i'm asking myself again:

[laurelana_jones]

How many more "troubled gunmen" will go on rampages killing innocent and random victims, before we do something about it?

Perhaps outlawing gun ownership will not go over well, but how about making it next to impossible for someone who fits the profile of a shooter?   If I was a teenage boy, I'd rather have my life, than have the right to own a

Comments

[nok_jump]

When did all of this begin anyways? Were there shootings like this a hundred years ago? If not, is there something wrong in our culture today? What the hell gets into these guys heads and twists them up so badly?

[laurelana_jones]

i don't know. but i want people to care about it more than they seem to. and care about stopping it, even to the detriment of "freedom"...

i mean, we're supposed to have "life, liberty, and the persuit of happiness". i don't think that one person's liberty is more important than another's life.

[nok_jump]

But, there are many dangerous things, and we can't ban them all. If someone killed others with a baseball bat, we wouldn't make the argument we should all give up our liberty to have baseball bats because the lives of those killed by bats is more important. We'd end up banning everything.

I think the problem is cultural and we should deal with it on that level.

Plus, I don't think the government should be allowed to decide who can be armed. Unless they wanted to disarm first.

[laurelana_jones]

it would be great if we could deal with it on a cultural level. i don't think it's gonna happen.

no one has killed anyone with a baseball bat. it's not an everyday occurance. these shootings are happening with more and more regularity.

i don't really trust the government, but i think if we're gonna have it, it should protect the innocent. that is the main, most important thing it should be doing, because human nature is such that innocent, weak people get hurt and taken advantage of by those with power.

granted, giving the government the power to disarm people seems like it could end poorly, but england seems to be doing ok. and we elect the government, so... i don't know.

i just want someone to do something drastic, i don't want this to be the norm in 10 years. i want change.

[ceiling_taffi]

I'd rather ask what exactly is so screwed up with our society that this is perceived as a cool thing to do. If the answer is "It's cool in the Matrix", I will be very sad, as I actually like that movie. But really, they could be killing more people easily with rat poison in the cafeteria soup (I'm not suggesting this!); what makes it "cool" to be a gunman

[laurelana_jones]

yeah, i know it wouldn't, but it seems sort of like we're turning a blind eye when all of the shooters are male, teens - early 20s, and nearly always white...

maybe it won't go down well. but are we happier pretending there's no shooter profile, and having more people wind up dead?

furthermore...even if there is a reason that it's cool, and even if people would still try to do it if guns were outlawed, isn't making it harder to accomplish the least we can do?

[ceiling_taffi]

The last one I remember was Asian, but generally, yes, they fit that profile. And the general-apparel profile is pretty defined, but then again, I'm a fan of *not* judging people based on what they wear, generally

[physibeth]

Well according to an interview with his friends this morning he didn't fit the profile of a shooter.

That said, I don't think the gun he used was obtained legally so how would guns laws help solve the problem?

[laurelana_jones]

he didn't fit the profile of a shooter.

white
teenage
male
depressed/troubled
camo-wearing

and so on. he fit the profile.

[nok_jump]

Plus, isn't it sort of the American experiment that we give everybody weapons and then let them all say whatever the hell they want about everybody else?

[laurelana_jones]

eh?

if so, i think maybe i should invest in a piece....