Right on, there is generally very little you can tell for sure just looking at people. Sometimes we "know" people all their lives without really knowing them.
I think you are on to something there.
BREAKING: WABC: One dead in school shooting in Newtown, CT
- Thread starter B00Mer
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Right on, there is generally very little you can tell for sure just looking at people. Sometimes we "know" people all their lives without really knowing them.
I think you are on to something there.
No one's going to take any guns away.
The Congress had one of their own shot in the head (giffords) and it was 'move along nothing to see here'.
There may be call's for the automatic weapons ban to be re-instated, which we must ask, do you really need a machine gun? Maybe there should be stricter controls on accessibility and storage.
But here's another problem. It appears this latest shooter's guns were owned by his mother. Did she buy them in her name because he wanted them but couldn't get them? I suppose we will find out. But anyone can buy a gun without a background check.
If there was 'free' mental health care would that help? Maybe, but we also have the stigmatization that goes along with mental illness that causes people to not seek help. Of course I suppose that if you truly have mental problems you may not be aware or care of the stigmatization.
Word is this school was locked to prevent possible pedo's getting in. Apparently this shooter shot out a door window to open the door from the inside.
The vast majority of mass killers in the United States use legally acquired weapons. A significant body of evidence suggests the wide availability of guns is strongly linked with higher murder rates.
A Guide to Mass Shootings in America | Mother Jones
Australia’s 1996 gun law reforms: faster falls in firearm deaths, firearm suicides, and a decade without mass shootings
INJURYPREV : Injury Prevention
Just some points...
You can not easily obtain machine guns in the USA. The sale of new ones was banned years ago, and they have been strictly controlled since the 1930s. They require a very expensive federal firearms permit, storage regulations, registration, etc etc etc.....
You can not buy a handgun in the USA from a gun store without a background check. They are done instantly, from the store. In Connecticut, you have to obtain a firearms license and register the gun as well. They have the fifth strictest laws in the USA.....and it did no good whatsoever.
It would be impossible to pass Australia's gun laws in the USA, and it would be unconstitutional, and impossible to enact, as Australia bought back all semi-auto, pump and lever action guns.
I'll wager this kid like the majority of others that pull off this kind of **** was on an SSRI.
66 schools killings since 1988 where the killers were on an SSRI.
List available here: http://ssristories.com/index.php?p=school
Looks like SSRIs are the problem not guns.
66 schools killings since 1988 where the killers were on an SSRI.
List available here: http://ssristories.com/index.php?p=school
Looks like SSRIs are the problem not guns.
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I quite agree with part of your premise, I've been advocating higher standards for gun ownership for years. However, I disagree with your conclusion: "The only solution is to allow the good guys to be armed." Unless you mean by that statement the police and the armed forces.
The problem with that thinking is that it leads to the sort of problems that now exist in the US where gun ownership is completely out of control. After all if everyone is armed then that reduces the safety promised by gun ownership. If your neighbour owns a gun then the only way you can complete is to have two guns or a bigger gun or a gun that fires more bullets or more bullets over a shorter time. That is why the NRA now advocates private ownership of fully automatic weapons. But what then? Once everyone has machine guns and assault rifles then you are forced to go to the next step and acquire even bigger weapons - let's say RPGs. And once everyone has an RPG what then? It becomes an endless and meaningless arms race, one that the average citizen cannot win as the horrific incident in Newtown just illustrated.
I have no doubt that the parents of the children who were slaughtered probably had guns at home as did some of the teachers. But it didn't help them in the least did it? Turning your entire society into an armed camp is not a solution to gun violence; it is an invitation to more of the same.
Of course the government can and should impose limits and restrictions on individual behavior. That's why I can't drive 150 km/hr down the 401 while pounding back a 40 of vodka. The government has restricted my freedom to speed while drinking and driving... because of the risks to myself and society.
You want to drive a car? Take a course, and pass a test.
Want to own a firearm? Take a course, pass several tests (proficiency, psychological...) and join a gun club where periodic attendance is mandatory.
I'm not saying that these sensible precautions would have prevented this tragedy. But people don't just suddenly snap. If all firearm owners belong to a community and someone starts going off the deep end, a good chance other club members will notice. If the gun owner's irrational behavior was known to the other gun club members and nothing was done, then the club should be held partly accountable for inaction.
Not exactly true but you know, whatever floats boats.
Personally to me the solution is simple; want to own a gun, sure, why not, not infringing on anyone's "rights" there (although as I read one parent ask, where does the right of a gun owner supersede the right of their child to even live?!).
