People laughing yet we're sat in houses full of knives fully capable of going into a crowded area and stabbing multiple people, yeah we might do more damage with a gun but it isn't like mass knifings happen every day and it's just less people being killed. There's clearly some specific culture around high school shootings in America that makes them more likely and prevalent.
Today's mass shooting in the US
- Thread starter Rroff
- Start date
- Status
Soldato
- Joined
- 17 Jun 2012
- Posts
- 9,898
- Location
- South Wales
hmmm do you think that culture is gun culture?
Soldato
- Joined
- 2 Apr 2006
- Posts
- 3,746
Pointless saying guns to many people, but a gun in the hands of a maniac is about as bad as it gets. FWIW I don't think the USA will ever change it's stance on gun ownership, so they reap what they sow. I'm just thankful I don't live in a country with that attitude.
I mean it's typically some young lone male with mental health issues who is very lonely and resentful of society and spends a lot of time on the internet, how is that a gun culture? It isn't some guy who's down at the shooting range every day super interested in guns
Soldato
- Joined
- 2 Apr 2006
- Posts
- 3,746
But surely you can see that a mass killing is more likely in a country where guns are more accessible. How can anyone argue against that?
Soldato
- Joined
- 3 Oct 2007
- Posts
- 12,190
- Location
- London, UK
That might be the case in school shootings but it isn't for mass shootings. Having millions of guns in society and easy to purchase for people who have mental health issues is just asking for mass shootings. It also ends in shootings that are only 2 or 3 people. Until they change the laws and make mental health checks not just mandatory to obtaining a gun licence but for licence renewal these things will continue to happen. Thoughts and prayers.
Soldato
- Joined
- 3 Oct 2007
- Posts
- 12,190
- Location
- London, UK
I saw a great cartoon a couple of days ago. Its 2 children hiding under a desk with a gunman in the classroom. One kid saying to the other "my dad says face masks are child abuse" says it all really.
What about the maniac in the Deadly SUV ‘Attack’ At Wisconsin Parade.
Cars are easier to get. Should we not ban cars?
The only way to do it is to first get all the stolen guns.
Harder jail time for them. Not catch and release as they do in many dems cities\states.
Once one has that under control. Then one can move forward.
I mean you don't want to have all the jail birds with guns and the normal people with out.
Canada is stopping gun ownership. But he hasn't said how he is going to stop the stolen guns from coming in to Canada.
"Federal law generally prohibits possession of firearms and ammunition by people who have been found by a court, board, commission, or other lawful authority to be a danger to themselves or others, or to “lack[] the mental capacity to contract or manage [their] own affairs,” as a result of their mental condition or illness."
Mental Health Reporting in Texas
Research Texas state laws on mental health reporting, including what is regulated and what's not. Find related gun law details from Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence today.
giffords.org
The shooter did have mantel problems. So his mother said.
But his family never got him help or reported it. Even after he was caught with 2 cats he had killed in a bag.
If they did report him. He would never been able to buy a gun.
Mind you his family have been in trouble with the cops.
Considering the quality of police why would anyone bother reporting anything?
Also I imagine it costs a ridiculous amount of money to 'get help' for mental health to the point that it probably does more harm than good.
Probably doesn't help that political dehumanisation, cultural differences across the country, urban-rural social barriers, precarious living standards, low minimum wage that necessitates multiple jobs and a plethora of either cynically designed or incompetently managed institutions... it's no wonder that some people would rather just let problems fester until they explode.
Also I imagine it costs a ridiculous amount of money to 'get help' for mental health to the point that it probably does more harm than good.
Probably doesn't help that political dehumanisation, cultural differences across the country, urban-rural social barriers, precarious living standards, low minimum wage that necessitates multiple jobs and a plethora of either cynically designed or incompetently managed institutions... it's no wonder that some people would rather just let problems fester until they explode.
Last edited:
Caporegime
- Joined
- 30 Jul 2013
- Posts
- 30,178
Interestingly the number of direct deaths in the US involving guns and cars / roads is almost the same, around 40,000.
