Why the fuck are there so many crazy people?

[roxybisquaint]

I don't even know what else to say because without the answer to that question, we have no hope of reversing what seems to be an upward trend of crazy fuckers comitting nightmarish acts of violent. Yeah, this is because of that school shooting-that horrible, awful, straight-out-of-the-depths-of-hell kind of evil that can only be comitted by a

Comments

[intrepid01]

As an Australian I observe America’s gun culture with a mixture of awe and incredibility, and the televised reactions to these types of tragedies almost as an act of insanity that usually goes like this; First there is the stunned denial that something so bad can happen, then there is the moment of introspection where maybe better gun control should be considered, this is followed by the stampede to the local store to buy more guns because if we were better armed we could protect ourselves from the nut-jobs who go out and kill innocent people

[roxybisquaint]

Guns are an easy target because they're designed to be lethal weapons. But they're far from the only way to kill. Bombs, cars, knives, swords, poisons, crossbows... any of those things could be used for mass killing if someone was bent on doing it. In fact the deadliest school attack in the US was in 1927, when a guy killed 38 elementary school kids (and injured dozens more) using explosives. What if the next rampage killer plows a car into kids waiting at a school bus stop?

I don't think the goal should be to shape society around the mentally defective, it should be to stop the crazies-remove them from society before they succeed in harming anyone. The idea that we can stop killers by banning or reducing the existence of whatever tool they use for murder is an exercise in knee-jerk futility. It would be chasing after a problem instead of getting to the root of a problem and solving it.

[intrepid01]

I like guns, I like shooting them its fun, but I’m also a realist which is why after the Port Arthur massacre http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Arthur_massacre_(Australia) I supported my government when it brought in gun controls which reduced the firearms in the community by about ¾ of a million

[roxybisquaint]

No, all that proves is that your gun control laws worked for your country. Switzerland has TONS of guns and almost no gun crime. In the US, we have lots of crime and lots of guns, but our crime rate has been declining. I read recently that despite there being more guns in the US than there were a few decades ago, fewer households have guns. So that could be a factor: Maybe fewer bad guys have guns while good guys have more guns.

I'm pretty satisfied with our gun laws as-is. I think they do a good job of preventing known criminals and crazies from buying guns. The problem, of course, is there's no way to set up a system that can weed out people who will commit their first violent crime in the future. So we accept the fact a tiny percentage of people who legally own guns will one day murder someone with it. And we also know that cops can't catch every illegal gun sale

[schmacky0]

The moment the gun control issue came up I bow my head and shake it because I don't understand how that is going to stop someone who wants to kill other people. The problem with this country isn't the lack of gun control. It's the crappy healthcare system. Specifically the mental healthcare system. That needs a good long hard look. Gun control is just a band aid.

[roxybisquaint]

I was actually surprised that people seemed to be talking more about the mental health issue initially, but I guess I knew that wouldn't last. The usual call to ban "assault weapons" was inevitable. We had a ban for 10 years and it didn't make any difference because there are still crazy people.

If we really want to stop spree killings, we have to stop the spree killer types from wanting to do it. So I totally agree: this is absolutely a mental health problem.

What about community cohesion?

[tackdriver56]

Politicians in the USA have been dividing and conquering us citizens for so long, that we no longer have the kinds of communities that rise in the common defense. The Liberals point at the Conservatives and call us "gun nuts", while we call THEM coddlers and enablers.

I think we need to continue abrupt interventions when bully and exclusion develop in school settings, but we also need to give our kids honest, critical, constructive feedback, when they need to work harder, behave better, and conform in some ways to fit in to their communities. Parents, or failing that, other adult members of our communities need to clearly express and enforce behavioral norms, so that the little monsters tormenting cats don't become, or create, big monsters terrorizing communities.

I like ONE thing about Homeland Security: their mantra: "If you see something, say something."

Well said.

[roxybisquaint]

Liberals point at the Conservatives and call us "gun nuts", while we call THEM coddlers and enablers

Well they are coddlers and enablers ;)

Y'know, I was recently thinking about all the guns I have and realized I'd probably be considered a gun nut by many. But I don't think of myself as a gun nut at all; I think of myself as a gun nerd. Every gun I own is different and I like the challenge of trying to master them all. Target shooting gives me a thrill and shooting well gives me pride. It's a hobby, it's sport, it's fun.

I guess the "nut" part comes into play when the Second Amendment gets brought up. I don't know any gun owner that doesn't strongly believe that the purpose of that right is to keep tyranny in check. But in modern daily life, that seems like extremist talk. Revolutions are what happen in history or in third world countries, not in a western republic! At least not today. What anti-gun people fail to consider is that taking away or watering down the Second Amendment could be the doom of a future generation.

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