And the shootings go on and on , and on, and on...

Something is going seriously wrong in our society in the past few years. Unfortunately, most of these mass shooters are killed, and their motivation remains a mystery. I suspect there is a "copycat" element in some of these incidents...as the shooter see's all the media attention the other killers are getting. I have no idea of what a possible solution might be, but it is becoming increasingly obvious that this situation cannot be allowed to grow. Increased Gun Control measures would most likely affect only those who are law abiding and quite unlikely to ever commit a crime. Mental Health has been neglected for decades, and it has become "politically incorrect" to even Infer that someone might be unstable. There have been a couple of recent incidents where someone has made some really disturbing comments on Social Media, and those comments have been reported to the law...and probably stopped even more shootings. I guess for now, the best advice is "see something, say something".
 

Timetrvlr said:
Outlaw all automatic weapons and all handguns for private citizens. They have no other use than to kill people. Rifles with 5 round magazines and long-barrel shotguns are used for hunting game. Declare the NRA a domestic terrorist organization and disband it. This is not 1870 Dodge City!
Click to expand...
Don't agree with your thinking, but after the revolution you may get your wish. When guns become illegal, expect oppression. A very alarming phenomenal known as disrespect for law and order appears to be on the horizon. If the pendulum swings to far in any direction and reaches the point of no return....we just might be, what do you think?
 
Warrigal said:
That didn't happen in the Walmart shooting even though the law in that state allowed open carry. Am I wrong?
Click to expand...
I'm not familiar with the laws in that state, but I'm not in favor of open carry. I'm in favor of concealed carry for qualified individuals.
 

Warrigal said:
That didn't happen in the Walmart shooting even though the law in that state allowed open carry. Am I wrong?
Click to expand...

I apologize, but I’m not sure that I fully understand your question. In my state and in most other states, commercial property is considered as private property and therefore; the 2nd Amendment does not apply. Even if I have a carry permit, Walmart would be entitled to post a “No Weapons Allowed” sign and if anyone is carrying, they would be asked or made to leave. Of course, everyone knows that Walmart does allow guns into their stores, so long as the holder has a carry permit.

The argument has usually been that if malls and the like disallowed guns, they may become a target. No one is going to walk up to another person and ask them if they are carrying a gun, but if someone should see it and is uncomfortable with it being so available, that person may ask a Walmart Supervisor if they would ask the person carrying the gun to please return it to their vehicle.

I have seen manufacturing companies having signs on their fence stating, “No Weapons Permitted.” And, we all know that schools do not allow guns into their buildings. Even having a pen knife may be a violation in some schools. I have been called to schools because a kid came to school with a knife. What boy didn’t carry a pocketknife, even to school back in the day?

I carry my weapon most every time I go away from the house and my neighbor has his strapped on around the house. I used to ask him, “Expecting trouble?” He would say, “You never know.”
 
AnnieA said:
Growing up, it wasn't unusual to see guys at my high school that drove pickups and hunted to have a couple of rear window rifle mounts at school. But that was during deer season, and they stuck to deer, not humans. WTH has changed?
Click to expand...

I often see this type of post.;

So then. Why not go back to the guns that the guys at high school had?

The guns now can kill ten people in 30 seconds.
 
Camper6 said:
I often see this type of post.;

So then. Why not go back to the guns that the guys at high school had?

The guns now can kill ten people in 30 seconds.
Click to expand...


The type of gun wasn't the point of the post. The point was kids didn't shoot people back in those days regardless of what type gun.

And I continued that in post 10 -- can't do a damn thing about it, but it's something I'm trying to understand. Where was the cultural shift?

Post 10:

What changed? I've been looking at this mass shooting list by date (can select by date at the top of the column) and the uptick seems to start in the 80s. Westside Middle School shooting in 1998 seems to be the first time kids went hunting at school ...for their classmates. Columbine was a little over a year after that.​
​
1980s technology brought us cable TV and in-home video games. Can't help but think that those were game changers. The 1984 San Ysidro McDonald's massacre would've been the first to generate cable TV coverage and it seems to snowball from there looking at the list linked above.​
 
The argument has usually been that if malls and the like disallowed guns, they may become a target.
Click to expand...

