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There is something particularly heinous about the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. This guy targeted as many 6 and 7 year-old schoolchildren as he could and killed each of them with multiple bullets that penetrated different parts of their bodies from a military-style assault rifle.
This is more obscene and evil than anything I've heard in the U.S. in recent memory.
They can, but as someone else pointed out, incidents in Europe, Scandaniavia, UK, etc are much more rare.
These kinds of shootings hardly ever happen in Switzerland, and most of the male population has a firearm. And the nations you mentioned have better mental health systems than the USA does.
And even then, you have some nut like Anders Breivik.
The problem with Adam Lanza was not the weapon, but him. If he had gone into that school with a machete, it would have been the same result: Dead people. The only difference was that the shooting just made everything faster. Other than that, Adam Lanza was evil and mentally unstable.
What I don't understand is why you would ever -need- the right to carry a gun wherever you want. Why do you need a gun in your home, why do you need a gun strapped to your belt when you go to the store? Why do you need a gun anywhere other than the gun range or out hunting?
Well then YOU are certainly free NOT to carry one. Don't tell me that I shouldn't be able to.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Caruban
P.S.: I have a concealed carry license, and I shouldn't need one to feel safe.
There is something particularly heinous about the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. This guy targeted as many 6 and 7 year-old schoolchildren as he could and killed each of them with multiple bullets that penetrated different parts of their bodies from a military-style assault rifle.
This is more obscene and evil than anything I've heard in the U.S. in recent memory.
Well, more recent reports indicate the killings were primarily carried out with pistols, while the rifle was only used rarely.
The reality is that such "mass crimes" are tied to the American fetish for having those w/serious mental illnesses live "in the community", rather than to be better monitored (as is more common in the Western world). That's where some sort of resolution lies...
Europe is a group of countries and we all have cities.
They are different - from laws to how we enforce them. The country itself, how effective the city is. There are a lot of factors.
It's worse in some countries, such as UK or Italy, and then very rare in others such as Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Estonia.
Oh, you also have Russia where they happen near as much as the US... Maybe not as much but fairly close?
(PS - It's possible that since I live in Italy, I may view our shootings as more frequent than most of Europe just because I hear about it when we may not hear about a minor one in say Germany.)
Access to guns isn't necessarily the issue in the US - guns are intrenched into their culture and many are already in circulation, so limiting gun access would make little difference. Conversely, guns have never been popular here.
Access to mental healthcare is a really big factor - people who are mentally ill should be encouraged or even forced to go to mental healthcare professionals/institutes, and not gun stores.
But to answer the question, they happen, but not frequently. Gun related deaths here are very low, as far as the average person is concerned, they might as well not exist.
mental health policy in the uk ( and ireland ) is devised by liberals nowadays and they are vehemently opposed to the idea of forcing anyone to turn themselves in for treatment for mental illness , no matter how severe , the increased liberalisation of mental health policy has done nothing only increase the prison populations of various countries , when they done away with the traditional mental assylum , a significant chunk of patients either ended up homeless or in jail
Interesting - but getting a gun would still be easier than getting mental healthcare, voluntary or not, and that is the issue that really needs looking at.
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