Mass Shootings-Why Do We Insist On Thinking Anything Can Be Done?

To me this is something I simply cannot understand or agree with. The idea that "something" can be done through government action or law to prevent mass shootings if Americans only had the will to do so.

I don't believe anything can be done (at present) that would prevent mass shootings. Just as I don't believe anything can be done (at present) to prevent devastating hurricanes or earthquakes.

I don't believe that gun control measures will make any difference.
I don't believe arming school personnel will make any difference.
I don't believe controlling access to schools will make any difference.

And if anyone says "we can put a man on the moon but we can't stop school shootings" my reply is what someone else noted "America is a lot better at aeronautical engineering than social engineering".

Bad things happen and will continue to do so.

 

Because Americans like to think you can change bad things. Its part of our culture.

Hopelessness is not an American value.

 

Some gun control measures might possibly make a very small difference.

But the mass school shooter is a subculture now, with new members vying for the fame of Billy the Kid, Jesse James, Bonnie and Clyde, and John Wesley Hardin.

The new members want the fame of a bigger body count, want to be the greatest among all of them.

The mass school shooter is an outlaw and is going to operate always outside of the law, any law.

 

Laws are made to PROTECT society from such persons and define the parameters of acceptable behavior.

It is not logical to say that the absence of such laws will DETER mass shootings, nor to refuse to address problems due to special-interests resistance.

 

Hopelessness as expressed by some on this board is merely defeatism.

Ignore them.

 

The rest of the developed world figured out how to stop these already

 

The rest of the developed world had few if any in the first place so its irrelevant.

At any rate what is done overseas does not necessarily translate into it being workable here.

 

Sure it does

 

Hurricane warnings and evacuation orders do NOT limit casualties??? DOING NOTHING is a fatalistic approach to disasters and tragedies.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

 

And Dayton, in general you are right. It's not that we couldn't take steps to control the malcontents that grow into rage killers, it's that we won't. We can't socially make the connection between the caliber of character we are raising in kids today and the way that controls the behavior in the future. It's a huge problem that can't be solved with a new law or a dozen laws- it's a social disorder resulting from spoiled children raising children with inadequate discipline and poor role models. We have a large population of adult children now, who simply blame the rest of their world for their conflicts, and are waiting for someone else to fix it for them.

 

Unless you leave very early in a hurricane evacuation (your employer lets you go very early and won't fire you) it is close to impossible to get out. So most people have studied their situation and get what it takes to hunker down and survive through the storm and afterwards. And that's what they do. The govnah don't know what the hell he is talking about.

 

Do you believe mental illness is unique to the US? The distinguishing difference between us and other countries is not mental illness, it's guns.

If we value human life over unrestricted gun ownership this.......................https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin...d616bd5a305_story.html?utm_term=.72120a87428e
.............................................................is what we should be doing.

 

Those who hide from the truth apparently accept the validity of the axioms “What you don’t know can’t hurt you” and “Ignorance is bliss”. If the future was inevitably subject to a fixed outcome, then I would admit that there was an element of truth to these statements, but I hope that most of us believe that to some degree we all have the ability to somehow influence the future to our own advantage. Regardless of how unimportant we may believe our actions may be as contributions to society or for our own benefit, if we do not at least make an effort to move forward in a positive direction, we are subconsciously embracing the belief that our existence is meaningless.

 

Did we throw up our hands when airlines started having hijacking problems and declare, "Nothing can be done," or did
we spend a ton of money and make airlines gun and knife free zones and pretty much stop the problem?

There are ways to make schools much more safe ... the ONLY questions is are we going to spend the money to do it?

Hell - we spent 3 trillion dollars on making our financial institutions and airlines safe after 9/11 - but we squeal like fat little pigs
about spending a third that on our schools.

So I'm going to say that anyone who says our schools cannot be made more safe is just admitting they are too much of a tight-wad to make it happen.

 

See something/say something and an FBI that does their ****ing job by LISTENING AND ACTING is the best tool here. Taking guns away from the vast majority who will never do a thing wrong isn’t really the best option. The crazies WILL obtain guns by bypassing and ignoring whatever laws you put into place. Just like thieves will steal and break into homes and cars no matter what you do. Drunks Will Drink and drive no matter how many laws you pass.

