Why Did Guns Start Becoming A Prioblem? (legal, weapon, extremist)
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I'd say that depends where you live. I graduated high school in Texas in 1987, and there were pickup trucks in the school parking lot with gun racks and guns on them. No one thought to bring those into the school and shoot anyone. They were for hunting. It was very soon after I graduated that guns started to become a problem in schools, mostly due to the rise in gang violence. That's when the schools started their "Drug Free, Gun Free" school zones.
I graduated high school in 1972, and experienced pretty much the same thing you did. Guns were everywhere. I have had access to firearms since age 8, and was hunting on my own by age 10. I have been hunting ever since.
There have been hundreds of school shooting in the US. The earliest school shooting incident goes back to 1764. The number of school shooting over the last two centuries has stayed relatively low until the 1990s. After Congress created the "Gun Free School Zones" the number of school shootings have skyrocketed. Just between 2010 and 2013 alone there were 48 school shootings in the US with a total of 78 dead.
It is the "Gun Free School Zones" that are getting children killed by the score, not the number or type of firearms. Liberals obviously hate children.
Population growth. The population of this nation grew from 76 mil in 1900 to 300 mil in 2006. It also became more urbanized as a majority of the population increase occurred in the cities. People living close together inevitably experience more conflict. One can see a possible link between an increase in gun violence and an increase in population density.
Oh good grief, parenting skills have nothing to do with guns When I grew up guns were pretty much unheard of, no one had them. Now they are very plentiful.
Then you grew up in a very vanilla household. Parenting, on the other hand, has gone down the $hi!tter
My personal view is that it boils down to people being different. There is a part of our society that owns firearms, and uses them for various purposes. To us, as I am part of the latter segment, firearms are a part of our lives. Having guns is as natural as breathing. We have trained ourselves in their use, and educated ourselves in how they function. A great many of us take that a step beyond, loading our own ammunition, even building our own firearms or customizing existing ones. We hunt, compete, keep guns on hand for defensive use, target shoot, or just plain old plink, rolling old cans around for giggles. We do not force our views on anyone, keep to our own, and just wish to be left alone. Yes, there are extremists. They are NOT representative of the main body of the shooting community. We serious shooters dislike this bunch as much as the gun hating crowd does. A fact that is not talked about enough. Tbe rabid disarmament junkies like to use this small minority as general examples of the shooting community, as a whole. It fits their agenda better.
With the later statement in mind, I move on. The other segment of our society that both disdains and fears firearms, or weapons, of all sorts. They are not content to keep to themselves, and leave us be. They really dont have much knowledge of firearms, but, they view them, and firearms owners, with contempt. The views they hold, they wish to become law, and force all to comply with their take on things. Driven by fear and what they call "social conscience", they clamour for the end to the American tradition of firearms in the hands of the citizens.
Thus, having been forced to it, to protect our rights and lifestyle, the shooting community has to push back, and ugly, highly charged, confrontations happen. The rhetoric flows like booze at a Shriners convention. The current fad is this, so called, assault weapons" debate.
Aided by a doting media, the latter term , used to describe semi auto versions of various service rifles, generally, proliferates, along with tons of other deceptive terminology and misinformation. This does not help, at all, in aiding intelligent discourse when the respective sides vet to talking about criminal misuse of the mentioned weapons.
Unfortunatly, I dont see that situation changing, anytime soon. But, untill it does, and the respective sides can talk on equal footing, in a RATIONAL manner, no resolutions will be forthcoming.
I graduated high school in 1972, and experienced pretty much the same thing you did. Guns were everywhere. I have had access to firearms since age 8, and was hunting on my own by age 10. I have been hunting ever since.
There have been hundreds of school shooting in the US. The earliest school shooting incident goes back to 1764. The number of school shooting over the last two centuries has stayed relatively low until the 1990s. After Congress created the "Gun Free School Zones" the number of school shootings have skyrocketed. Just between 2010 and 2013 alone there were 48 school shootings in the US with a total of 78 dead.
It is the "Gun Free School Zones" that are getting children killed by the score, not the number or type of firearms. Liberals obviously hate children.
