Another school shooting in the US

[estebanrey]

And tear up the constitution at the same time, I feel that will go down well in the US.

Why would they have to tear up the constitution and not just change it? Afterall the the bit about a right to bear arms is from the second amendment, ergo they amended it already to include it.

The US constitution is full of 'amendments' and they add and overwrite them all the time. Prohibition banned alcohol using the 18th amendment, it was then repealed under the 21st.

The idea that the US Constitution is like the Bible, an unchangeable set of values that will remain true forever, is a myth.

Furthermore the second amendment doesn't say Americans have the right to hold gun, it says they have the right to 'bear arms'. Well your average citizen over there can not own a scud missile or a nuclear weapon so it could be argued that one has been broken already.

 

[elmarko]

The simple fact is, if I had a massive mental breakdown & decided to go on a killing spree I would not be able to get a gun.

To obtain a gun would require a level of planning & forethought which would be largely absent if I was in that frame of mind.

That is a good thing.

 

[cymatty]

The US constitution is full of 'amendments' and they add and overwrite them all the time. Prohibition banned alcohol using the 18th amendment, it was then repealed under the 21st.

And look how well that worked out for them. There are too many industries built around guns and gun ownership and too may people in power who like guns for an amendment like this to go through any time soon.

 

[CaptainRAVE]

Terrible, just terrible. Takes a seriously disturbed individual to kill some defenseless kids!

Unfortunately guns don't make people violent. They just make violent people much more dangerous.

 

[Stretch]

If guns are the issue, explain the lack of school shootings in these countries.

I think is largely due to the attitude towards guns and the threshold of ownership. Very few countries allow the public to carry firearms in public (concealed or unconcealed). Most countries also require the owner to prove they are trustworthy, knowledgeable and stable enough to own a gun. You also need a licence per firearm and need to prove that it's a necessity to own each one.

In the states, if you haven't got a criminal record you can get a permit and buy what you want without reason.

 

[elmarko]

Unfortunately guns don't make people violent. They just make violent people much more dangerous.

Very very true, they also increase the danger or usually pretty safe people during times of extreme stress/mental breakdown.

 

[Malevolence]

Why would they have to tear up the constitution and not just change it?

...and then what, just wait for everyone to calmly hand over their legally registered firearms? Even if they did do something like you suggest, do have any idea how much money it would cost the government to reimburse people?

That's not even touching on all the unregistered and illegal firearms there are floating around. How would they be dealt with?

 

[cymatty]

The simple fact is, if I had a massive mental breakdown & decided to go on a killing spree I would not be able to get a gun.

Except that is not usually happens in the case of kids that shoot up schools anyway.

• The shooters come from many types of families, from all incomes, from all races, from all academic backgrounds. No easy explanations—mental illness, drugs, video games—explain their actions. No profile rules anyone in or out.
• The shooters did not snap. These attacks were neither spontaneous nor impulsive. The shooters usually had chosen targets in advance: students, principals and teachers. This may give adults time to prevent an attack.

Also to put it into perspective

To put the problem of targeted school-based attacks in context, from 1993 to 1997, the odds that a child in grades 9-12 would be threatened or injured with a weapon in school were 7 to 8 percent, or 1 in 13 or 14; the odds of getting into a physical fight at school were 15 percent, or 1 in 7. In contrast, the odds that a child would die in school–by homicide or suicide–are, fortunately, no greater than 1 in 1 million.

http://stateimpact.npr.org/ohio/201...ting-as-in-chardon-at-least-one-in-a-million/

 

[Theophany]

Let me guess, it's still not the right time for a debate on gun control in the US?

 

[estebanrey]

And look how well that worked out for them. There are too many industries built around guns and gun ownership and too may people in power who like guns for an amendment like this to go through any time soon.

Think you've missed the point. The US changes its constitution all the time, they don't have to 'rip it up' when they decide a part of it no longer applies.

But I agree it would never go through, because Murka in general is obsessed with firearms.

 

[ShakenNstirred]

sad news
yanks and there guns when will they learn

 

[cymatty]

Think you've missed the point. The US changes its constitution all the time, they don't have to 'rip it up' when they decide a part of it no longer applies.

But I agree it would never go through, because Murka in general is obsessed with firearms.

Many US citizens would see it as ripping up the constitution though as they consider that probably the second most important after freedom of speech. It would be political suicide.

 

[oldbag]

To think someone would sit down and plan it, then get a gun and do it makes it even worse.

 

[Hamster]

Watching Sky News now. Estimated 27 dead including children.

FFS

 

[StriderX]

Is it bad that i no longer care any more?

I really I am quite fed up.

 

[Dist]

Is gun control even possible any more? There are so many firearms in the US that even once you make them illegal you will never take them all back. The ones who refuse to give up their firearms or can get hold of firearms even when they are illegal are the ones who will be misusing them anyway.

Even if the person could not get a hold of a gun, he still could have found many other ways to cause mass injury and death because mentally unstable people are not limited just to guns if they really want to kill people.

 

[Freakbro]

[RSS]Body found at gunmans home now.[/RSS]

 

[Daze]

Wow. Very, very tragic - especially at this time of year.

 

[trojan698]

Terrible, just terrible. Takes a seriously disturbed individual to kill some defenseless kids!

Unfortunately guns don't make people violent. They just make violent people much more dangerous.

Disturbed or just plain evil? Is there such a thing as evil?

I disagree with your statement about people being violent, guns make it much easier to be violent. There's a great element of detachment from the act of shooting someone in comparison to stabbing them. Imagine shooting 20 people, easy. Imagine killing 20 people with a blade, not so easy.

 

[estebanrey]

Even if the person could not get a hold of a gun, he still could have found many other ways to cause mass injury and death because mentally unstable people are not limited just to guns if they really want to kill people.

As has been said the difference is a bomb (for example) requires time, a knowledge of explosives and there's a decent risk of it failing. That means it's impossible for someone to snap and just make a bomb, you can however just snap and grab your firearm.

The problem with the American mentality is they often talk about criminals as if they are a different species than the 'good guys', they don't think that anyone, no matter how good they are, can just snap and go postal at any time without warning.

An old work colleague of mine has just been sent down for 30 years for brutally murdering a woman. This chap was as 'normal' as you could be when I knew him, I would have described him as a nice bloke. He had no criminal convictions or trouble with the police but just went out one night, got drunk, and (in his words) had a moment of being possessed.

Every single gun owner is a potential mass murderer and no one can guarantee mentally stability for the rest of their lives.