Connecticut School Shooting

[1stLand]

I think I read somewhere that there are more guns in existence than people.

I think the first step in gun control is to lobby our governments (especially the states) to put greater restrictions on weapons manufacturers, tax the '*hit" out of them and make it difficult to operate.

But we know that wont happen. The gun lobby is a powerful political force in America. Some conspiracy theorists even believe they are instrumental in helping the states decide to go to war.

There is no reason why Nancy Lanza needed to keep these high powered weapons in her home. Especially considering she had a mentally ill son. Not the best choice as a parent.

[Hi-Psi]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

Here's one that really boggles my mind. Well a) Why did the shooter wear body armour if the end game was suicide? Seems kinda pointless. But that leads me to b) Why exactly can you buy body armour? The only reason you need it is obviously because you believe you're going to be involved in a shootout. Can someone tell me what situation a shootout isn't going to be in an extremely negative connotation (like say a school shooting)? I think either ban body armour, or take ID of anyone who buys it and forward it to local law enforcement to monitor that person. Who needs body armour just for protection? Are people that insanely paranoid?

Calgary has a law in place regarding body armour now. It might now be much but it's something. I know this because I buy my medic stuff at 911 Supply and noticed signs all over the place regarding this new law when I was in the body armour section.

Here's a link: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgar...ang-crime.html

Jason

[DuffMan]

regarding the mental health issue when it comes to guns,,, Macleans had a story after the Gabby Giffords shooting with some incredible stats.

Everyone knows there are lots of guns in America. Two hundred million of them in private hands is the usual estimate, about half of them handguns, making the United States far and away the most densely armed country on the planet.

Less well known is that the U.S. also has, by far, the highest rates of serious mental illness in the world. A 2004 study by the World Health Organization found that 26 per cent of Americans had some form of mental disorder, including depression, anxiety, and substance abuse. The only country anywhere near this level was Ukraine, at 21 per cent

It is fine for gun nuts to cite chapter and verse from the U.S. constitution, but at some point you have to accept that political principles, and policies that flow from them, need some rational connection to social realities. The math is pretty simple: lots of guns plus lots of crazies equals lots of crazies with guns, yet conservatives act as if the massacre of American citizens by a deranged individual is akin to an earthquake: destructive to be sure, but completely beyond our control

http://www2.macleans.ca/2011/01/14/y...zy-or-can-you/

[mrvee]

Originally Posted by Hi-Psi

Calgary has a law in place regarding body armour now. It might now be much but it's something. I know this because I buy my medic stuff at 911 Supply and noticed signs all over the place regarding this new law when I was in the body armour section.

Here's a link: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgar...ang-crime.html

Jason

Another money grab because criminals will registor just like their hand guns.50 dollars a year you got to be kidding.Honest people get ready to buck up.

[edslunch]

Originally Posted by mrvee

Another money grab because criminals will registor just like their hand guns.50 dollars a year you got to be kidding.Honest people get ready to buck up.

Wtf do honest people need body armour for?

[SeeBass]

Originally Posted by edslunch

Wtf do honest people need body armour for?

paintball, those things really sting!!

[Wood]

http://www.inquisitr.com/440545/anon...l-information/

[GirlySports]

Websites protected by GOD!

[schteve_d]

I hope all this WBC talk isn't considered off topic to this thread but just to comment: If they actually show up at these funerals they have gone too far. They have gone too far before, many times, but this is WAY too far. I really hope something terrible happens to them. If I could be there I would become a part of any movement to make sure that something terrible happens to them....consequences be damned.

[GirlySports]

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by flameswin

I don't often wish people would die, but I think it would honestly make me smile a bit to wake up one morning and read a headline like "Two westboro baptist church members shot and killed while protesting school shooting victims funerals."

Originally Posted by Minnie

It shocks me a little that that hasn't happened yet.

I suspect that the reason for this is that the vast majority of people on this planet honestly are not nearly as depraved as the WBC degenerates would have us believe.

We ARE better than them.

[Senator Clay Davis]

I'd really like to know how many are hardcore for the second ammendment but against what the Westboro church does. You're either for both, or against both, but you cannot be for one and not the other.

[Minnie]

Good hell. BBC just reported they've (they being the authorities) evacuated a church in Newtown, and have surrounded the home next to it. WTH?

Jeeze those poor people. Can't even go to church in peace today.

[CaptainCrunch]

The problem is systematic in the states, even the most dove politician is beholden to the right to bear arms. Its funny but even Obama who is considered the most left wing president since Carter and who in 2008 promised action on bringing back the global assault rifle ban is considered one of the most gun friendly presidents in recent memory. I think that the unchanging tenants of the constitution are drilled into peoples heads through their education and its simply incomprehensible to politicians and public servants to change it.

Combine that with an incredibly wealthy and powerful lobby group and you will never get change.

Besides I don't think an assault weapon ban is going to make that much of a difference as it leaves pistols out there.

I think that one answer is around the selling of magazine based weapons, maybe there should be a three shot limit on civilian based weapons.

Maybe leave guns cheap and bullets hugely expensive.

