Another School Massacre

[SparrowHawk]

Question: Suppose I owned a fully operational M-1 Abrams tank and kept it parked and fully loaded for ten years. The tank or its owner has NEVER harmed a soul, de we prosecute me?  But suppose a neighbor due to an error in judgement the owner of the tank gets behind the wheel and kills a family of four and blows a .24 BAC. Do we then ban cars? Alcohol?

 

[EastUS1]

Mental Health checks being part of the background check will certainly be a good start.

 
I'd suggest far more than a small degree of caution there. As one at least marginally qualified (and wholly "qualified" by most government "standards") to conduct basic appraisals of mental health...well...I can promise you that ANYone could be found "questionable" or even downright "crazy" at any evaluator's slightest whim, and let's not forget how the Soviet Union was so very fond of "diagnosing" everyone with even the slightest notions of individual worth and rights to be "mentally ill", and suitable for confinement to brutal institutions.
 
A not-so-gentle suggestion here is to, under NO circumstances EVER allow the guv-mint to universally decide who's "sane", or not...EVER, repeat EVER!....Period!

 

[xUT]

Mental Health checks being part of the background check will certainly be a good start.
 
The VA Tech shooter was found mentally ill by the courts, yet he was allowed to purchase what he did, because mental health checks are not legal.
 
And no where did I state that I was in favor of banning guns, I own several myself.

I agree, problem is (IIRC) the ACLU has a problem disclosing mental health issues.
The protection from those that are dangerous/mentally unbalanced is a private (right to privacy) issue. That's why I agree with the OP ED piece I posted.
So let's agree to change the system and keep ( much as we can) nuts from getting weapons.
Do a little intervention before they kill anyone.

 

[EastUS1]

He killed the first three people with a knife, what do we do about that?

 
Well, that's obvious enough! Ban all sharp-edged instruments of course! It's now been made very clear that knives are inherently 'bad", after all...?

 

[xUT]

 
I'd suggest far more than a small degree of caution there. As one at least marginally qualified (and wholly "qualified" by most government "standards") to conduct basic appraisals of mental health...well...I can promise you that ANYone could be found "questionable" or even downright "crazy" at any evaluator's slightest whim, and let's not forget how the Soviet Union was so very fond of "diagnosing" everyone with even the slightest notions of individual worth and rights to be "mentally ill", and suitable for confinement to brutal institutions.
 
A not-so-gentle suggestion here is to, under NO circumstances EVER allow the guv-mint to universally decide who's "sane", or not...EVER, repeat EVER!....Period!

That's another fly in the buttermilk.
"Absolute power corrupts absolutely"
That's why this issue is not easy to resolve.

 

[Ms Tree]

http://www.cchrint.org/school-shooters/

I thought you taking about all shooters in general.

 

[Ms Tree]

The regs at the airport are no more effective than any would be regs for gun control.

 

[EastUS1]

That's another fly in the buttermilk.
"Absolute power corrupts absolutely"
That's why this issue is not easy to resolve.

 
I see no immediately possible resolution of any kind, save for perhaps at least tens of thousands of years of evolutionary process. The harsh truth is that we're currently little more than "clever animals" and the apex predators of this planet, and that we don't much "play well with others" as a staple behavior, or we'd otherwise not have made war such a popular "hobby" throughout our history.
 
We're always at our very best when trying to look out for each other, but that necessarily has it's functional limits. "The road to Hell is paved with good intentions"/etc.
 
Attacking the proper Rights of individuals isn't any magical "solution" we can even rationally attempt, lest far more evil await us afterwards. The random deaths from individual lunatics' actions, however tragic, are no reason to suspend anything approaching rational thought, and even fantasizing some "cure" for such psychotics, or any preventive measures for magically denying them weapons...well...that's purely touchy-feely fantasy for us all to indulge in over coffee, but ain't realistic in any way, shape or form. I "trust" government less distance than I can throw the proverbial elephant upwards, while I'm willing to trust those people immediately round me far more. I'll gladly take my chances with the statistically insignificant odds of being murdered by some random lunatic over the certain odds of seeing my/our Freedom and quality of life further degraded from "Big Brother's" loving touch.
 
The most obscene and almost unimaginable mass murders of all time haven't come from random lunatics, but from various peoples' own governments. Disarming any civilian population has historically, all too many times, lead to disaster.

 

[dorfner]

 
 
See what the end result is when they chase God from our schools?

 

[Ms Tree]

That's another fly in the buttermilk.
"Absolute power corrupts absolutely"
That's why this issue is not easy to resolve.

Easy? Heck, it's impossible. All the hand wringing is nice but won't solve a damn thing. We live in a violent society where most people feel compelled to own weapons for safety. Nothing will change that. I think the last stat I read was that there were somewhere around 30,000 gun deaths in the US last year. It's the cost of doing business and most seem to be OK with that stat until it directly affects them. Then they want change.

Might as well learn to accept it. Not going to change as far as I am concerned.

 

[Ms Tree]

See what the end result is when they chase God from our schools?

Is public school the only place children can learn about their religion?

 

[xUT]

 
I see no immediately possible resolution of any kind, save for perhaps at least tens of thousands of years of evolutionary process. The harsh truth is that we're currently little more than "clever animals" and the apex predators of this planet, and that we don't much "play well with others" as a staple behavior, or we'd otherwise not have made war such a popular "hobby" throughout our history.
 
We're always at our very best when trying to look out for each other, but that necessarily has it's functional limits.
 
Attacking the proper Rights of individuals isn't any magical "solution" we can even rationally attempt, lest far more evil await us afterwards. The random deaths from individual lunatics' actions, however tragic, are no reason to suspend anything approaching rational thought, and even fantasizing some "cure" for such psychotics, or any preventive measures for magically denying them weapons...well...that's purely touchy-feely fantasy for us all to indulge in over coffee, but ain't realistic in any way, shape or form. I "trust" government less distance than I can throw the proverbial elephant upwards, while I'm willing to trust those people immediately round me far more.

Very well articulated.
Thanks!
B) xUT

 

[EastUS1]

Very well articulated.
Thanks!
B) xUT

 
Most kind of you brother. I'd already figured us to be on the same page there sir, especially per "Attacking the proper Rights of individuals isn't any magical "solution"

 

[700UW]

The regs at the airport are no more effective than any would be regs for gun control.

31 shootings since columbine, yet not one shoe bomber since that incident.

 

[EastUS1]

31 shootings since columbine, yet not one shoe bomber since that incident.

 
Wow! Thanks!...I feel SO much safer on planes now! So then; the government ban on wearing explosive shoes really worked? How cool is THAT? (And just how truly stupid are you anyway, or at least pretending to be?) Well..come to think on it a bit though; having to break off the file on small nail clippers after 9-11 certainly prevented me from hijacking any aircraft I commanded, so the guv-mint's ideas are always best anyway. Considering the issue further; my guv-mint-issued Polar Bear repellant's been working great lately...haven't seen one anywhere around for a long time now.
 
Kindly attempt answering a test question here: Exactly WHAT specific guv-mint enacted measures have definably prevented any replication of the Richard Reid/shoe bomber scenario? Go ahead, take your time and try to actually "think" for once....? If your ultimate answer is "Duh...I really dunno" or NONE, then you get a proper liberal's little cookie, and a nice, warm touchy-feely glass of milk...aww heck, even a "trophy" for just "participating".