisting a person prohibited by law in purchasing a firearm is a criminal offense punishable by imprisonment.
  • Bringing a firearm onto school property is a criminal offense punishable by imprisonment.
  • Possession of ammunition by a person prohibited from possessing a firearm is a criminal offense punishable by imprisonment.
  • Unlawfully discharging a firearm at a building inhabited by persons is a criminal offense punishable by imprisonment.
    
  • Unlawfully displaying a firearm is a criminal offense punishable by imprisonment.
  • Using a firearm in the commission of a crime is a criminal offense punishable by imprisonment.
  • Unlawfully committing Murder is criminal offense often punishable by life imprisonment without the possibility of parole or state sanctioned execution.
• 

  jojorabbit

  So it's acceptable that someone who has serious mental health problems, as you suspect the shooter does, to be able to get their hands on a gun ?

  Speaking from a British point of view l am so happy to live in a country where we can send our kids to school KNOWING that they won't be shot . Or that l can pop to the shops , which is where the last mass shooting occurred, and KNOW that l won't be killed by a schizophrenic with a legal gun

  Or l won't be killed by a child playing with Pop's revolver because it's fun .

  That is freedom.

  Your thinking is very flawed and two dimensional. First off countries with more gun control are not safe. But with a 68 million populace, UK has a scary number of Stabbing. Would you believe 44,000 knife attacks in 2019. While knifes attacks only account for 6% of UK crimes attacks. While bats (hitting with a blunt object) or glass bottle account for another 6% so that another 44,000 attacks.

  Bombing in England, are high. And one is too high for any country. It’s a favorite method of most terrorist and foreign ISIS, Al Qaeda and other Islamic terrorist groups. With a new method emerging that involves a moving vehicle. Where persons, have access to a box truck or semi truck (a lorry for UK), drives thru a crowd or a crowded street.

  The leftist news or propaganda is another source of violence in the USA. They make up stories or focus on stories that support the narrative they want to push while suppressing the stories that do not support their narrative. London has become a crap hole from all accounts. So don't try to tell us how much of a Utopia England is. Its not.