Personally I think that manufacturers should have a civilian weapons tamper proof deactivation system. I mean we're smart enough to put a chip in everything. Put a chip in all rifles and pistols that are designated for civilian sales so that the police can deactivate them remotely. That way if some idiot decides to shoot up a school you can shut down the rifle from afar, or if the police need to raid a house you can deactivate the fire arms before you storm the place.

You have a drive by happening shut down the weapons.

That certainly doesn't help when the weapons come out of China or Israel or Russia, but I'm sure you could convince those manufacturers to help with gun violence.

Add on if someone tampers with the chip the weapons explodes blowing their hands off.

[Azure]

Well, as has been pointed out before, even if there were no guns, you still have a serious problem with mental sickness.

A problem that is apparently being ignored. An extension of how the US looks at healthcare?

I mean it is fine and dandy to say that we should offer better access to mental healthcare, but how many want to pay more taxes, perhaps spend less on F-35s and adventures overseas to pay for it?

[MarchHare]

Personally I think that manufacturers should have a civilian weapons tamper proof deactivation system. I mean we're smart enough to put a chip in everything. Put a chip in all rifles and pistols that are designated for civilian sales so that the police can deactivate them remotely. That way if some idiot decides to shoot up a school you can shut down the rifle from afar, or if the police need to raid a house you can deactivate the fire arms before you storm the place.

There's no way the paranoid gun nuts who legitimately believe they need to own firearms to keep the King of England from instituting a tyrannical regime would ever agree to a system that gave the government the power to shut down their weapons.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

I suspect that the reason for this is that the vast majority of people on this planet honestly are not nearly as depraved as the WBC degenerates would have us believe.

We ARE better than them.

I think it's also important to point out that the WBC is a very tiny group. They only have like 40 members and they are all pretty much related. With the amount of press they get, it makes it sound like they actually have some kind power or foothold, but they are totally insignifcant.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by Azure

I mean it is fine and dandy to say that we should offer better access to mental healthcare, but how many want to pay more taxes, perhaps spend less on F-35s and adventures overseas to pay for it?

Most Americans?

[Azure]

Of the 200 million firearms in the US that we apparently 'know' about, how many millions more are there that nobody knows about? I mean the US has an 'open' border with Mexico and a huge drug trade and gang problem. It simply won't work to 'ban' firearms. I can't actually believe people honestly think that it will.

The better solution is to start looking at how firearms are bought, and the certification needed, including background checks, etc, etc. Here in Canada it is MUCH harder to obtain a handgun, and there are strict laws in place in terms of where you can discharge one. As a result a lot of people don't go through the process to get one, but for those of us that are serious about it, we will get the restricted firearms license, membership at a gun range, etc, etc to be able to legally own a handgun.

I mean the shooter had obvious mental issues. There is no way a firearm should be anywhere 'near' him.

Gun safety education is also a big thing. Mandatory courses should be implemented. If you want to own a firearm, you WILL go through a extensive and IMO expensive safety course that will teach you about gun safety, and instructors should have the right to fail you, should there be obvious signs that you are incompetent when it comes to safely handling a firearm.

[Cowperson]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

The problem is systematic in the states, even the most dove politician is beholden to the right to bear arms. Its funny but even Obama who is considered the most left wing president since Carter and who in 2008 promised action on bringing back the global assault rifle ban is considered one of the most gun friendly presidents in recent memory. I think that the unchanging tenants of the constitution are drilled into peoples heads through their education and its simply incomprehensible to politicians and public servants to change it.

Combine that with an incredibly wealthy and powerful lobby group and you will never get change.

Besides I don't think an assault weapon ban is going to make that much of a difference as it leaves pistols out there.

I think that one answer is around the selling of magazine based weapons, maybe there should be a three shot limit on civilian based weapons.

Maybe leave guns cheap and bullets hugely expensive.

Personally I think that manufacturers should have a civilian weapons tamper proof deactivation system. I mean we're smart enough to put a chip in everything. Put a chip in all rifles and pistols that are designated for civilian sales so that the police can deactivate them remotely. That way if some idiot decides to shoot up a school you can shut down the rifle from afar, or if the police need to raid a house you can deactivate the fire arms before you storm the place.

You have a drive by happening shut down the weapons.

That certainly doesn't help when the weapons come out of China or Israel or Russia, but I'm sure you could convince those manufacturers to help with gun violence.

Add on if someone tampers with the chip the weapons explodes blowing their hands off.

I do not think a system whereby "THE GOVERNMENT" can turn off your weapon remotely is going to fly higher than a lead balloon in conspiracy-addled America, of all places.

Households in America having at least one gun has declined from 50% in the early 1970's to about 32% right now. The gun culture is actually in decline and has been for decades.

The 32%, however, have more guns now than they did in the early 1970's. This mother had six guns in her house.

If anything, it looks like the trend line with smoking . . . . . at one point, 70% of American males were smokers. Now its in the 20% + range.

Although some will take this incident and turn a gun-free home into one with weapons, by and large I would think an incident like this will lower that 32% into the 20's.

Aside from being vigilent for pyschopaths about to erupt in our midst, however, it's hard to see how the third most populous nation on Earth can make these incidents go away.

Shooting children you don't know six to 11 times each after cornering them like rats is a lot of bottled rage. Where did that come from?

At least the nutjob in Norway had a declared political reason for killing 77, mostly children.

Cowperson