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

[Mad Mike]

The only purpose for a semi automatic handgun is to kill multiple human beings. How these things are legal, I don't know. Their purpose is evil. That people but them is indicative of a morally depraved society that does not value human life. Violent home invasions are exceedingly rare. if someone wants to steal your property, let them take it. file a police report. let the cops handle it. nothing you own is more valuable than a human life, even that of a thief. If you want to protect yourself, a can of mace and/or a level head should do fine. If you want to protect your personal property and home, install a security system. Don't buy a handgun. If there were no automatic weapons, mass shootings would not happen. Escalation (I need one because the bad guys have them) is not the answer.

You are right. And the only reason for a car to have more than 100 horsepower is for racing. We should ban all fast cars as well.

[FletchLives]

How many of those rednecks are "unloading clips at innocent people"? Virtually none. I live near those types too and I don't lock my doors at night. Never a worry.

We all get wrapped up in the emotions of tragedies like this, and want to do something. However, the false security we get from doing the wrong thing can be more dangerous than inaction.

Why does no one ever question the applicability of the other amendments? Surely, our founding fathers didn't envision Sunday night football or msnbc.com, so maybe the first amendment shouldn't be extended to those who used these platforms.

[Burgold]

You are right. And the only reason for a car to have more than 100 horsepower is for racing. We should ban all fast cars as well.

Obviously off topic, but I always thought it was strange that we manufacture cars happy to go 100, 150 in a country where the Speed Limit was 65. Really, I know most people think the speed limit is the speed minimum, but should cars be designed to cruise easily at double the speed limit? Isn't that just asking for trouble

[zoony]

Do they watch movies too?

Top 5 movies by box office reciepts the day before the shooting:

1) The Hobbit - I havent seen it, I'm assuming lots of folks die. And by "folks" i mean goblins and orks and dwarves and non-protagonist hobbits and other assorted Lord of the Rings cannon fodder.

2) Lincoln - I havent seen this either, but #1, the Civil War = carnage and #2, Lincoln was a bad ass (and, if i remember my history correctly, hunted vampires on the side).

3) Skyfall - I DID see this one. Its James Bond, he has a LICENSE TO KILL. He uses that **** EVERY DAY. They even have a shootout in Parliament (Spoiler alert, the guys with handguns successfully fend off the guys with assault rifles, so I'm glad we got that argument cleared up.

4) Rise of the Guardians - Havent seen it: It is a DreamWorks Animation movie. Dont let that fool you. According to Wikipedia "the film tells a story about the Guardians (North or Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, Bunnymund or the Easter Bunny, and the Sandman), who enlist Jack Frost to stop Pitch from engulfing the world in darkness." Again, I havent seen it, but stopping a madman from engulfing the world in darkness seems like a blank check for mayhem and pretty much ensures a Die Hard-type body count.

5) The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, They ****ing Made Two of These - If this doesnt ignite your urge to kill, then you should never be allowed to own a gun, because your brain is malfunctional.


Clearly, Hollywood is to blame. ****ING LIBERALS!

Hollywood definitely plays a part, yes.

There is very credible, peer reviewed info out there on this topic. People keep thinking I am posting an opinion on this. I'm not.

It does make people very, very uncomfortable though. Same attitude you get from the gun owners

[Elessar78]

Arlington Va

I've never bothered to change my location.

[Koolblue13]

The car thing is a fairly good point. Why do we drive large fast fuel guzzling cars, when in reality, we'd be much better off driving small fuel efficient cars. Also, if there were more cars that were the same on the road, it would make repairs much cheaper.

[skinsmarydu]

http://video.ca.msn.com/watch/video/...fety/17yl2259f
Maybe this could be a start.

[alexey]

Let's not pretend that the argument against deadly guns can be used without modification with fast cars and fancy houses.

[MattFancy]

All these mass shooters are die hard gamers. Every one of them. The joker, klebold, all of them. thousands upon thousands of hours slaughtering people in an alternate reality that gets more realistic every day.

