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Posted by: David M. Katz
« on: March 27, 2023, 01:20:42 pm »

3 kids, 3 staff dead at shooting this am at Covenant School in Nashville.

This does not personally impact my family but angers me as a citizen.

Formula:
1. Count the bodies
2.  Send thoughts and prayers
3.  Wait for the next one
4.  Repeat
Posted by: Kittykat
« on: March 22, 2023, 09:00:24 pm »

Very very glad to hear none of your kids were affected by it. Also very sad for the families who were.
Posted by: Plagosus
« on: March 21, 2023, 05:22:06 pm »

I do not have an answer.

With the number of guns around the problem is not going to go away even in the unlikely event of a change in the constitution. I cannot see 400 million guns being handed in.
Posted by: afinch
« on: March 21, 2023, 05:12:22 pm »

I agree with you Jack.  Making new gun laws when the old ones are not enforced accomplishes nothing.  The NRA is a bankrupt non-entity at this point.
Posted by: Jack
« on: March 21, 2023, 05:02:01 pm »

It is already illegal for children to own guns or to take them to school, or even to use their parents' guns unsupervised.  So, once again, do you have a solution to offer beyond Americans are awful?

Enforcing laws that already exist and removing exemptions and loopholes is a good start.  Holding people responsible for their guns being stored unsafely is another.  There are actually safety measures that already exist, but the NRA would prefer to spend money on fighting gun safety, instead of making guns safe.

I am going to stop there and say this isn't really the place for a gun control debate, since we'd prefer to keep the forum friendly.
Posted by: afinch
« on: March 21, 2023, 04:17:05 pm »

First, I'm glad none of you was personally affected.  I wish no one had been.

That's true, Plag, and it's awful.  As someone who used to have to try to put Humpty back together again after these incidents, I know that better than you.  Do you have a constructive solution? 

Confiscating guns isn't an option.  Unlike France where the government can impose a "pension reform" without a vote or your country where citizens can be stripped of their UK nationality without notification (although at least there, that so-called law was at least voted on in Parliament), we have a Constitution, and that Constitution has a Second Amendment.  One can not just ignore it, no matter how much one dislikes it (and, for the record, I do  dislike it).  Repealing it is a non-starter, because there are not, and likely never will be, sufficient votes to do so.  So, other than the usual "The US is made up of a bunch of cowboys who like to shoot people" complaints, what do you propose?

Automobile accidents were for years the leading cause of death in children and teenagers here.  No one ever suggested banning cars, or banning children from riding in them as a viable solution.  30% of US childhood gun deaths are suicides.  Most (and I only don't saw ALL because I haven't seen all of the reports) childhood/teenage homicides involve shooters taking SSRI's or other psychiatric meds.  The uptake in this sort of activity since the COVID pandemic with the uptake in reported mental illness in all demographics, but especially in adolescents, is yet another factor.  "Easy access" to guns is certainly an issue, but shielding one's eyes from a broken mental health system is IMO a far bigger issue.  Normalizing behaviors with their very own DSM codes (Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) until five minutes ago and encouraging children to "be what you want to be" plays a role in this mess.  Getting rid of guns is magical thinking, but it would reduce MASS shootings.  What happened today in Arlington per news reports, and indeed 99+% of the reported "school shootings" are targeted, involving a person (in today's a second girl was grazed by a stray bullet).  Take away their guns, and they'll still come with knives--which is already happening in the UK. 

It is already illegal for children to own guns or to take them to school, or even to use their parents' guns unsupervised.  So, once again, do you have a solution to offer beyond Americans are awful?

Posted by: Plagosus
« on: March 21, 2023, 08:08:02 am »

Guns are the the number one killer of children in the US. The US has the highest rate of gun deaths in advanced industrialised nations. There are more guns than people in the US.
Posted by: Jack
« on: March 21, 2023, 12:59:21 am »

Just FYI - if you've heard the news, No, we weren't involved in the most recent Dallas area school shooting.  While not much has been released about it so far, it took place in Arlington, which is a good 30 minutes away from us - between Dallas and Fort Worth.  The shooting took place at Lamar High School, which is on the north side of I30 (can be seen as you drive by) and is not far west of Six Flags and Hurricane Harbor. 

To me, the saddest thing about this is, when you enter 'Dallas area school shooting' in Google, you have to search to find the specific one for which you're looking.  :(