Use every approach that works. Gun buy backs. Mental health awareness spread as wide as possible. Locking doors as much as possible in schools and other soft targets. Situational awareness, etc.

Gun buy backs do not work. Most of the guns turned in do not work.. or, they have been used in a crime and people take advantage of "no questions asked" to get rid of them.

One thing is certain, we now know a lot of things that will not work. Mean while, soon, more children WILL die.t

I agree with most of what you say but do not think gun buy backs will works as the ones we all would want off the streets are not coming back.

I'll bet in those states where open-carry of long guns (ie:AR-15) is allowed, a whole lot of people who oppose even a single thing being done about our gun problem, might start changing their minds and looking for compromises - if all of a sudden a lot of young black men started walking around with them. Who knows, it could also be the start of serious talks about addressing two of our country's biggest problems.

If we are throwing out minor SMALL fixes, a school could have a gun sniffing dog and an attack-trained dog. Good kids would like the dogs and the trouble-makers would have to respect and worry about them. This would be part of the "try different solutions to see what works".

I lived in an early open carry-law state.......Arizona ( I was there about 1993) and it seemed a little weird to me. Many of the people that were open-carrying looked like the "bad guys" that I should be worrying about. The hairs on my neck would stand up when I was around some of them. Looks like we will be treated to this "wild west" mentality soon in Fl.

I like this, sadly it wont happen soon. A lot of schools and small number of available dogs. But, certainly worth looking into.

I can relate. I was in Peoria, AZ (outside Phoenix) in the early 2000s. I was driving a cash register in a convenience store and frequently had the overnight shift. When someone came in openly carrying a gun it made more than my hair stand up. Our company had a policy if someone wanted to steal something, help them carry it out. Do not try to stop them. I never had to carry anything out, but a friend was shot and killed in another store because he tried to "protect" the company's money... he left a wife, and 2 grandchildren over $50 in the register.

Guns will never go away........Attachment 93990

Comparing our children to sheep? So, the children are the price we pay because we can't do anything, which seems to be a common idea here.

Better dealing with bullying and cyberbullying.

The quiet part
 

I am not so sure there is any room for compromise now, even if there was a small chance, now that the “quiet part” has been said out loud.

Earlier in this thread a poster used the analogy of “taking small bites of the elephant” I believe to indicate an attempt to chip away at the second amendment as is being done with the first amendment. Now there is a call to ban 9mm handguns which were referred to as “high caliber weapons”.

I believe that in order to compromise, you needed to start with the truth. Given that “assault weapon” and weapon of war” are emotional phrases used to describe certain firearms and are NOT BASED ON FACT, add the new mantra of “high caliber weapons” and this will slide into a total gun ban. Forget that bolt action rifles, as one poster here suggested would be ok, if those bolt action rifles are “high caliber” they get taken away too.

I stopped reading this thread because it again got to “wash, rinse, repeat”, but given that the quiet part has now been said out loud, here you go. If you still think there is an opportunity to debate, good luck. At least this thread was allowed to continue, congrats to all for keeping away from politics and staying on topic.

Unfortunately, I am forced to agree with you. There is enough of a base of unwavering 2nd amendment supporters to stop any serious change. To them, having a few hundred innocents slaughtered is worth it. They don't want to say it out loud, but the fact that they offer no solutions and are against any limitations or management of gun ownership (not getting anywhere near saying gun banning - that ship has sailed) leads me to that horrible statement above - they just don't care.
Most likely, we need to wait for the baby boomer generation to die out. The NRA is fading, thank god, due to massive corruption at the top, so they should not be much of a player in a few years. That leaves the manufacturers, some of whom use absolutely disgusting marketing and sales techniques.

In the end, gangbangers and other criminals will always have guns.

Why not metal detectors ? seems like the sensible thing to have nowadays.

Agreed. There should be a single point of entry with security, Biometric ID checking, and metal detectors. Plastic guns would still get through, so, I am not sure how that can be handled properly and in a way that can be afforded. Remember there are 130,000 K-12 schools in the US.

30x's as many murders by abortion than by guns.

BLM
(Baby Lives Matter)

:popcorn::popcorn:

Don’t know if this link will work:

A Brief History of Mass Shootings – Behind the Tower

Plastic guns? Get real. Do you have any idea how many shots you can get through a plastic barrel before it's useless? Even most "plastic" guns have metal barrels. Which a metal detector would... detect..

Killing on video games
 

I agree. I was appalled years ago to see a grandson on gaming tv where he was supposed to shoot invaders or aliens coming through various doorways or alleys at rapid speed.

It was like a memory of Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris in Columbine school shootings. THOSE TWO DEMENTED TEENS GOT DEADLY IDEAS FROM VIDEO GAME WHERE 2 Men in black long coats walked into a school and shot /killed teachers and kids ! THEY MADE A DEADLY GAME COME TO LIFE.