Liberals seem to be OK with banning all guns to protect us but are highly against banning all illegals to protect us. They forget how many illegals are gang members who kill daily. But when those getting killed can’t be used for empathy and marketing, they don’t care all that much.

And before anyone says, but liberals don’t want to ban all guns...I’m reading in the papers as we speak, some cities wanting to ban ALL guns, not just assault rifles. Hey, if you don’t like it, MOVE, seems to be the attitude. Funny how that doesn’t apply to liberals when they don’t like something. They just sue the **** out of you and force you to change to their way of thinking. Amazing ain’t it

Raising age limits and performing better background check’s will make it more difficult for some so I’m for it. But those truly determined will easily bypass anything we do.

 

Nothing can be done about shooters like Vegas. Even total gun bans wouldnt have stopped him. There are plenty of things that can and should, and should have, been done about shooters like this most recent one in Florida. The most logical would ve red flag laws that allow the state to take someone to court and have rights stripped based on their behavior, even if no individual act is a crime.

 

Are you really surprised that there would be over-reactions to gun violence?

Look at the over-reaction of conservatives when it came to radical Muslim violence after 9/11. Of the billion Muslims in the world, .0000000001% were involved in terrorist attacks,
yet there were many calls from conservatives to ban all Muslims from the country. So why would it surprise you that liberals would over-react and want to
ban all guns? This is really not a "liberal" or conservative" thing. It's a parents concern for children thing. It's a fear thing.

You show the power of the fear thing yourself with your view about illegals above - .00001% of illegals will be involved in violent crime, yet you are freaked out about illegals and their involvement in violent crime and want them all banned.

So you might want to drop that brick while you are living in the same type glass house.

 

Which reminds me of something I was thinking about the other day ...

I live on the West Coast. If some kid shoots up a school in Florida, why do I care what his name is? Why do I care to see his picture? I may want to know his name if it happens in my community, but if there is no chance that his name and picture are relevant to me, why do I have to have that reported to me through the media?

The media could tell us everything we need to know about the shooter - all the details of his life, his age, gender, race, his relationship to the target, his politics - everything. But what difference does his name and picture make?

I'm not suggesting that the government withhold the information, I'm suggesting that the media voluntarily withhold the name and picture. It would be a public service, a responsible use of their 1st Amendment right.

Why not make these people forever anonymous?

 

The only correlation I can see is the increase in population and diverse cultures. More people of any culture, means a higher chance there will be conflict between them and violent crime.

If you look at the periods of time when there was mass migration in any nation, you will see there is some justification to my opinions. It will take time for all of us to get used to each other, weed out the nutties, and move toward a more cohesive population.

Blame is everywhere and it springs out of fear. Fear is rampant and has permeated all walks of life. Each just wants to feel safe. Can't blame them. There is no answer, except to take away rights, liberties and freedom, jail those who make remarks we don't like and force everyone to comply or euthanize them.

 

Sorry, but you'd better look up your violent Illegal stats again, because its a **** ton more than .00001%, not even factoring in what doesn't go reported. Check out prison stats. And the other 100% are breaking the law every day and costing us billions per year. and before you even attempt to post ANYTHING that tries to justify that they pay more in taxes, toss the **** right out the window now, because its lies. 1 free birth costs more than the average illegal will make for decades, not to mention every unpaid ER visit. They don't make nearly enough to cover their education costs, how their lack of auto insurance increases rates for everyone else. But this is all another topic and not based on fear at all. Its based on a reality thing, living with and around them and driving on the same roads as them daily, their kids sharing schools with my kids, not being inoculated, parents not speaking a word of English when I listen to them in the offices at school.

 

This rage is a social disorder developed in retaliation to and from alienated parents, from the left and the right, who do not believe they owe an allegiance to a society that provided them with the opportunity to learn, strive, and succeed. Their children are our burden.

 

So, are you saying that if people believed it was a possibility that these tragedies happened locally, they would be more concerned and possibly react to prevent recurrences? That is pathetically apathetic.

 

Apathy is not a solution...it's an excuse ...for doing nothing

 

Automotive deaths, why does anyone think they can be reduced?

 

The only people who think that something can be done are brainwashed drones who are being used to push for more gun control so that Joe Sixpack no longer has any guns.

Think about all of the things that the drones say can happen if only the state has more power and the people have less. They actually think we can end poverty, change the weather, and heal the sick! Pretty soon, they'll start pushing for legislation that will have us walking on water before too long.