Sandy Hook: Why this is not about gun control.

[richardf8]

With an inevitability that is not unlike clockwork, in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting, I have received petitions calling for the reversal of the second amendment.  I have not yet seen, mostly because I have not looked for the inevitable assertion that this would not have happened in an armed society

Comments

[c_eagle]

*applauds* ^v^

[deckardcanine]

You returned from more than a year's recess with a very respectable entry.

[level_head]

Happy Birthday, RichardF8.

One subtle distinction might be made in one of your arguments: The shooter typically expects to be killed, but he doesn't expect to be hurt. It appears that the standard fantasy is that they will take their own lives, at the moment of their choosing, painlessly.

Thus, they choose venues (almost invariably) where no one will shoot back. And at the first sign of arrival of someone that can shoot back, they take their own lives.

This rule of thumb seems to apply in almost all cases of mental illness/drug affected psychotic shooters. It clearly does not apply as thoroughly to jihadist mass shooters (which seem more rare), but even there the effect is evident.

The deterrent effect is significant.

Incidentally, the quote may well be in TEFL, but I recall it from Beyond This Horizon which was many years earlier.

Best wishes.

===|==============/ Level Head

[davidfcooper]

Happy Birthday, richardf8!

[level_head]

Happy birthday again, my friend.

===|==============/ Level Head