That type video game and similar “games” should be annihilated.
Kids repeat what they see and hear. It is how we “teach” them right from wrong. SUCH VIDEO GAMES OR DIGITAL GAMES SHOULD BE BANNED

The Perfect Destruction Storm
 

There are some of us who have lived and observed the period of destruction of our Society and the resultant Con regarding how to fixed it with a single act of change, e.g. gun control. We have seen the mental hospital's closed and the patients sent to the street., we have seen the church attendance significantly reduced, we have seen a tremendous growth in "entitlement" demands, we have seen people avoiding participation in work as they want needs given not earned, we have seen the Police and other authority groups, (e.g. teachers, etc) powers taken away, we have seen our children provided with electronic games which boast shootings, killings and the total disrespect for life, we have raised children who believe killing is a "game", we have made drugs legal or ignore their their use and effects on our lives, we have watched means of destroying total societies put in the hands of corrupt leaders, I am sure many more conditions can be identified by those who have also lived many many many years and are not fooled by the con that controlling guns will make our lives better. How many have heard a senior citizen say "I am glad I am living now as I would not want to be the children of today who have to deal with what we are leaving behind"? Let's not be fooled by the corrupt intellectuals who preach that gun controls will fix our problems but rather re-establish values that return us to a great society. :ohdear:

I'm no fan of video games, especially shoot-em-ups or violence against women ones. BUT, those same games are played all over the world yet only in the USA do we see mass killings on such a scale. They may be a part (small part) of the problem, but there is much more going on

Plastic guns still have to have a steel barrel and slide.

Agreed.

So? I just mentioned plastic since any suggestions that aren’t 100% effective get shot down here.

Sorry, not buying it. No one is claiming that getting some measure of control and management of high capacity, designed specifically to kill people, type guns will solve the world's problems. What it might go is make it just a little harder for that tiny fraction of the population that gets a kick out of killing to get the tools they need for mass killing.
The only part of the "good old days" that I think would be welcomed back is the cooperation we saw across polirical and class boundries to get things done that needed doing.

Airports used to be safe too, but we had to harden the procedures and checkpoints as well as start up the TSA. Times evolve. We need to harden up the schools too.

Well said.
And a desire to solve practical problems by approaching it with an "anything that actual works" approach.

Parents should put trigger locks on their weapons no matter where they hide them. Kids are curious and inventive on how they can reach places. And the ammunition should also be locked up in a different place but probably close by if an intruder arrives.

And make gun safety classes mandatory for people who are new gun owners.

There are many things in your post I agree with, but the main thing I disagree with in your post is the I know if NO ONE that believes gun control will FIX the problem. It will help. A little or a lot, it will help.

Background checks won’t fix the problem but they will help.

And while we debate, children die.

What would you change today that will help the problem and save a child’s life?

Agreed

Between 70% and 90% of American favor universal background checks. And Congress won’t pass a law to require them.

Columnist: Stop using mental illness as scapegoat in mass shootings

It is too simple to just point at mental health.

Tough story. Perhaps the solution is that in the near future a convenience store will be operated by a ROBOTIC checkout clerk and a ROBOTIC stocking clerk. Perhaps no cash will be used, with every transaction by credit card in the future.
.....It's a problem needing a solution. I am sure that smart people are working on it. I saw somewhere that McDonalds was experimenting with stores without workers, 100% robotic.

Stopping gun violence by eliminating millions of jobs is not exactly a great idea.

It is if you're in favor of a nanny state like some around here seem to be.

Florida
 

Thank goodness Florida got on this issue after Parkland and passed much more rigorous laws for background checks and extended waiting to buy guns.

It would serve congress well to examine our laws. They are some of the strictest in the US and passed by a majority of conservatives and NRA members.

Guns need NOT go away. It doesn't have to be an "either / or" situation. There are fewer mass murders in the other G-7 countries than the US. The solution IS to have the PROPER guns in the hands of the military and the police. And a PROPER but different type of guns in CIVILIAN hands. The idea is to get the RIGHT mix and type of guns in the right hands.
.........People will remember Robb Elementary when it comes time to vote in November
........ Canada recently had a mass murder event. They are proposing eliminating all Civilian HANDGUNS and MILITARY STYLE long guns. That may or may not pass, but it shows that Canadians are FED UP with mass murders, school shootings, and gang-generated crime. It also shows that they are attacking the ROOT CAUSE of deadly crime.........the GUN. They are not FOOLED by politicians trying to DEFLECT the blame towards mental health and away from the GUN. They may not be as influenced by a gun lobby like the NRA in the US. I hope that they succeed like Australia, New Zealand, and other countries have in the past. Funny to see Canada being more innovative and seriously trying to seek a solution, while the US lags behind, acting like some 3rd world, violent, corrupt, and dead-end nation!

Bullying and cyberbullying go on in all other G-7 nations, but only the US has so MUCH GUN related crime and mass murders. US children will be AFRAID to go to school because of gang violence and their mental images of Robb Elementary. The G-7 nations have the same amount of exposure to mental health problems. Video games are the same. All elements of life in G-7 countries are the SAME as the US. The main difference is that the US has MORE accessible GUNS and therefore MORE violent crime!

Not sure where you get the range of “70-90%” are in favor of “universal background checks”.

Does everyone understand that these checks are meant for private sales? So tell me, since the present FEDERALLY REQUIRED background check system conducted by the FBI, doesn’t work properly, why not fix that system before adding more checks to a system that already doesn’t work?

I suppose this is in line with the “we need more gun laws” mantra. How about first ENFORCING the current laws?

Frankly I am tired of the, if “you” don’t support new gun laws then “you” and the NRA are condoning gun violence. If that is “your” mantra, then “you” must also accept that “you” support fentanyl drug abuse, human trafficking, 32 people per day (per the NHTSA) killed from drunk driving crashes, etc. if “you” aren’t supporting the enforcement of ALL current laws.

How about locking up criminals, support law enforcement, and work on HIPAA and how to address juvenile records in the CURRENT background check system? Will this stop ALL gun related shootings? Reality says no. Would it be is a start to reducing the occurrence? Yes and I would hope EVERYONE would agree at least on that.

Why then are children SAFER in schools in other countries than the US. They are doing things right, we are doing things wrong!