The other thing that skyrocketed in the 1990s was psychotropic drugs. I saw a list the other day by a poster on this forum (gunlover) which showed that all the recent school shooters from the 1990s and 2000s were on antidepressants or some other type of psychotropic drug.
I should clarify that, the actual material object is not the problem.
We have always been a country awash in guns, and it seems that only in the last few decades that gun violence as a whole have been a real problem in America. When you listen to a lot of the old-timers { no offense intended } they often talk about how they and their buddies would bring their shotguns to school, and store them in their locker or vehicle so they could all go duck hunting or what have you afterwords. Nobody thought anything of it. This was just a normal occurence all around the country. Now, just forming your finger in to the shape of a gun at school can get you expelled.
We also didn't have crazed lunatics going in to schools, movie theaters, shopping malls, churches, naval yards, airports, military bases, etc etc every couple weeks and trying to blow everyone away indiscriminately.
Since there has always been guns, obviously it's not the presence of guns that make the difference since these types of things were pretty much unheard of 60 or 70 years ago.
What has changed along the way?
Why only now has this become a major problem in our society?
Mental health?
Political division?
A seemingly unquenchable thirst for depictions of violent entertainment?
What?
Fact: More than a million people have died from gun violence since 1968. That's more than all the US deaths from all US wars combined. It's been going on for a long, long time. Just because you spoke with a few old timers and they didn't recall it is hardly a rigorous study. And yet, to many, the only logical solution is more access and less oversight to guns of all kinds. It's a cultural thing rather than something based on evidence. The 2nd amendment also doesn't say we can't have nukes. I'm sure we'd all feel safer if people had unfettered access to nukes.
Location: In a Galaxy far, far away called Germany
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Quote:
Originally Posted by biggunsmallbrains
Fact: More than a million people have died from gun violence since 1968. That's more than all the US deaths from all US wars combined. It's been going on for a long, long time. Just because you spoke with a few old timers and they didn't recall it is hardly a rigorous study. And yet, to many, the only logical solution is more access and less oversight to guns of all kinds. It's a cultural thing rather than something based on evidence. The 2nd amendment also doesn't say we can't have nukes. I'm sure we'd all feel safer if people had unfettered access to nukes.
Facts do matter. It's how you use them and what you do with them that is paramount. For all the gun related deaths since 1968, they were only the tool used, not the reason for the deaths.
Fact: More than a million people have died
from gun violence since 1968.
What exactly does this fact "prove"???? More than a million people have died from a lot of things since 1968. Not only that but a million people really isn't that many when put in to perspective. Consider that this country now has three hundred million people in it currently. Even if every single person to die by a gun were to happen all in one day, that would only be 0.01% of the population. Also, does that figure include:
Suicides?
Accidents?
Justifiable Homicides?
If it does, then it is misleading and should be discounted.
Quote:
And yet, to many, the only logical solution is more access and less
oversight to guns of all kinds
"More guns, less crime"..... That does sound a bit asinine when you say it aloud doesn't it? However, it's hard to argue against cold hard facts. Statistics show that in the last 20 years, private gun ownership in this country has skyrocketed. At the very same time, crime is at an all time low.
Quote:
The 2nd amendment also doesn't say we can't have nukes.
If you'd like to hear an intelligent response to this over used argument, please watch this very brief video:
I grew up with guns, as did my brother and father. We lived in the country. Started out with a BB gun and graduated to a .22 when I was about 14 or so. Can't remember the exact age. Back then we grew up respecting firearms and not using them to terrorize others. We hunted and shot at targets. I even brought my bolt-action .22 to school to use for rifle club. I remember the gun catalogs back then and you did NOT see a lot of military type rifles/pistols for sale. Mostly revolvers, some semi-autos, bolt/lever action rifles and some semi-auto hunting type rifles. I don know what had changed over the course of some 40+ years since I was in my teens except to me, it seems like we have become a more violent culture in general. It seems guns were purchased more back then for hunting/target shooting then self-defense. I cannot put my finger on one thing. It seems like the convergence of numerous things all at once of which guns are only one facet.
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When I grew up guns were pretty much unheard of, no one had them. Now they are very plentiful.
