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I think guns in this country have gotten out of hand. Do I want to ban guns? Prohibition NEVER worked. I do want to see gun CONTROL. You want to own a gun? That is fine as long as you are able to pass a background check that INCLUDES a mental fitness evaluation. Unfortunately, in this country how we handle gun violence is with more guns. And you add more guns and add more guns and the next thing you have is EVERYONE basically having their own armory. I know some people are ok with that but do you really want EVERYONE to be armed to the teeth? I know the argument is that that is why you have to walk around with a loaded gun to protect yourself. But who is going to protect those innocent bystanders that get caught in the cross-fire of the "bad guy's" guns & the "good guy's" guns? To them it doesn't matter who the good guys are and who the bad guys are if they get shot.
It seems like every week we have a mass shooting that we have basically become numb to it. There were 11,419 deaths in the U.S. by guns in 2013. Who knows what that number is going to be at the end of 2014. I don't care about percentages. I care that 11,419 people lost their lives. And if people don't see that as a problem, they are heartless if you ask me.
you dont have to be crazy to misuse guns but it helps.
lots of drunk people in the south misuse guns
was watching a program on new orleans my moms home town.
lots of gun killings there. one mom says the boys used to get in fist fights not anymore, they shoot each other instead.
our technology and abundance has given many power weapons that should not have them.
so instead of selectively banning guns (we have a hard time deciding who should not have them), many want to ban guns for all non police and non military. imho guns solve problems as well as cause them.
Last edited by Huckleberry3911948; 08-03-2014 at 03:19 PM..
Surely you would put your efforts into those causes first since they are the TOP 10 leading causes of death in the US according to the CDC.
Of course I support research. But are you saying that we should cure all of these diseases BEFORE we address the gun violence in this country? That is such a ridiculous argument. The two are totally unrelated.
While I do personally believe that mental health is NOT taken seriously in the US, I do believe that mental illness is an overused excuse.
Killers and mass shooters are very aware of what they're doing and what the outcome will be. We keep excusing little Jimmy time and time again and they know the insane card can be pulled.
I also wonder why it isn't chalked up to them being thugs, like it is with certain other demographics. But I guess that's a different topic in itself. We dare not place blame and personal responsibility on them in this trophy society we live in.
I'm all for gun ownership (in fact my dad is a gun collector) but I do think that unfortunately, the few bad apples ruin it for the majority, so there should be slightly stricter gun laws (no, not ban them)
That said, there are drug laws and people still continue to sell cocaine, meth and weed and continue to smoke/snort/shoot them up. There are laws against killing yet people still manage to find all sorts of methods to kill. We need to be realistic.
Anyway, I think people blame guns because we live in a trophy society. We never want to shame or place blame on people for their poor decisions. And the US doesn't take mental health seriously whatsoever.
While I do personally believe that mental health is NOT taken seriously in the US, I do believe that mental illness is an overused excuse.
And the US doesn't take mental health seriously whatsoever.
Totally agree. But the facts that mental health isn't taken seriously or that adequate mental health care isn't provided in the US are issues different from the level of gun violence in the US.
Like TreeBeard, I believe that mental illness is a factor in a minority of gun violence cases. A sizable minority perhaps, but a minority nonetheless.
Anyway, I think people blame guns because we live in a trophy society.
First, I am a gun owner who engages in non-lethal shooting sports (target shooting, etc.). I also strongly support our Constitution -- all of it, including the Second Amendment.
Now, with that out of the way, I see things slightly differently. We blame the guns because its easier and more convenient. Any serious attempt to identify and address the true causes would require us to take a long, cold, hard, objective look at our society. Don't misunderstand; I'm not saying our society is sick. I'm saying that factors in our society are combining in various ways to produce killers.
As W. Edwards Deming often said, "When you find defective product or service, focus on the system that produced it. Otherwise you're doomed to correcting the same problems over and over again." Though he was talking about business processes, it still applies.
We also need to take a firm stand against such powerful lobbying groups as the National Rifle Association. Though they claim to represent the interests of American shooters, their actual behavior over the past 30 years or so clearly indicates that they represent the interests of the firearms industry, often to the detriment of the interests of American shooters. They, and other groups like them, are the chief obstacles to serious research into this issue.
Once again, I am a proud gun-owner AND a staunch supporter of the entire Constitution.
Just my two-hundredths of a dollar, As always, YMMV.
As W. Edwards Deming often said, "When you find defective product or service, focus on the system that produced it. Otherwise you're doomed to correcting the same problems over and over again." Though he was talking about business processes, it still applies.
While I agree entirely, firearms in America are more like religion than a business process. The rabid gun nuts aren't going to be rational. If we take away a paranoid schizophrenic's guns, it's just a matter of time before we take EVERYONE'S guns. I haven't met one yet who doesn't just accept the slippery slope, they all embrace it as one of the central tenants of their religion.
The gun nuts are basically the same as the missionaries who knock on your door Saturday mornings. But they want you to buy guns instead of books. The mindset is exactly the same.
Even if our focus changed towards blaming mental illness, wouldn't that mean some level of gun control is required to ensure mentally ill people have no access to firearms? Does anyone really think that there is any sort of political will right now to debate how to limit access to guns to groups of mentally ill people?
Last edited by Oldhag1; 08-04-2014 at 02:54 PM..
Reason: Unless the topic is specifically about politics discussing political parties is off topic
Well, here's another thing. We do indeed live in a trophy society where everyone thinks their children are special little snowflakes.
It's easier to blame gun laws and guns themselves than to admit that you're a crappy parent who ignored signs that your child has/had a mental illness, social issues and went through bullying.
Again, we wouldn't want to blame anyone for their poor parenting in our society, so we'll blame the guns themselves.
Everyone says that these mass shooters were such nice loner blahblahblah
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