Connecticut School Shootings

Not every state requires gun registration. I'd start there. Not surprisingly, the biggest source of gun violence isn't mass shootings like this one, but inner city violence waged largely by illegal weapons. I can't help but think that a greater investment in gun registration laws and infrastructure would help law enforcement pinpoint illegal weapons being trafficked into the country.

Obviously, in the case of this shooting, the young man's access to his mother's guns was unfortunate. (I don't really want to start down the judgment road, but all signs point to her knowing that her son had serious mental issues, so I'm really curious why she would have weapons in the home.) But her guns were legally owned and registered.

In the case of the U.S., its proximity to Mexico means that passage of illegal weapons into the United States is almost a given, especially considering that the U.S. is the largest consumer of South American and Mexican drugs. This is just one more reason why border control is so important. It's far easier to traffic illicit goods across the Mexican-U.S. border than it is to fly them into countries like Great Britain and Japan.

I'm not sure this can be known. Obviously, you see people with mental issues (like the Dark Knight Rises shooter, the Arizona shooter who wounded Congresswoman Gabbie Giffords, and this new shooter), but there are plenty of examples of folks with regular stressors like financial woes, political worries, and marital collapse that simply push them off the deep end. Obviously, guns can't be blamed for these issues, so it's definitely a tricky question.

I never said it was an argument for gun control. As I said earlier, a greater emphasis on gun control might do a bit of good in curtailing the everyday gun violence committed by illegal weapons... not so much the occasional nutjob that decides to go on a shooting spree. But these incidents, understandably, seem to dominate the media, our minds, and the gun control debate.

Oh, yes. I agree. These school shootings - and others - are not just because of some damaged, mentally ill individuals who happen to have guns. Sleezy knows truth. Sleezy is beating me at the most movies in The MoFo Millenium Top 100 thing. Sleezy has insight, like me.

It absolutely has to do with our society and with America's ways. I think we should look toward what we're doing wrong with the education system. I mean, besides the Aurora movie theater, the majority of these shootings happen at schools and colleges. Why? What's the deeper reason besides just the fact that a lot of people are there?

As you said, America is stressful and all about making money. That's what the educational system does in America -- prepares everybody to make money. What is the big problem with education?

This new shooter - Adam Lanza - killed 6 and 7 year old first graders in their classrooms. What could cause someone to do such a thing? Maybe he wanted to spare them from their futures. Maybe he hated what happened to him so much because of how he grew up and how he experienced school that he felt he needed to ruin others, like how he was ruined, while also taking them away from the educational system and a future that he himself could not have. Perhaps there's a lot of turmoil and rage at schools more than anything else. Perhaps school is the whole problem. Not guns. Guns are what these guys are grabbing because they are a symbol of power and masculinity and elevated status. Guns might even be what they need. But they need them and they must use them in ways that don't kill other human beings. Taking away guns probably won't be the end of this kind of thing. And I think that fixating on the gun issue is naive and simple and at this point, dated. I mean, these things just keep happening and happening and everyone keeps yapping and yapping about gun control. Why haven't we already taken drastic measures to keep this from happening in the first place? Why have there now been two big American shootout massacres in the past 6 months?!

I say the problem is school. That getting an education in America is too prolonged, too exhausting and unnecessary in many cases. There is so much focus and hype on getting an education and going on to college and all that -- I think that's the deep rooted issue. I'm biased, I'll say, because these feelings are mainly my own feelings right now, but I think that where I'm coming from could be connected to these killers' feelings. I think school has wronged them. And I think they're wronging the schools back. These killers are always men, too (if I'm forgetting about one single female school shooter, big deal) -- they're mainly men. These men are saying something's wrong. Despite their twisted actions, I think there's something we should be hearing from them - and I don't think we're hearing it. We're tuning them out so that we can focus on taking their guns away. We should listen to what men out there in America are thinking and feeling about the way of things in our society -- ORDINARY men, not just educated men. I think men are getting lost and diminished and I blame education as one reason.