Ah, but you can't own the ammunition for said gun unless you get it from a certified range where there's strict quality control and monitoring and security checks and you've put in x-amount of hours in training, proving you are capable with said weapon, it's uses, it's safety and so on.
And every "box" contains no more than, say, five rounds no matter what kind of weapon you have. Because, honestly, do you NEED more than five rounds in your house for anything? Unless you're a poor *** shot, in which case your time at the range before you can get said rounds will do you good ;-)
I used to hunt. I can testify that hunting grouse with a single shot bolt action .22 rifle isn't easy. If I only was allowed 5 bullets, before having to drive back to the store for more bullets, I doubt I would have caught many grouse.
Now I use a camera.
Now I use a camera.
Yeah, you got that right!!!
But I find pictures just don't fry up like a breast of Ruffed Grouse.
Yep.
First of all, the vast majority of ranges in Canada are little more than gravel pits, without any permanent structure on-site.
Secondly, accumulating all ammunition at one point simply gathers it all together in a convenient place to be robbed.......
Third, I don't buy stuff, guns or ammo, to leave it in someone elses' possession.
Fourth, I make ammunition in my basement. And keep the components for thousands of rounds there......
Fifth, It is nothing for me to go shoot a brick of .22 ammo (500 rds) with friends behind our camp.
Sixth....ever been duck hunting??
Sorry, but that idea is ALMOST as ludicrous as keeping the guns at central locations....in fact, it may be more ludicrous.
PsychiatryOnline | American Journal of Psychiatry | Role of Antidepressants in Murder and Suicide
To the Editor: Since the introduction of fluoxetine a decade and a half ago, there has been controversy in the lay media and scientific literature as to whether fluoxetine and other selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants cause violence and suicide. Proponents of that position have based their opinions on case reports or large clinical groups in comparing patients taking SSRIs to those taking other types of antidepressants (1, 2). Those finding no association between the use of SSRIs and violence and suicide have compared patients taking SSRIs to those receiving placebo in terms of the incidence of violent and suicidal behaviors (3, 4).
We chose a different strategy to examine this controversial topic. We reviewed all murder-suicides that took place in New York City from 1990 through 1998 using data collected from the files of New York City’s chief medical examiner. Blood from murderers who committed suicide is routinely tested for drugs, including antidepressants. There were 127 murder-suicides over the 9-year period. Three of the murderers (2.4%) were taking antidepressants according to results of toxicological testing. A 46-year-old woman who killed her son and then herself with injections of heroin was taking amitriptyline. A 48-year-old man who set fire to rags and paper in a closet and lay on his two young sons and his young daughter was taking amitriptyline. A 77-year-old man who killed his spouse and then himself with a gun was taking sertraline.
The findings in our study lend no support to the position that the use of SSRIs is associated with violence or suicide. The fact that only 2.4% of these persons were taking antidepressants at the time they killed family members and then themselves is less than one would expect in the general population, given that SSRIs were widely prescribed in the 1990s (5). These data do not support an association between the use of SSRIs and violence or suicide. There is no evidence suggesting that clinicians should hesitate in prescribing SSRIs, which have been shown to be safe and effective, for fear of violent and/or suicidal consequences.
Some points......
First of all, I have never liked the lack of training in the USA for licensed concealed carry individuals........the requirements should be tougher, and include qualifications yearly or every two years, at the shooter's expense.
Secondly, that said, I did the math on figures offered by Josh Sugarmann in opposition to CCW. It turned out that the murder rate among CCW holders was 0.6 per 100,000.....about one-seventh that of the US population at large, and one-third the Canadian murder rate.About the same as the rate among Canadian holders of a simple Firearms License (about 0.8 per 100,000)
Josh Sugarmann: Keeping Track of Killings by Concealed Handgun Permit Holders--85 Dead So Far
7 million CCW holders. I discounted the 10 suicides that Sugarmann included.
Thirdly.....do you have some link showing the NRA fighting for unrestricted access to fully automatic weapons??? I've never heard of such a thing.
Fourth, and central to my argument......with 270 million guns in the USA, the Genie is out of the bottle. Control is essentially impossible. Therefore those people who had guns at their homes should be allowed to, with proper checks and training, carry them.
That's a load of crap just like there are no withdrawls from SSRIs. Of course there are no withdrawls in their books when the term they give it is "discontinuation syndrome". Ask someone on who works in a loonie bin if suicide and violence aren't tied to them. They'll laugh you right out of the building or find you a bed for trying to say otherwise son.