Another school shooting....

[SteveH]

Except that people in other countries do not have access to guns and also do not have school shootings.

True, but they do not have the second amendment either. The US tends to lead the world in some not so great areas, consider the use of prescription opioids, we lead the world, when it comes to prescription stimulants we rank second behind El Salvador. My point is there are numerous factors at play, we need to understand these factors so we can address the whole problem not just one aspect. Even with the laws we have our local jusistidions don't follow them, Parkland was a perfect example of coulda woulda shoula.

 

[luvsJack]

Except that people in other countries do not have access to guns and also do not have school shootings.

So were all those guns in the USA just laying in wait all those years? Are you saying they have been hiding out for years and years until now when they sneak out and jump in the hands of a teenager or a mentally ill person or whomever? Is that really what you are saying? Because I don't think you believe it.

The fact that way too many in this country just want to blame an inanimate object without even CONSIDERING that maybe there are other reasons just blows my mind. Maybe we need to look at the prescription drug use, problems in mental health, how we are raising our kids, etc. etc. etc. But nope it is the piece of steel laying there.

Do we need gun control? YES. But if we don't figure out what else needs to change this isn't going to stop happening.

 

[ashley0139]

So were all those guns in the USA just laying in wait all those years? Are you saying they have been hiding out for years and years until now when they sneak out and jump in the hands of a teenager or a mentally ill person or whomever? Is that really what you are saying? Because I don't think you believe it.

The fact that way too many in this country just want to blame an inanimate object without even CONSIDERING that maybe there are other reasons just blows my mind. Maybe we need to look at the prescription drug use, problems in mental health, how we are raising our kids, etc. etc. etc. But nope it is the piece of steel laying there.

Do we need gun control? YES. But if we don't figure out what else needs to change this isn't going to stop happening.

What are you even talking about?

 

[wgeo]

So were all those guns in the USA just laying in wait all those years? Are you saying they have been hiding out for years and years until now when they sneak out and jump in the hands of a teenager or a mentally ill person or whomever? Is that really what you are saying? Because I don't think you believe it.

The fact that way too many in this country just want to blame an inanimate object without even CONSIDERING that maybe there are other reasons just blows my mind. Maybe we need to look at the prescription drug use, problems in mental health, how we are raising our kids, etc. etc. etc. But nope it is the piece of steel laying there.

Do we need gun control? YES. But if we don't figure out what else needs to change this isn't going to stop happening.

I'm pretty torn on these issues, I come from a family of gun owners, but I feel like something needs to be done. So I guess I'm in the middle? which seems to be rare these days. But for what it's worth, I think its important to point out that almost everyone that is advocating for gun control, at the same time would like additional money and time spent on mental health. I see very few people who say "get rid of guns and do nothing else"

 

[pezgirlroy]

I'm pretty torn on these issues, I come from a family of gun owners, but I feel like something needs to be done. So I guess I'm in the middle? which seems to be rare these days. But for what it's worth, I think its important to point out that almost everyone that is advocating for gun control, at the same time would like additional money and time spent on mental health. I see very few people who say "get rid of guns and do nothing else"

Exactly right. I am for more controls and do not believe we should simply remove all guns. But there has to be a combination here. Yes there are underlying issues that are generally there but all of these school and mass shootings have one thing in common.

 

[Klayfish]

It's rhetoric to blame anything but guns.

Yep, absolutely. I know you were being sarcastic (at least I think), but as I've posted before I'm definitely putting gun control at the very top of the list. It's a FAR deeper issue than the guns themselves, in fact they're just a byproduct IMO. However, until we can solve those underlying issues, guns need to disappear. Groups like the NRA need to be abolished.

So sad, and it needs to stop.

 

[LSUmiss]

What can be said that hasn't been said a hundred times before?

Actually, my first thought was while tragic, I think the fact that he only had a handgun with limited capacity (6) kept it from being even worse. I think realistically we aren’t going to prevent these things from happening anytime soon, but I do think it’s possible to reduce the amount of carnage per incident. For now it may be the best we can do. Sadly, I know that doesn’t help the current victims or their families.

 

[RamblingMad]

So were all those guns in the USA just laying in wait all those years? Are you saying they have been hiding out for years and years until now when they sneak out and jump in the hands of a teenager or a mentally ill person or whomever? Is that really what you are saying? Because I don't think you believe it.

The fact that way too many in this country just want to blame an inanimate object without even CONSIDERING that maybe there are other reasons just blows my mind. Maybe we need to look at the prescription drug use, problems in mental health, how we are raising our kids, etc. etc. etc. But nope it is the piece of steel laying there.

Do we need gun control? YES. But if we don't figure out what else needs to change this isn't going to stop happening.