This makes no sense to me at all because no-one walks around shopping centres where I live carrying any sort of gun, law enforcement excepted. We don't need a sign saying no guns because no-one would even think that they had the right to walk around in a mall ready to shoot someone else. It is just crazy. Malls are places where families come to shop bringing their toddlers and babies in strollers. If guns are allowed, how about a sign advising people not to bring the family, or better still, for maximum personal safety, to shop online.

We did have one random shooting attack at a mall in Sydney about 30 years ago. That is it and since then national legislation has been enacted and peace has been restored.

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/n...1/news-story/0b2dc758349ba16431a2ded805746c3a
 
win231 said:
When something doesn't work, we can't just keep doing it & expect different results. Much like the fly that keeps trying to get out but he keeps hitting the window.
The scenario now: Armed psycho who ignores gun restrictions walks in & kills whoever he wants & no one can stop him because it's a "Gun Free Zone" & law-abiding citizens won't break the law that prohibits guns. Police are called, but during the few minutes before they arrive, many are killed. Result is a high death toll of innocents.

Possible future scenario: Armed psycho who ignores gun restrictions walks in & starts shooting. Several armed people are able to stop him (or at least distract him) before the death toll is high.
I prefer the 2nd "war zone" scenario.
Click to expand...

“When something doesn’t work, we can’t just keeping doing it and expect different results.”

Didn’t Einstein say that? Or, something like that?
 
Sunny said:
Instead of confiscation, how about buy-back?
Click to expand...

You'd have to stop the appx 30 billion $ a year manufacturing and sales before that would work. And there's something like 1.2 guns per person out there; that's one of the official stats that I'm guessing is lower than reality. Assuming that's correct, you're looking at close to 400 million guns.
 
911 said:
“When something doesn’t work, we can’t just keeping doing it and expect different results.”

Didn’t Einstein say that? Or, something like that?
Click to expand...
The definition of insanity. Einstein is widely credited with a definition of insanity which says that it is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results.
 
Sunny said:
Instead of confiscation, how about buy-back?
Click to expand...


Most gun owners I know would say .......... hell no!

If a guy , or a gal really believes that the only thing between them & gov, oppression is their gun ........... the ones I know would want so much for it, we tax payers couldn't afford to buy it back.
 
Buy backs are optional. Confiscation is for illegal weapons. Amnesty periods are designed to allow people to surrender illegal weapons without penalty. Every little bit helps. There is, pardon the pun, no silver bullet that fixes everything all at once.
 
Warrigal said:
This makes no sense to me at all because no-one walks around shopping centres where I live carrying any sort of gun, law enforcement excepted. We don't need a sign saying no guns because no-one would even think that they had the right to walk around in a mall ready to shoot someone else. It is just crazy. Malls are places where families come to shop bringing their toddlers and babies in strollers. If guns are allowed, how about a sign advising people not to bring the family, or better still, for maximum personal safety, to shop online.

We did have one random shooting attack at a mall in Sydney about 30 years ago. That is it and since then national legislation has been enacted and peace has been restored.

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/n...1/news-story/0b2dc758349ba16431a2ded805746c3a
Click to expand...

It makes perfect sense over here. If you do not allow guns into a mall, the peaceful, law abiding souls that do carry guns will leave them at home and those that would go to the mall to “make their rounds” (IOW, go on a shooting spree) would have free reign over everyone else, knowing that there is only a slight chance that someone may be carrying.

I have to tell you, with being in law enforcement for 37 years, I was really tired of all the shootings. Parents killing their kids, kids killing their parents, friends killing friends, wives killing husbands, husbands killing wives, bad guys killing innocent people and on and on it goes with no end to the madness in sight.

You don’t realize the depth of the depravity until you see what murder does up close and the families that are left behind have to also pay a heavy price. It’s bad enough to investigate an accident that involves kids, but when you have to go to a parent’s home at 3 in the morning and tell them that Jacob or Sarah was killed by gunfire earlier that evening, the parents let out screams that you will never forget. Then you go home and try to sleep, but all you do is to lie there thinking about what could’ve or should’ve been. And, that may last for the next few nights.

Then, you go to the ME’s office to retrieve the bullet that killed your victim and you look at this small piece of metal in your hand and you wonder, “How can such a small piece of lead do so much damage, both physically and emotionally?” You shake your head and think, “This is insane.”
 
Camper6 said:
I often see this type of post.;

So then. Why not go back to the guns that the guys at high school had?

