[Woodbear]

Originally Posted by MartinSE

350 million guns have not been around forever. And it is growing at historic rates, just like school shootings - coincidence? Number of guns has tripled since 2000. You remember 2000? The year after the first school shooting - Columbine.

Yeah, another thing that has changed, concerning what has changed, just a week ago wasn't it that the crazy quoted Replacement theory for killing 10 people.

Whack jobs are everywhere, in every country in every society. Only the US has mass shootings in school - constantly. Only in the US. What does the US have that no other country in the world has? 350 MILLION guns in circulation.

I have NOTHING against responsible gun owners or gun ownership. I can't think of ANY way 350 million guns can be collected. It is NOT going to happen.

So, how about we all get together and figure out a way to keep responsible gun owners happy and armed, while at the same time creating fewer mourning parents. 231 school shootings in the 22 years since Columbine.

Or, would everyone like to just keep calling each other naming and spewing "facts" like guns don't kill people. Yeah guns do nothing until a person picks it up, the gun is used to kill 21 people in under 2 minutes.

I have heard someone say crazies will find a way, like using a car to drive into a crowd. Yeah, true, and when was the last time a crazy drove a car into a crowded class room and killed 19 children?

Tim McVeigh killed 19 children and 168 people in total with only fertilizer and diesel fuel

[MrChip72]

Originally Posted by Djean1981

Criminals don't care about gun laws. An example is the cartel - crime in Mexico where gun possession carries a prison sentence. We can't even keep drugs off the street much less guns. And, now guns can be printed. Regretfully, telling people to give up their guns, so only the criminals will be armed, is not the answer..

This is irrelevant to this mass killing event. Same with in Buffalo last week and Michigan a couple months ago where the guns were legally purchased and were reported to be birthday and Christmas presents for the gunman in each case.

[jswirs]

Originally Posted by jebartle

19 innocent children, 2 dedicated teachers, lives lost, solution????? More guns, bigger prisons, NOT. Japan, no guns unless police and military, murder rate .3 percent per 100,000, America, 4.7 per 100,000. Mental health wake up call.

As someone else posted, the problem is the culture here in the USA. Far too many parents need or want to work two jobs, leaving their children to their own devices for far too long a time. These shooters always give out signs of some sort regarding their intentions. Parents need to make their children feel loved and do their due diligence. Sometimes that means searching their rooms and looking into their computers.
The answer, IMHO, starts at home.

[GOLFER54]

One would be foolish to believe that guns are the problem. There are kids and adults that are mentally unstable, some take medications, others seek help, some do not. If an unstable person gets a gun, whether it be legal or illegally and if they have bad intentions, how is anyone to know if they plan to do harm to others ?Criminals on the other hand carry guns with the intentions if they are cornered or interrupted during their crime they will no doubt shoot someone. Those folks that have purchased a gun legally have the intentions of protecting themselves or their love ones. Sadly we see that mass murders in US has seen more than 200 mass shootings since January.

[GRACEALLEMAN]

Originally Posted by jebartle

19 innocent children, 2 dedicated teachers, lives lost, solution????? More guns, bigger prisons, NOT. Japan, no guns unless police and military, murder rate .3 percent per 100,000, America, 4.7 per 100,000. Mental health wake up call.

It all starts with the family base. No father mentioned. His mother was a complete drug addict. Didn't even know that he shot the grandmother. While she was out playing around the child was in the school killing people.

[WingedFoot78]

In the "Wild West Days" ammunition capacity was limited to six shots or whatever the rifles of the times held. Now with the AR type weapons, the capacity has increased multiple times. Is there any need for these types of weapons? Can you hunt legally with them?

[kitnhead]

Originally Posted by ThirdOfFive

I'd be interested to know what the criteria are for a "mass" shooting, upon which the numbers in the post I'm responding to are based.

A mass shooting is defined as four or more. This has been the definition, although many news outlets don’t like it because it does not support their agenda and they have tried to redefine the term. This definition is from the FBI crime statistics.

[thevillages2013]

Three words. ARM THE TEACHERS. This POS would have picked a different target if it were public knowledge that the teachers were packing

[Fran from MI]

Originally Posted by tophcfa

Guns have been around forever, but mass shootings are up during recent years. What’s different than before, social media and violent video games that are streamed online through sites like twitch. How come every time there is a violent shooting it becomes about guns, but when some whack job mows down a crowd of people with a car it’s not about vehicles? Whack jobs will always find a way, especially when they can become immediate social media click bait.

If you can list for me the number of "whack jobs" that used a car to mow down 8-10 year old kids that numbers more than 0, I will consider your argument. Schools have become the target for "whack jobs" over the last 10 years.

In this case an 18 year old with no prior mental health issues buys 2 Assault Rifles with high capacity magazines LEGALLY. Can anyone explain to me what 18 year old has a need for such guns?

Now we hear Texas saying that they are going to commit more money for mental health (I guess for the survivors?) and are going to "harden their schools" by allowing Teachers to have guns. I guess this means teachers will be allowed to have an AR-15 tucked between their legs since these attacks typically happen with high capacity magazines and sometimes even some body armor. Does that really sound like it makes sense? It wasn't long ago that the push was on for Armed Guards in every school district. I guess once the noise settled down, they realized there wasn't enough money to do that.

Does Social Media play a part--absolutely. Does mental health play a part-absolutely. Does the easy access to high powered, high capacity guns play a part-ABSOLUTELY. Had this kid just had rifle used for hunting, he could not have killed as many 10 year olds, if any.

This is a multi faceted problem that requires tackling ALL of those issues together, a little at a time, but fixing any 1 of them will not do it.

[banjobob]

The problem is not the gun, the problem is single parent households . The decline of the family unit in not married shacking up and producing babies , pretending to be legitimate, women being left to raise children .Compare Chicago, most gun control in the country ,worst gun violence in the country. Massachusetts no gun permit required ,safest state for gun violence. Politicians scream to repeal allowing gun ownership, Nonsense ! Hold parents responsible for their childrens behavior, period.

[36Aday]

Mental health is a solution! Gun control is not the answer.

[Anne Cink]

I feel the same way about video games. Why do they never investigate what kind of video games a shooter watched? Hollywood elites scream their outrage and demand gun control. yet they produce ever more violent movies and tv shows with bigger and bigger guns! Video games get more realistic and more despicably violent! We desensitize children to the value of life! Death becomes less "real"!

[Anne Cink]

Sadly, there is little anyone can do to prevent a mass shooting if the shooter is willing to die in the process!

[36Aday]

School personnel must be armed to protect students. On a voluntary basis.

[Sandy and Ed]

Just some rambling thoughts:

This issue is not an easy fix. I believe in gun control and think we have a lot of controls already that perhaps are not being enforced. And true there are adjustments needed to tighten up on who should be allowed to own a gun. And try there should be a penalty for those found to be in possession of an illegal gun.

I own a gun. Not an arsenal. I own a gun to protect my home from invasion. I do not carry it although I can. If I did not feel it necessary to own a gun I would not.

Unfortunately police do not prevent crime. They are no longer allowed to. They can only respond to crime, I.e. after the horse has left the stable. I do not want someone to solve the murder of my family. I need a way to prevent the murder of my family

Logical Gun control is a partial solution to the problem but it needs to reflect WHY folks like me even own a gun.