And yet another school massacre

[fla4fun]

I think the past two years have exacerbated the situation too. Unfortunately, I do not think that gun control is necessarily the only answer to stopping the violence. Law abiding citizens would obey new gun control laws, but they wouldn’t have been going around to schools, churches, grocery stores, etc. killing people in the first place. Criminals will always find a way to commit their crimes, whether by gun, explosives, knives, poison or their bare hands. When I was in high school, I had another student draw a knife on me, when I was doing nothing but sitting in my assigned seat on the bus. That student was not punished because the bus driver was too afraid to challenge them, and the student ended up dropping out as soon as they turned 16. The following year, several students were taken to the hospital from the school because they took drugs that turned out to be rat poison and ground glass. There were more than a few times bullies beat up other students. Violence and harm in schools is nothing new.

I think perhaps an increased focus on mental health issues and treatments might be more effective, along with stricter control about who is allowed on school campuses. Why was an 18 year old on an elementary school campus? We need to remove the urge to commit the crime in the first place if we ever hope to get this under control. Why are these people so focused on harming others and how can we change that focus into something harmless?

These last few weeks have been so horrible.

 

[mrodgers]

Please don’t

So, it's all about talking of the agenda to you then and you have no interest in discussing the problem?

 

[mrodgers]

Two things can be true at the same time. Refusing to acknowledge that is dangerous.

Estimated 81.4 million gun owners. Out of 81,400,000 gun owners, 81,399,999 of them did not shoot anyone this morning. That is why many folks do not believe there is a gun problem at all and it resides in the individual.

 

[goofyernmost]

USA! USA! USA! WE'RE NUMBER ONE BABY!

What a joke, nothing will come of this. Other than "thoughts and prayers" along with "this isn't the time to talk about gun reform."

I *hate* this country. No joke.

I understand your feelings., As a veteran I never thought that I would ever say this, but if I could afford it I would leave this country in a heartbeat. We used to care about important things and reacted strongly when bad things like this happened. Now we allow kids to buy and carry weapons built to kill people, listen to incredibly bold and entitled people actually tell us that they want to destroy our democracy and all anybody can ever say is "thoughts and prayers"! We are all in for a very upsetting awakening and it will be too late. The land of the free and the home of the brave is very swiftly become the land of the easily led and home of the weak and scared.

 

[mrodgers]

In other news a judge recently overturned a California law that 18 year Olds can not buy automatic weapons. great timing.

that is actually true

A federal appeals court on Wednesday struck down a California law that prohibits people under the age of 21 from buying semi-automatic rifles, calling the ban unconstitutional and a “severe burden” on the Second Amendment rights of young adults.

Words matter.

 

[Jennasis]

18.

 

[ForceofWill]

I understand your feelings., As a veteran I never thought that I would ever say this, but if I could afford it I would leave this country in a heartbeat. We used to care about important things and reacted strongly when bad things like this happened. Now we allow kids to buy and carry weapons built to kill people, listen to incredibly bold and entitled people actually tell us that they want to destroy our democracy and all anybody can ever say is "thoughts and prayers"! We are all in for a very upsetting awakening and it will be too late. The land of the free and the home of the brave is very swiftly become the land of the easily led and home of the weak and scared.

Do you plan on providing an example of where children are legally allowed to purchase and carry firearms?

 

[goofyernmost]

Estimated 81.4 million gun owners. Out of 81,400,000 gun owners, 81,399,999 of them did not shoot anyone this morning. That is why many folks do not believe there is a gun problem at all and it resides in the individual.

Again, lets fall into "they want to take our guns" stupid discussion. I know no one that wants that to happen. Just tell me one, just one good reason why anyone outside of law enforcement or military needs an automatic weapon. Even the military doesn't carry one into a 7-11 to buy a beer or a pack of lung darts. You are worried about the wrong people. It's those that are willing to ignore laws to get control that history and common sense should tell you will make their first action be to take away any means of resistance. I feel that the fact that we can have guns is what has kept us from being invaded. However, a bullet is a bullet and automatics are not required for the same reason.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

This may be a random comment but FBI (the tv show) pulled tonight's season finale episode due to the shooting because the episode deals with preventing a school shooting. I was starting to watch the episode and realized it was an old one (but the description and first air date is accurate), so I looked up what could be happening. Unknown information on if that episode will actually air at a later date or stay pulled.

 

[goofyernmost]

Do you plan on providing an example of where children are legally allowed to purchase and carry firearms?

If you are thinking about toddlers' of course not. Stop using foolish arguments. No matter what you say about it. If automatic weapons were not so readily available a whole lot of children would have made it to adulthood. Nothing you can argue will ever change that reality.

 

[john7994]

Indeed. Knives just don't run off on their own stabbing everything in sight, pillows don't flop down on people's heads on their own, and baseball bats don't swing at people's heads all by themselves. We need to look at what the issue is, how firearms do all this all on their own.

