WE: After school shooting in Connecticut, Piers Morgan blasts America’s ‘gun madness’

[autoidiodyssey]

You seem to advocate the "cross your fingers and hope it never happens again" position.

~Bang

That is not my position at all. I think we need to focus on the mental health side of it. With more thorough background checks and better access to mental health resources. Many of these shooters have had behavior patterns that, if all of the data was properly compiled, would have lead to them either not being able to purchase the weapons or being intercepted by authorities before the crime. You had files or reports that were not accessible to the proper authorities, you had systems that didn't talk to each other. There were people who thought something might not be right but didn't act. I think we also need to take a very hard look at the practice of prescribing SSRIs to teens and young adults. I think these sorts of medicines are a common thread through many of these shootings. It may just be correlation, but I have seen some discussion about the number of school shootings increasing in the mid to late 90's around the same time that SSRIs started to be prescribed to teens and young adults.

I think we should also seriously consider guards at schools and increased police patrols in malls and places where people gather in large numbers. Another common thread in these shootings is that the shooters keep shooting until they are engaged by police or some other armed person. If they don't burn out first. At that point they surrender or shoot themselves.

I don't think any ban on a particular type of weapon, or size of magazine will be effective. The deadliest shooting in US history, Virginia Tech, was done with a simple 9mm handgun. That is all you need when your alone for several minutes in a building full of unarmed people.

[Bang]

That is not my position at all. I think we need to focus on the mental health side of it. With more thorough background checks and better access to mental health resources. Many of these shooters have had behavior patterns that, if all of the data was properly compiled, would have lead to them either not being able to purchase the weapons or being intercepted by authorities before the crime. You had files or reports that were not accessible to the proper authorities, you had systems that didn't talk to each other. There were people who thought something might not be right but didn't act. I think we also need to take a very hard look at the practice of prescribing SSRIs to teens and young adults. I think these sorts of medicines are a common thread through many of these shootings. It may just be correlation, but I have seen some discussion about the number of school shootings increasing in the mid to late 90's around the same time that SSRIs started to be prescribed to teens and young adults.

I think we should also seriously consider guards at schools and increased police patrols in malls and places where people gather in large numbers. Another common thread in these shootings is that the shooters keep shooting until they are engaged by police or some other armed person. If they don't burn out first. At that point they surrender or shoot themselves.

I don't think any ban on a particular type of weapon, or size of magazine will be effective. The deadliest shooting in US history, Virginia Tech, was done with a simple 9mm handgun. That is all you need when your alone for several minutes in a building full of unarmed people.

My apologies, I've misread you. i agree with much of this post above.

~Bang

[visionary]

http://news.msn.com/us/ind-man-with-...-school-threat

Ind. man with 47 guns arrested after school threat

Von I. Meyer allegedly threatened to set his wife on fire before saying he would 'kill as many people as he could' at a nearby elementary school.

[County1883]

http://news.msn.com/us/man-arrested-...ll-parking-lot

Man arrested after 50 shots fired in Calif. mall parking lot

Is this "normal" in America?

[frostyj]

No, I don't. I choose to use common sense.
I don't believe that the rate of murder will be equalled by knife wielding or car driving lunatics.
Do you?




Lots of people today are pointing at the knife attacker in China as "proof" that the crazies will be crazy.
In actuality, the Chinese have had a problem with knife / axe / hammer loons charging into schools.
they've had something like 10 such attacks in the last 2 years.
21 people have died in these attacks.

That's almost the body count of this spree alone.
The threat isn't even remotely the same.

~Bang

I have to admit I didn't not know the death count of the Chinese attacks. So that comparison is null.
It may not be cars or knives, but it would be replaced by something.

[twa]

http://news.msn.com/us/man-arrested-...ll-parking-lot



Is this "normal" in America?

Not real unusual in the border regions, New Years is a blast

[CTskins]

yet one can shield a class full of kids and clearly be defensive,both in use and mere presence

why did this prick choose this defenceless target?

what have most all of the killing fields shared

You're missing the point. I'm not going to arguing semantics with you. You may never understand what I'm talking about.

[twa]

You're missing the point. I'm not going to arguing semantics with you. You may never understand what I'm talking about.

Semantics are not the problem, nor are guns in the end (though I certainly support restricting them for certain people)

[spjunkies]

Why can we stop that guy everywhere except the endzone?

[thebluefood]

http://news.msn.com/us/man-arrested-...ll-parking-lot



Is this "normal" in America?

Thankfully, no it isn't. Unfortunately, there seem to be a lot of "copy cats" that just want to see their name in the newspaper.

[Painkiller]

Theres a difference between getting the strap and a spanking as well.

Absolutely. I'm talking about spankings with the hand. Nothing more.

---------- Post added December-16th-2012 at 04:54 PM ----------

For me, I understand the outcry. I am heart-broken for those people and their families. I understand that SOMETHING needs to be done. With that said, what angers me is that many after an incident like this only want to focus on the "guns" themselves and not all the other numerous problems this country has brought this on.

It's disingenuous at best, and opportunistic "agenda pushing" at worst...and this kind of tunnel vision often comes from many people I value as friends and acquantances, and whose opinion most of the time I respect. As I said earlier, armed security in all public schools is a solution. Just not the solution that many want to hear. They would rather try to push an agenda that is simply unattainable.

[KAOSkins]

http://news.msn.com/us/man-arrested-...ll-parking-lot



Is this "normal" in America?

No it's not, you have to keep in mind how big our country is. It is certainly more common here than elsewhere it seems. Might be the press milking it some. I would be curious to know how it compares with murders in a comparably sized piece of Europe.

[abdcskins]

Why do people love guns so much?

[Elessar78]

Why do people love guns so much?

I enjoy our shotgun. All I use it for is shooting clay pigeons and the odd ball pumpkin. . It's a skill thing to pick off a moving target. So it's just like any other thing that presents a challenge. We have lots of friends and family that hunt and enjoy that aspect of it—more cultural, more lifestyle. But at the same time the damage can be done with shotgun or rifle can be limited as opposed to a handgun or semi-automatic rifle.

But I don't know why I shouldn't be subject to a long waiting period, stringent criminal background check, proof of proficiency, liability insurance, and a mental health approval before owning any rifle. You go to any gun show in, say, VA and the controls to gun ownership are rather flimsy. Not even just gun shows but there are a lot of sketchy gun shops throughout the country.

Heck, my barber almost got a gun pulled on him by some PoS Marcellus Shale driller up here from Louisiana because he asked the guy not to use his cell phone in his barber shop. It seems like it's such a fine line these days. There are too many people with guns and particularly the wrong type of gun. I used to work with a guy, probably the most unstable of the 5-people I worked with and he had a gun with a carry permit. Bad home life and always on the verge of getting fired—yeah, I want a guy like that with the possibility of carrying a gun into work. Two jobs ago, worked with another guy who was very open that he'd previously tried to commit suicide and clearly unstable in some ways and he owned at least one hand gun.

There's something to be said about the difference between a rifle and shotgun vs handguns and semis and the people that own these things. Again, I wouldn't mind tighter controls on firearms and ammo.

Actually this incident brought to the fore a question I had. Is it legal to gift a gun to another person? Seems to happen a lot here and obv. there's no background check on the receiver.

[Painkiller]

Why do people love guns so much?

Why do people hate guns so much?