Teen driver in fiery crash that killed five is charged with manslaughter

[decocker 7,198]

Actually, the "guns don't kill people" rationale is based on 100% fact, whether in this forum, or anywhere else in the world. People who have never owned a gun, nor been around them much, seem to have an unhealthy fear of them. Sure, they allow a perp some stand-off distance. But guns alone don't kill people. Only a truly dense individual would think that they do, and would think that taking guns away would reduce crime. I am sure you have seen much more of the argument than I have on here, but I have seen it elsewhere, and it's always the same thing. It's a polar topic, to be sure.

yeah, it is always the same thing. reasonable people say something along the lines of, maybe we should make it more difficult to get a gun and then the other camp goes bonkers posting bs about banning cars and stabbing statistics in the uk. dense really isn't the proper term imo.

But I also have been perusing some old posts on here, trying to get a feel for the local population. Really interesting bunch used to speak their minds here. Seems some have gone away in the recent past. It's too bad, there used to be some interesting dialogue bantering about the ethernet here.

brand new huh? lol

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Actually, the "guns don't kill people" rationale is based on 100% fact, whether in this forum, or anywhere else in the world. People who have never owned a gun, nor been around them much, seem to have an unhealthy fear of them. Sure, they allow a perp some stand-off distance. But guns alone don't kill people. Only a truly dense individual would think that they do, and would think that taking guns away would reduce crime. I am sure you have seen much more of the argument than I have on here, but I have seen it elsewhere, and it's always the same thing. It's a polar topic, to be sure.

But I also have been perusing some old posts on here, trying to get a feel for the local population. Really interesting bunch used to speak their minds here. Seems some have gone away in the recent past. It's too bad, there used to be some interesting dialogue bantering about the ethernet here.

I have to wonder what thoughts go through people's heads whenever there is an incident like this latest college shooting. We know that this isn't the first such incident and that these things have become a state of normal.

The problem is, as an outside observer who has lived and worked in several countries - I can tell you that in other first world nations, it isn't normal.

Oddly enough I don't believe (as you seem to have assumed that I do) that banning guns is a magic solution. I do think that when you have a mass media that promotes hysterical paranoia, a health and social care system where falling through the cracks is routine, a lack of jobs and long-term opportunities etc. - that adding guns to that mix is the proverbial match to a powder keg.

Why is it, whenever an incident like the college shooting happens, everytime it happens - that the response from people amounts to little more than "Oh well". The US seems to have a large number of mentally ill or otherwise deranged people with access to guns. Why is this?

Moreover, what's the solution?

Do you even see a solution? Or do you believe that what goes on in the fishbowl of the USA is somehow what goes on in the rest of the world?

Edited October 5, 2015 by Trumplestiltskin

[Ban Hammer 13,696]

yeah, it is always the same thing. reasonable people say something along the lines of, maybe we should make it more difficult to get a gun and then the other camp goes bonkers posting bs about banning cars and stabbing statistics in the uk. dense really isn't the proper term imo.

more difficult in what way?

[decocker 7,198]

more difficult in what way?

put them all up on a really high shelf.

[Ban Hammer 13,696]

put them all up on a really high shelf.

so you wish to discriminate against the vertically challenged......

is that because only short people are mass shooters?

Edited October 5, 2015 by charles!

[Voice of Reason 10,298]

yeah, it is always the same thing. reasonable people say something along the lines of, maybe we should make it more difficult to get a gun and then the other camp goes bonkers posting bs about banning cars and stabbing statistics in the uk. dense really isn't the proper term imo.

To be clear, I support more gun control in the form of proving competency, say via a more stringent background check. I abhor seeing the words "gun control" and "taking guns away" happen in the same context. If it took as much to purchase a gun as it does to get a DL, that would be a step in the right direction, IMO.

Unfortunately, it will never stop a criminal or insane person from being able to illegally obtain a gun. No matter WHAT is done in the way of gun control, it will only affect those who are already willing to uphold the law and could pass any reasonable background check anyway. I don't really see a viable solution at this stage in our lives.

[decocker 7,198]

To be clear, I support more gun control in the form of proving competency, say via a more stringent background check. I abhor seeing the words "gun control" and "taking guns away" happen in the same context. If it took as much to purchase a gun as it does to get a DL, that would be a step in the right direction, IMO.

Unfortunately, it will never stop a criminal or insane person from being able to illegally obtain a gun. No matter WHAT is done in the way of gun control, it will only affect those who are already willing to uphold the law and could pass any reasonable background check anyway. I don't really see a viable solution at this stage in our lives.

if you hate seeing the words 'gun control' or 'gun grab' or whatever, i suggest not reading extreme right leaning propaganda. in my experience they are the only side peddling this nonsense, and they do so to keep their base terrified that a muslim, non us citizen, is working day and night to take all their guns. destroy their religion, ruin their country, and take their guns. quite absurd, but that paranoia alone is what keeps the conversation at an abhorrently dense level.

i'm sorry but i just don't buy that nothing can be done at all. if its more difficult for an unstable person to obtain a gun, even if it only delays their ability, it gives the possibility that their plan may come to light and the whole thing can be stopped. good example is the plot that was just uncovered in CA.

so you wish to discriminate against the vertically challenged......

is that because only short people are mass shooters?

that's one angle, i'm sure a rife napoleon complex has driven many a mass shooter home..

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Some interesting comments in the news today by the father of the college shooter - questioning why he was able to get so many guns...

[Boiler 46,337]

I did my Hunters Ed and Concealed Carry, now if they were part of the Curriculum that is something Obama could influence but nothing heard on that subject.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

if you hate seeing the words 'gun control' or 'gun grab' or whatever, i suggest not reading extreme right leaning propaganda. in my experience they are the only side peddling this nonsense, and they do so to keep their base terrified that a muslim, non us citizen, is working day and night to take all their guns. destroy their religion, ruin their country, and take their guns. quite absurd, but that paranoia alone is what keeps the conversation at an abhorrently dense level.

i'm sorry but i just don't buy that nothing can be done at all. if its more difficult for an unstable person to obtain a gun, even if it only delays their ability, it gives the possibility that their plan may come to light and the whole thing can be stopped. good example is the plot that was just uncovered in CA.

Well its a more honest stand than what has been suggested here (rinse repeated from almost every thread on here about a mass shooting tragedy), equating such events to the level of a tree blowing over in a forest. It was going to happen sooner or later and no one could have prevented it so why do anything at all. It's perverse.

It's a view that only makes sense if you insist on living in a fishbowl and ignore not only what fellow Americans are saying about this, but also other developed nations that the US has close links to. It happens with a regularity that is disturbing and that nothing is ever done (whether because of partisan politics, lobby groups and the likes of pro gun enablers, such as a few old the people in this thread) amounts to an ongoing national embarrassment.

Edited October 5, 2015 by Trumplestiltskin

[Darnell 8,479]

see? CHICAGO sucks......All Hail Houston! All Hail!