Can we have an honest, respectful discussion about guns in America?

In the first case the ONLY difference would be 30,000 people alive.

In the second ..yes...automobile deaths would be gone but so would the nation.

 

As I said, you are daring to question the mighty LA TIMES???

 

People who drive cars are more dangerous than people with guns.

And now we can add people who rent Home Depot trucks to the list.

China gets along fine with less than a third of its population owning cars.

 

So I think this topic is worth revisiting. Unless we can erase firearms from all human consciousness, we will always have guns in our society. The question - in my view - is not what we do with the guns, but what we do with the violent creeps who are like 1% of our society and who cause all these problems. I say we lock them up and forget where we put the key. And they go into a facility like Joe Arpaio's Maricopa County Jail - baloney sandwiches, pink underwear and two TV channels - CSPAN and CSPAN2. Lesh, over to you...

 

I would absolutely make theft of a firearm a felony. I'd go further: life in prison for anyone convicted of using a gun during the commission of a crime - whether they fire it or not. Stick a gun in the 7-11 clerk's face? Bye bye... Of course the libs would never let us do that, sadly.

 

To answer the OP, no we can't.

 

Awww, come on, I think we can!

 

That would result in more dead clerks. It's the same penalty either way.

 

Seems that everyone likes to forget is that each and every one of the school shootings have been because the perpetrators were mentally disturbed. If we want to stop these horrible instances FIRST we have to get tougher with the hospitals that release these people too soon, or do not furnish the proper means of keeping these violent people in asylums. Then we have to end the idea of Gun Free Zones. These schools have become magnets for every Loony Tune Kook that should be in a rubber room. In addition the computer games that drive these children to mayhem have to be reviewed just like movies and kept from the irresponsible.

 

Can we have an honest, respectful discussion about guns in America?

ONLY IF we are willing to bare our souls and are prepared to answer some hard questions on how our children have become so F'd up...

 

Sounds tough but consider that the robber might as well shoot the clerk in the face so there'd be no witnesses. Why not? The penalty is the same. This is a basic problem of "mandatory sentences", especially giving everyone "the max".

I do agree making stealing a gun a felony and, as we have now, stiffer sentences for using a deadly weapon in a crime.

 

Problem is, there is no magic blood test to determine if somebody is going to shoot up a school, and you will never find any professional who will state that they will. You could take 1000 N. Cruz's and put their profile in front of 1000 psychiatrists and psychologists and exactly zero would say he is going to be a mass murderer. and 99.99% of the time, he wouldn't be. So, instead, you deal with risk levels, based on information, a lot of which is subjective. So, the answer is not easy. They are not going to lock up all 1000 people, many of which have not broken laws, or not any serious ones, for an indefinite period of time.

The claim that we must fix mental health to stop gun violence is about as realistic as saying we need to remove every gun from America.

 

Time to bring back corporal punishment for lesser offenses. Beat and Release.
A criminal determined to come back for more should get it - and then remain in prison until too old and decrepit to be a serious threat to the peace.
We would be able to selloff most of our prison real estate and give ourselves a substantial from the proceeds and budget reductions.

 

In this case the shooter made several electronic threats, which is apparently a felony that law enforcement chose to ignore.

 

The maximum penalty is death, not to put too fine a point in it.

 

Had to keep those crime statistics low, because, yunno, Obama.

 

Law enforcement has been caught repeatedly covering up the failure of the criminal justice system.

 

“By any means necessary... “

 

Such can be done. But in order to do such, a matter must be discussed by individuals, rather than political ideologies.

 

You are correct in that blood tests cannot determine whether or not a person is capable or going to shoot up a Base Exchange, Church, Hospital or School each of which are "Gun Free Zones". However, when School Boards make deals with Sheriff's Offices and local law enforcement to sweep student crimes, and mental issues under the rug as pushed by the Obama Promise Program. What could go wrong but another Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown and now Nikolas Cruz? You have to wonder how many other students have been the victims of this Program other than those seventeen other victims.
And YES! we definitely have to fix our mental health system not only about school shootings but to get the masses of mentally ill homeless off the streets and given proper treatment.
Giving a hyper or unruly student massive doses of Ritalin, Adderall, or other amphetamine derived drugs is not the answer. All that does is create the next meth-amphetamine and narcotics user.

 

We do have a problem with prisons. Gangs are powerful and drugs obtainable in all of them. Inmates are somewhat like in a thug college, learning the worst kind of rules of conduct, and becoming angrier. 70% of those released will be back in three years. We aren't "fixing" the inmates, we make them worse.

We have a problem with the way we raise kids too. Too many are raised by parents unfit for the job, who never learned to be responsible themselves or have no will to discipline their kids or give them good values. This creates frustrated kids, angry kids with no idea how to navigate life. Many have been drugged with psychotics rather than being held responsible for their actions- and they blame the rest of us. Some of those will be so intensely angry that they will be motivated to kill- anyone.

It's all about people's attitudes and the way they think. That's not to say insanity, but certainly very bad mental programming that derives from the way they are raised.
Now trying to tell irresponsible adults that they are irresponsible is hardly well received or popular. Telling them they must raise kids to be responsible is even more unpopular.
However- that is the source of the malcontent generation we are dealing with today.

A well known judge who was a friend of mine once told me it was simple- "The best regulator is the self regulator. People with good standards and self-respect can't violate those standards without losing that self respect- and they don't. We have laws mostly because some people refuse to self-regulate. If that problem were solved- I'd be out of work."

 

Oh come on, we all know we're ok with these events or we'd get over ourselves as a society and do something. We can't be far from our next faux hand wringing, thoughts-and-prayers, half staff flag parade.

 

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You're Right! Meanwhile in this case both the School Board, local law enforcement and the FBI ignored the red flags numerous times thanks to the Obama Promise Program.

 

Death is easy. Life in prison is hard.

 

Especially when your bunk mate is big and his name is Bubba..... I understand Tony (Carlos Danger) Weiner is bunking with him right now.