But, I'm assured by resident ES experts that desensitization is not real and that "I play video games and I'm fine". So, that's good. Glad it's not an issue

But here's a question, I play a ton of video games, but are these parents buying games for their kids that aren't meant for kids? For example. Call of Duty is rated M, need to be 17+ to buy, yet I can tell you for a fact that there are kids playing this game that are much younger. The parents need to be more active in not buying video games that aren't meant for kids.

[Corcaigh]

Hollywood definitely plays a part, yes.

There is very credible, peer reviewed info out there on this topic. People keep thinking I am posting an opinion on this. I'm not.

Thanks Tipper.

Rap music too? Teenagers playing their records backwards?

How about the bible and the koran? Many psychos have committed acts claiming motivation and inspiration from their religion.

I wouldn't say that the track record of psychiatrists and others in their field has been exactly awesome in diagnosing what's important and predicting dangerous behaviors.

[KDawg]

I have questions for both sides, and it's perhaps because I'm not all that in tune with the topic (read: ignorant to the topic):

Do the people who support gun bans really believe that a ban will stop something like this from happening? There was a statistic I heard yesterday, and I have to be honest, I don't know the source or its accuracy, so I'm not claiming it to be real, but I heard that for every 100 people, 90 guns are owned. My guess would be, if that stat is accurate, that some people own multiple firearms, because I know of many people who don't own a single one, including myself. There are roughly 300 million guns in the United States. Don't you think the ship has sailed on any kind of ban?

For those who are complete gun supporters... I realize weapons such as the AR-15 are flexible and allow for different game to be hunted. I'm not ignorant to the fact that there are purposes for that weapon beyond killing people. However, even though it would be slightly more costly, couldn't you still find weapons that aren't assault weapons that could handle the same job without the flexibility to be used in ways that are clearly detrimental to society?

For both sides: I don't think any one issue is to blame here. Some like to place blame on the media (me), some like to place blame on the guns, some like to place blame on mental health, some on video games and some on movies... But in reality, I have to believe society as a whole is shaping the direction in which this nation is headed. Your mission, should you choose to accept it (I always wanted to say that), is to try to find a way to compromise on a solution that doesn't involve total gun bans OR total free will to have whatever weapon you choose. There are some EXTREMELY smart people on this forum, and I'd bet that if people looked past their viewpoint and tried to understand others, you (I say you because quite frankly I'm not intelligent enough for this debate) could come up with some pretty outstanding ideas...

[Koolblue13]

Thanks Tipper.

Rap music too? Teenagers playing their records backwards?

How about the bible and the koran? Many psychos have committed acts claiming motivation and inspiration from their religion.

I wouldn't say that the track record of psychiatrists and others in their field has been exactly awesome in diagnosing what's important and predicting dangerous behaviors.

[Corcaigh]

It's not about absolute gun bans for me.

Drink-driving laws won't eliminate all drink driving, but a mix of:
Harsher penalties
Education .... of drivers, bar staff
Enforcement and spot checks
Cheap rides home on big drinking occasions
Designated driver promotion and public safety notices about not letting friends drink and drive
Etc.

... all contribute to reducing a huge problem that was widespread in society and cost many, many lives.

No-one had to ban alcohol or the right to drive. No-one had to install breathalyzer locks on cars etc.

A mix of sensible measures and education will make a big impact but it may take decades. Changing culture is part of it.

Spend time watching YouTube where people are playing with their guns and you see little to no regard for safety. A huge portion of the population are not fit to own guns safely because of their lack of knowledge today, even if they are not potential mass murders. As well as limiting the risk of massacres, we should also look at dealing with the 10,000 deaths each year from guns that are not related to mental illness.

[Koolblue13]

A mix of sensible measures and education will make a big impact but it may take decades. Changing culture is part of it.

Agreed and the first step is for America to collectively admit we have a problem and when it comes to guns, I don't know if we can do that.

[zoony]

Thanks Tipper.

Rap music too? Teenagers playing their records backwards?

How about the bible and the koran? Many psychos have committed acts claiming motivation and inspiration from their religion.

.

Now you're just acting like a trolling jackass. But I get it, you and your son like those video games. You don't want to hear it. Just like twa and his son enjoy guns and don't want to hear they are a part of the problem