Or perhaps do you think maybe the US has a higher mental illness issue than where ever you are? As I said, lets keep talking about the gun and not the person with the gun in their hand. 80 million others did not shoot someone today in the US. Firearms are completely inanimate. People are all individuals with individual thoughts (well, mostly. A lot of parroting going on here.)

Lots of parroting for sure - did I miss your constructive remedy for prevention somewhere?

 

[brockash]

Sickening. Just sickening. We have to do something, I no longer know what.

3 years ago I was as anti-gun as a person could be. Still don’t own one, and never will. Risks outweigh the benefits for someone in my walk of life.

However, after the past two years, I sure am glad for the second amendment.

So now I need to rethink my priors, and come up with a different solution then just eliminating all guns.

Almost no one is talking about eliminating all guns though. That's the thing...some want to scare others and rely on ignorance thinking that anyone who is for some kind of gun control is somehow wanting to take all guns away from all ppl. It's insane to me that we as decent human beings can't even agree that some regulation (like national background checks, not just state to state, bans on military style weapons etc) on a deadly weapons is common sense. It's so sad.

 

[disney castle days]

I'm a class of 2020 grad, currently in college. For reference, I was a sophomore when Parkland happened, 5th grade when Sandy Hook happened, and currently a junior in college.

We had armed security officers at our front doors. It didn't stop someone from threatening to shoot at a football game in MEMORIAL FOR A CLASSMATE WHO DIED. It didn't stop the three bomb threats that thankfully were fake. It did not stop the constant locker checks because kids had guns in their lockers and were active threats.

The first thing every teacher taught us, was where the exits were. We learned not to go to a safe corner, but to barricade the door. Grab the textbooks under our desks to use as weapons. Rip the whiteboard off the wall in order to shield us.

Every time someone as much as popped a chip bag, we all were prepared to either fight or die that day. Every time a fire alarm we would all question it, to the point that we had an actual fire and no one left because we thought it was someone trying to lure us out to kill us.

I don't know how to fix this, but this should not be the norm for children in America. I am sick and tired of walking into my classes and trying to figure out the best way to not die.

 

[Jennasis]

19.

 

[brockash]

Estimated 81.4 million gun owners. Out of 81,400,000 gun owners, 81,399,999 of them did not shoot anyone this morning. That is why many folks do not believe there is a gun problem at all and it resides in the individual.

Are you serious? I don't agree with the argument and obviously there's a bigger picture here, but you sound pretty ridiculous and really lose any kind of credibility stating that only 1 person in the US shot someone today.

 

[Planogirl]

19.

Ridiculous and sad. And the usual arguing carries on. Not only discussion unfortunately.

I just wonder though if anyone would knowingly hand a gun to a nutjob? Then why do we allow it when it comes to the general public?

 

[Disneychick13]

Again, lets fall into "they want to take our guns" stupid discussion. I know no one that wants that to happen. Just tell me one, just one good reason why anyone outside of law enforcement or military needs an automatic weapon. Even the military doesn't carry one into a 7-11 to buy a beer or a pack of lung darts. You are worried about the wrong people. It's those that are willing to ignore laws to get control that history and common sense should tell you will make their first action be to take away any means of resistance. I feel that the fact that we can have guns is what has kept us from being invaded. However, a bullet is a bullet and automatics are not required for the same reason.

Just to clarify about automatic weapons because this is probably the most misunderstood thing when people talk about gun control. The semi-automatic guns are the guns most everyone who owns guns has. They are just regular rifles, pistols, and even many shotguns. Fully automatic guns (like machine guns for example) are not legal to be owned by the general public. So if you want semi-automatic guns banned that would be almost every gun in the US. And fully automatic guns are already not legal to be owned by most people. So banning semi-automatics would basically ban guns. Period.

 

[goofyernmost]

Lol and you claim to be a "veteran"? Do you even know what an automatic weapon is? I feel like you're a 12 year old using their mom's account

Good call, close... I'm 74 years old and a Vietnam Veteran. I guess you lose that round. And what a nonsensical thing to say.

 

[Marrila]

18 little ones and 3 teachers. Their last moments on earth were horrific. They deserved the right to be safe in school.

 

[TwoMisfits]

Just to clarify about automatic weapons because this is probably the most misunderstood thing when people talk about gun control. The semi-automatic guns are the guns most everyone who owns guns has. They are just regular rifles, pistols, and even many shotguns. Fully automatic guns (like machine guns for example) are not legal to be owned by the general public. So if you want semi-automatic guns banned that would be almost every gun in the US. And fully automatic guns are already not legal to be owned by most people. So banning semi-automatics would basically ban guns. Period.

Automatic vs semi automatic...

"Automatic" means that you do not have to pull the trigger each time you shoot a bullet - you can just hold down the trigger and the gun will continue firing bullet after bullet until you release the trigger or run out of bullets.

"Semi-automatic" means that you do have to pull the trigger each time you want to shoot a bullet. As the PPer said, pretty much every gun in the US is semi automatic - it's a media description of no use when describing a weapon.