One key difference is that cars are really useful for everyday life, and the vast majority of deaths are not deliberate - this does actually make a difference imo.
If you banned cars then Americans' lives would get noticeably worse because they couldn't go anywhere or basically do anything. If you banned say assault rifles then there would be basically no negative impact on anyone's life.
To be fair America does lag behind on road safety as well as gun safety, so there's definitely more they could do on both counts.
One key difference is that cars are really useful for everyday life, and the vast majority of deaths are not deliberate - this does actually make a difference imo.
If you banned cars then Americans' lives would get noticeably worse because they couldn't go anywhere or basically do anything. If you banned say assault rifles then there would be basically no negative impact on anyone's life.
To be fair America does lag behind on road safety as well as gun safety, so there's definitely more they could do on both counts.
Caporegime
- Joined
- 30 Jul 2013
- Posts
- 30,178
Hard to argue with that.
Most gun deaths aren't from "Assault weapons" (just a made up term?) though, they're from pistols. AR-15's are expensive.
Soldato
- Joined
- 21 Jan 2010
- Posts
- 3,874
I used to train with blades weekly. It requires a high level of skill to use a blade and, even then, multiple opponents mean you lose.
Guns are not the same.
Caporegime
- Joined
- 30 Jul 2013
- Posts
- 30,178
Everything was once a made up term.
Soldato
- Joined
- 3 Oct 2007
- Posts
- 12,190
- Location
- London, UK
"Federal law generally prohibits possession of firearms and ammunition by people who have been found by a court, board, commission, or other lawful authority to be a danger to themselves or others, or to “lack[] the mental capacity to contract or manage [their] own affairs,” as a result of their mental condition or illness."
Mental Health Reporting in Texas
Research Texas state laws on mental health reporting, including what is regulated and what's not. Find related gun law details from Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence today.
The shooter did have mantel problems. So his mother said.
But his family never got him help or reported it. Even after he was caught with 2 cats he had killed in a bag.
If they did report him. He would never been able to buy a gun.
Mind you his family have been in trouble with the cops.
You are skipping past the part where I said people should have to have a mental health check to get a gun licence. At the very least an interview with a police officer trained to look for signs of mental health problems, if they seen any red flags a health professional can be bought in.
The whole system failed here. His family could have done more, the police could have done more. The system is setup to fail though.
The GOP and Trump ending background checks for people with mental health issues isn't going to help either.
Trump signs bill revoking Obama-era gun checks for mental illness
The new law nullifies an Obama-backed rule that added people with mental illnesses to the national background check database.
www.nbcnews.com
Yeah, only people with high level of skill from 6 months of Krav Maga can stab someone to death
You can also reach safety from a blade by getting as little as a couple of meters away, behind glass, or just on the other side of a car...
Likewise cars can be used in attacks, but it's relatively easy to move out of the way of them most of the time, they can't hit people to the sides of them, and normally you're safe if you can get behind even just a small structure or another car, let alone inside a building.
Guns are pretty much unique in that there is no real "safe" distance unless you're behind fairly solid cover (far more solid than you find as many internal "walls" let alone doors and windows), you're not safe to the side of the person, and you're not safe above them, or inside a building.
There are very definite reasons America sees mass shooting as the preference rather than stabbings or drive throughs, and in countries that do have the mass stabbings they're very very rarely on the scale of even a small "mass shooting" in terms of casualties, for the simple reason that once you're aware of someone with a knife it's usually pretty easy to either stay out of their range, or reach some sort of safe location even if that's just blocking a cheap hardboard internal door or getting behind a glass door.
Not to mention someone armed with a knife can, and often is tackled by either unarmed bystanders, or police officers with nothing more than a glorified stick without the risk of the people attempting to stop him killing more bystanders.
You're talking nonsense.
Yes pretty much anyone can stab someone.
However they tend not to be able to do it repeatedly to dozens of people with no training and no way for their victims to reach safety.
Meanwhile in the US you've routinely got idiots with guns shooting and killing multiple people who haven't got any chance to get to safety, and far, far faster than you could attempt to do it with a knife.
- Status