The guns now can kill ten people in 30 seconds.
Click to expand...
A very good reason. The bad guys have those "guns that can kill ten people in 30 seconds."
 
Sunny said:
Instead of confiscation, how about buy-back?
Click to expand...
Well, you are expecting a sick psycho to think like a normal human being. A bit of logic would explain why a buy-back wouldn't help.
A nut case is planning a mass shooting & probably a suicide. He hears about a gun buy-back where he can get a gift card for a couple of meals or maybe $100.00 for his gun (that's what they pay).
So....he has a change of heart & cancels his mass murder plan for a free meal or $100.00??
 
win231 said:
Well, you are expecting a sick psycho to think like a normal human being. A bit of logic would explain why a buy-back wouldn't help.
A nut case is planning a mass shooting & probably a suicide. He hears about a gun buy-back where he can get a gift card for a couple of meals or maybe $100.00 for his gun (that's what they pay).
So....he has a change of heart & cancels his mass murder plan for a free meal or $100.00??
Click to expand...
So are you happy with the current status quo?
 
norman said:
Don't agree with your thinking, but after the revolution you may get your wish. When guns become illegal, expect oppression. A very alarming phenomenal known as disrespect for law and order appears to be on the horizon. If the pendulum swings to far in any direction and reaches the point of no return....we just might be, what do you think?
Click to expand...
I often read about the 'oppression' theory. Homeowners against the armed forces? Say your prayers. Who determines oppression? Overthrowing the government by force is treason.
 
You are missing the reason for all of the horrible things going on: There are simply too many people in the world, today. Unconscionable over-breeding is the main reason we are in the horrendous situation that exists. Too many people are disenfranchised, finding themselves adrift in a sea of people who don't care about them, who ignore them or, worse, bully/mock them. Up close and personal interactions, especially those that provide comfort, relief and support, are hard to come by, even in one's own family, when said family consists of a brood whose offspring breed like rabbits. Confused and bitter, the rejected seek revenge.

Yeah, guns are readily available, easy to get for those planning a final reckoning with their imagined and/or real tormentors. That's beside the point, though. Read up on multiple killings involving knives, bombs, etc. Our species is good at improvising: If guns aren't available, then the rage of the deranged will find other ways to carry out mass killings.

When it comes to guns and their availability, there can be only one, unarguable truism to be stated, and restated: If owning guns is outlawed, only outlaws will own guns! No debate possible, sorry
​
The rodent cage experiments of the late 50's, early 60's, on overpopulation, greatly effected my way of thinking about our world. Those experiments helped explain so much of what we're seeing, now. The terrible thing is, they also show that things will only get worse, as our population continues to swell.
 
Last edited:
911 said:
It makes perfect sense over here. If you do not allow guns into a mall, the peaceful, law abiding souls that do carry guns will leave them at home and those that would go to the mall to “make their rounds” (IOW, go on a shooting spree) would have free reign over everyone else, knowing that there is only a slight chance that someone may be carrying.

I have to tell you, with being in law enforcement for 37 years, I was really tired of all the shootings. Parents killing their kids, kids killing their parents, friends killing friends, wives killing husbands, husbands killing wives, bad guys killing innocent people and on and on it goes with no end to the madness in sight.

You don’t realize the depth of the depravity until you see what murder does up close and the families that are left behind have to also pay a heavy price. It’s bad enough to investigate an accident that involves kids, but when you have to go to a parent’s home at 3 in the morning and tell them that Jacob or Sarah was killed by gunfire earlier that evening, the parents let out screams that you will never forget. Then you go home and try to sleep, but all you do is to lie there thinking about what could’ve or should’ve been. And, that may last for the next few nights.

Then, you go to the ME’s office to retrieve the bullet that killed your victim and you look at this small piece of metal in your hand and you wonder, “How can such a small piece of lead do so much damage, both physically and emotionally?” You shake your head and think, “This is insane.”
Click to expand...

Your post has me in tears, @911. How unspeakably dreadful for everyone.
As terrible as the planned massacres are - and they are indeed horrific - the majority of gun murders in this country seem to be spur-of-the-moment idiocy that only resulted in deaths because guns were handy. (This recent shooting in Odessa, TX, would be a prime example.)

Has that been your experience, or is my perspective skewed?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top