What are the illegal weapons you're referencing with inner city crime? All the ones I know about are either handguns or knives.

Sure, but do we really know she knew? You could still make the point she should've just been safe regardless and hid them, I'd be fine with that, but you're bringing up a common thing which is people who aren't registered being the assailant, so perhaps the people with registration need to be made aware of that.


You do know that a staggering amount of Mexico's guns were put there by our government right?

But if this is a cultural thing, what is it about these countries with higher murder rates? Is it related to medicine/prescriptions/lifestyle/education system? I personally think so. Why is Finland fairly calm when Sweden isn't? There's another proximity conundrum perhaps.

SC, do you ever think about what you're writing or do you just put out whatever sounds good to you at the time?

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#31 on SC's Top 100 Mofos list!!

There's so many mass shootings and psychopaths in USA.At first,I thought that crazy people occur everywhere but now I guess such events indicate that there are problems not with certain individuals but with the whole system and society.

You're right, hand guns and knives are the predominant weapons used among inner city gangs. In the case of hand guns, however, a large number of gang members are under the age of 18 and even those of age aren't necessarily obtaining their weapons legally.

According to this article, she was well aware that he had issues and struggled with him, though she wasn't necessarily negligent. But it also notes that, according to his family, she was "a big, big gun fan." It also states that the shooter himself had attempted to purchase a gun but wasn't willing to wait the mandated 14 days for a background check. Again, I don't want to draw too many conclusions based on scant evidence. But this is definitely an interesting aspect to follow.

I'm definitely curious about the degree to which she kept her guns safely protected. Again, this is ever an issue of personal responsibility, but I'd hope her guns were locked up in gun cases (with one on her, perhaps). I really don't want to read that she just left them out.

Our government? I don't think so. FactCheck.org notes that it's relatively easy for guns to be purchased legally in Texas and trafficked across the border into Mexico, which is the most likely source of U.S. guns in the country. However, the claim that 90% of firearms in Mexico have come from the U.S. is suspect. More likely, it's a far lower rate.

These are obviously far larger issues that we're getting into, though I'm one who generally believes that a nation's economy and education system are the two biggest factors in determining if a population will be predisposed to crime. Without a fair and balanced economy and educational opportunities for young people, you can bet there will be plenty of violence. So I do think there are absolutely systemic social factors that can be blamed for a lot of these atrocities that we see.

Which is why, in this country, I think it's folly to believe that we're capable of surviving a "hands off" model of gun regulation while the economy continues to teeter and our education system continues to plunge into the toilet. It's just a recipe for disaster, in my opinion.

And although I have no issues in general with gun enthusiasts and gun culture, I do believe it has grown considerably over the last couple decades, and that we're perhaps seeing a diminished understanding of the purpose and inherent danger of firearms. I know far too many people who seem to equate guns with cars, grills, and swimming pools as something that every American has a God-given right to own. And that's true, but a gun isn't just something to be collected and/or enjoyed as an example of good-natured American living. It's a weapon, and it's singular purpose is to end life, and we should never let ourselves forget that.

I'll do the talking. You can do the crying.

Also, seriously? What the holy hell is happening?

These poor kids. How are they gonna protect themselves now when they're at school? This is what's gonna be on future school supply lists that the teachers hand out to their students on the first day of school:

• Pencils
• Paper
• Crayons
• Magic Markers
• Glue
• Scissors
• Construction Paper
• Gun
• Bow and arrow (Rambo style)
• Grenades
• Machine gun or automatic rifle
• Bombs
• Machete
• Hunting knife
• Cloak of Invisibility
• Tactical Gunshot Wound Kit
• Body Armor and Ballistic Vest
• Blood (make sure it's your blood type)
• Crayon Box
• Backpack
• Tissues
• Hand sanitizer

Thread closed by request of OP.