This doesn’t happen nearly as often in other countries. What are they doing that we’re not doing?

 

[luvsJack]

This doesn’t happen nearly as often in other countries. What are they doing that we’re not doing?

I have no idea but that is exactly what we need to figure out. Saying "it doesn't happen in other countries" doesn't explain why there have been a huge number of guns in this country for a large number of years and yet these things didn't happen then. Guns didn't just become popular and they didn't just get easier to get. What changed?

 

[EMom]

I continue to be bothered by these reports, but more and more proud that my school district took action and locked down all of our schools from elementary on up. People can not just wander in, yes parents can't just drop by and have lunch without a background check, and the students go past metal detectors, we have SROs at the middle & high schools. I could happen here, but at least the District is taking steps to prevent it.

I will disagree Searc, the gun is just an inanimate object. The issue is the person using it. Understanding why the person devalues life so much that they will take it needs to be understood. I do not claim to have the answers. But for generations we taught gun safety in many schools and organizations like Scouts and others. We don't do that anymore. Is it drugs? Is it violet games, music, movies, lifestyle? I don't know, but something has changed in our society. We need to determine what it is so we can address it. Locking up a gun will not solve the underlying problem.

I agree. I grew up in Texas, and can't tell you how many trucks had gun racks (with guns) mounted in the back window, including at school. Many of our homes had gun racks (with guns) in the living room. We never had one incident of school gun violence and I never heard of one. It was something that never happened. Our brains did not go there.

Something has changed, and it's inside the shooters. Drugs, violent video games, movies, social media and the burning desire to be famous??? I don't know what the cause is. But we can take all the guns away and we will still have a scary problem.

 

[wgeo]

I agree. I grew up in Texas, and can't tell you how many trucks had gun racks (with guns) mounted in the back window, including at school. Many of our homes had gun racks (with guns) in the living room. We never had one incident of school gun violence and I never heard of one. It was something that never happened. Our brains did not go there.

Something has changed, and it's inside the shooters. Drugs, violent video games, movies, social media and the burning desire to be famous??? I don't know what the cause is. But we can take all the guns away and we will still have a scary problem.

I think you are definitely right, we will still have a scary problem in this country. But I see it like the way that we are spending a huge amount of money to lock down the schools. We all know it's not a perfect solution but we are doing it in an attempt to make it better at least. In the same way, if we could reduce access to certain high capacity guns it would be an attempt to make it better at least. There is absolutely no 1 answer that is going to solve this mess. Personally I don't even think there are 2 or 3, I think this is going to take a massive multi prong approach from a number of avenues. I just wish that gun control (not gun removal) could be considered as one of those approaches.

 

[handinpocket]

It's rhetoric to blame anything but guns.

Bull. Guns don't cause school shootings. Evil kids do. All school shooters have prescription psychiatric drugs in common, that should be looked at. These drugs have long term effects.

 

[Kitty 34]

My thoughts go out to the families that are now so affected by these shootings.

 

[ponyboy]

When someone gets shot some people always blame the gun. When a drunk driver goes out and kill someone they blame the driver, why don't they blame the car?

 

[ashley0139]

I agree. I grew up in Texas, and can't tell you how many trucks had gun racks (with guns) mounted in the back window, including at school. Many of our homes had gun racks (with guns) in the living room. We never had one incident of school gun violence and I never heard of one. It was something that never happened. Our brains did not go there.

Something has changed, and it's inside the shooters. Drugs, violent video games, movies, social media and the burning desire to be famous??? I don't know what the cause is. But we can take all the guns away and we will still have a scary problem.

a) Other countries have drugs, violent video games, movies, and social media but not mass shootings.

b) Even if we would still have a "scary problem," there won't also be mass murders with guns. I'll take that.

 

[ashley0139]

Bull. Guns don't cause school shootings. Evil kids do. All school shooters have prescription psychiatric drugs in common, that should be looked at. These drugs have long term effects.

Source?

 

[sam_gordon]

a) Other countries have drugs, violent video games, movies, and social media but not mass shootings.

As someone pointed out earlier, other countries don't have a second amendment. If you think there's enough support for a new amendment, reach out to your congress people.

 

[RamblingMad]

Source?

Doesn’t really matter. I’m sure kids take drugs for mental health in other countries too.

 

[RamblingMad]

Bull. Guns don't cause school shootings. Evil kids do. All school shooters have prescription psychiatric drugs in common, that should be looked at. These drugs have long term effects.

And all of the evil kids are only born in the US, right?

 

[LSUmiss]

Bull. Guns don't cause school shootings. Evil kids do. All school shooters have prescription psychiatric drugs in common, that should be looked at. These drugs have long term effects.

IF they do, then it’s not likely the meds themselves, but the fact these kids have been in & out the system & have mental health issues.