[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.

[Two Bills]

Prayers, platitudes, lots of flowers, plenty of photo ops. at the vigils, (cry please) and most of all, empty promises.
Same old faces spouting the same entrenched opinions.
Sells papers, and keeps the talking heads employed.
Nothing will change.
Here's to the next time!

[dewilson58]

Originally Posted by jebartle

Japan, no guns unless police and military,

Almost correct.

Hunters in Japan can have guns.

The low murder rate is culture driven, not gun control driven.

[MrFlorida]

Maybe we should not let our children play violent video games that gives them the idea that it's ok to kill people ?

[dewilson58]

Originally Posted by MrFlorida

Maybe we should not let our children play violent video games that gives them the idea that it's ok to kill people ?

[ThirdOfFive]

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.

There was a study done a few years back regarding incidents such as this. I don't recall the methodology used but the conclusion was that well over HALF of such crimes are "copycat". And with the endless and exhaustive "coverage", which often tends toward the maudlin or even the hysterical, it is easy to see how it could influence some person not all that solid mentally, to try to imitate it or even do it one (or more) better.

There is another effect of such coverage, one that has been proven innumerable times. Every such incident is accompanied by an endless parade of officials calling for increased gun control. They, too, tend toward the maudlin or the hysterical. But the EFFECT is that such overdramatization is a direct cause of vastly increased gun sales. In 2021 alone, something like 43 MILLION new guns were sold to private citizens in America.

Maybe its time for a little common sense. Hysteria just doesn't seem to work all that well.

[Taltarzac725]

Successful lawsuits against gun manufacturers might get some changes like those the tobacco companies underwent decades ago.

[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.

[dewilson58]

Originally Posted by Taltarzac725

Successful lawsuits against gun manufacturers might get some changes like those the tobacco companies underwent decades ago.

Tobacco industry lied, added ingredients and covered up information.

Gun manufacturers have not.

[ThirdOfFive]

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.

Bingo.

[Michael G.]

This country is going back to the wild west days.

[44Apple]

Originally Posted by MrFlorida

Maybe we should not let our children play violent video games that gives them the idea that it's ok to kill people ?

I remember when the adults blamed watching violent TV shows for bad deeds done by the kids. We've moved on.

[blueash]

Originally Posted by Michael G.

This country is going back to the wild west days.

The Wild West had vigorous gun regulation in the towns and mass slaughters of civilians the likes of which we see so often did not happen.

Do you remember how horrified everyone was by Columbine in 1999. It had never happened before. In the last 22 years there have now been 13 mass school killings, defined as 3 or more deaths in a single incident.

Thoughts and prayers are not working.

[Trayderjoe]

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.

Unfortunately the same lazy rhetoric of "more gun laws" reappears. How about enforcing current laws? For example, it is a criminal offense to lie on the background check form when purchasing a gun from a Federal Firearm Licensee (FFL), yet how many people fail the background check but are not arrested or tried? Note that an FFL will not legally sell a gun to someone who fails a background check. Why are people who commit violent crimes allowed out of jail with little or no bail? Perhaps there needs to be more calls for getting to the root cause of "why" the attack occurred versus implementing more laws that CRIMINALS don't care to follow anyway?

The US Secret Service conducted a threat assessment in 2021 entitled "Averting Targeted School Violence" (link). The assessment included "an analysis of 67 averted school attack plots" which also indicated that "Students who plotted school attacks shared many similarities with students who perpetrated school attacks". There is a section entitled "Key Findings and Implications" on pages 4 and 5 that talks about these characteristics.

Maybe more studies like these need to be conducted, if they don't already exist, and then a NONPARTISAN discussion about how to implement "fixes" can be had.

[Boffin]

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.

Bad news: 21 dead.
Good news: no need for a judge and jury.