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After yet another mass shooting/s (forgive me if I don't say which bc I might well be taken over by the next one) What if any steps would you recommend to lessen the frequency of these atrocities?
I am not looking for partisan fights here. Let us try and have some real ideas that maybe both sides could agree on.

273kelvin 8 Apr 12
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As an outsider I cannot offer concrete solutions. I live where guns are not part of normal life and I am glad of that. I do however think it is about time that America starts to end its love affair with firearms. That does not mean bans or prohibition, there are lots of things that are legal but frowned upon eg. smoking and excessive drinking etc. that we allow but do not glorify. If guns are necessary in American society, then so be it but so is going to the bathroom and you don't see politicians pictured with their families all sitting on the shitter.

I appreciate your post and your comment. I do not believe that guns are necessary to American society but there are so many in circulation now that it would be virtually impossible to get rid of them all. The most popular ideas in starting to address the gun problem seems to be more rigorous background checks and regulation of the guns themselves in one form or another. I've also read about the regulation of ammunition. I think every gun should have to be insured, not unlike motor vehicles. Biden wants to get rid of assault rifles and I hope he does.

Where the problem arises is that American conservatives only care about their own because they are fearful of anyone different than they are. Other people dying from gun violence is inconsequential to them because they don't care about those people. Had they a normal attachment to their community, this problem would have been contained long ago. The Second Amenfment does not say that any American can own any firearm they wish. Thanks for raising the issue, you never know what and who you might flush out.

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So far my state has not experienced a mass shooting. We have had very few guns in our state, but that will be changing soon with the new ruling by the supreme court. I can only hope that our responsible gun ownership laws will keep us from having our first mass shooting. Our state has been issuing permits to gun owners who take the safety classes and pass the pre-screening. I'm glad my state doesn't allow open carry or carrying without a permit. Pretty sure it will stay that way, unless the supreme court somehow butts in and says we have to ease up more. Grr. I said all that to say, fewer guns, more gun safety regulations, and common sense screening for permits is one avenue.

Secondly, most of the mass shooters seem to be male, experiencing some emotional strain, so I would say that more attention needs to be paid for having strong positive role models for boys and men, as well as mental health support, so they can learn how to deal with their emotional problems in a healthy way. Strong role models show how to live a good life in a peaceful manner, rather than aggressively. Easier said than done.

Those are the two factors I see most. Of course, we also have a drug problem with 75% of the deadly overdoses being male, so the strong positive role models and mental health support could help them as well.

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Your aim is laudable. However, I do not believe that it will be achievable for as long as the GOP continues to march resolutely towards right-wing ideological extremism.

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Your bio says you love festivals, weed and sex.

Do what you love.

Music, good company, basically humanity in general. But I don't see what that has to do with my question.

@273kelvin

Think. Do you love complaining about shootings?

@yvilletom So complaining about dead children is wrong? Guns are now the biggest killer of kids in America, out pacing RTAs. So traffic is now safer than home or school. Perhaps if MORE people complained, something might be done about it because whatever you are doing, is obviously not working.
My OP was not a compliant per se but a genuine attempt to form some dialogue from all sides of the debate. The fact that you eschew that opportunity and try and focus on personality instead, speaks more about your fixations than mine.

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The House GQP are not interested in agreement on anything related to guns. It is a stalemate until 2025, if then. Blue states might be able to enact their own individual assault rifle bans until the SCOTUS invalidates them.

We would probably agree to anything that might help but they won't agree to anything at all. This issue is a prime example of what selfish, unreasonable children Republicans are.

The research is clear. I am safer without a gun than they are with a gun. Their attachment to firearms is unhealthy and unnatural.

[hsph.harvard.edu]

[safewise.com]

[thetruthaboutguns.com]

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I do not believe an answer which satisfies all sides is possible so this will go on. SoA is basically a killing field, now, so I would arm children and schools.

Really? the logical progression of that argument would be to alow open caryy everywhere including airlines.
"Do youknow that if we had open caryy on airlines, 9/11 would not have happened? Sure we might have had a few mid-air decompressions and lost a few thousand pasengers but hey..."

@273kelvin We lost a few thousand on 9/11 and since then so no big deal. I think the logical progression is that people will become afraid, very afraid, and they will become Congressional folks who then make laws against the guns. That's what happened in our Old West. The OK Corral was about a gun ban.

@rainmanjr I think that over 140 mass shootings so far this year is a little more than "No big deal". The fact that you think it isn't. Might just be part of the problem.

@273kelvin LMFAO. My comment was from the general public POV, not mine, so your sarcasm is misplaced. I have always voted for Dems (which is the Party that wants to do something about guns) so I obviously don't agree with the general public. Further, I have zero control of society but observe that most absorbed the deaths of over one million COVID sufferers so death, in general, does not seem a big concern for ours. That strikes me as unsurprising for a war culture. I have demonstrated against every one of our wars since Vietnam. I was five-fifteen during it and my brother served during it so would have been pissed-off at me. I think the Dem answer of banning guns won't work (as bans never have during my lifetime) so the answer must be more in line with a general disease of their existence. That can only happen by their aftermath when permitted vs the feeling of general safety when they aren't. I also think this issue can only really be dealt with by the Con side of the argument. They must determine that they're wrong or they will always scream foul about attempts to cure it. Yes, I would post weaponry in schools, just like we post fire extinguishers but hope there's no fires, and all school personnel would be willing to use one or they would not be an employee. I was a soldier so do not understand the idea of refusing to kill an enemy or touching a disgusting gun. WTF?

@rainmanjr Let me tackle your points one by one.
I am sorry if I misread your politics but my 9/11 analogy was a satirical attempt to follow the logic of "more guns better". Plus I would be loathed to ask Miss Millerton to resist the temptation to pull out her firearm, walk up to Jimmy on the back row, point it at him and in her best Dirty Harry voice say; "I told you to quietly open your textbook at page 23" 😉
As for COVID, I have been a fervent online commenter whenever I see anti-vax bs. My older brother was an anti-vaxer. Last August he died in my arms from COVID, 2 days after his eldest's wedding. What should have been such a joyous occasion was ended with his passing. I miss him so. Whenever I see anti-vax bs online, I do what I must do and testify. No matter how personally painful to me recalling those events are.
If you read my other comment. I have suggested a basic premise that it might be time to make guns uncool? But that is just a discussion point.

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