Is it time for gun control in America?

the men with butterfly nets are coming for you

 

I don't.

Not sure where that came from.

Again, where's this coming from. The Americans are still the world's largest economy, responsible for most global innovation etc etc. No comparison to England, won't go down the same path. Also irrelvant to the topic. We could start a "demise of the British empire thread" though

I don't think that, never said it either.

??????????

Doesn't deserve a response.

M

 

just the informed ones

And the English have their fair share to accept for a lot of the ills , and the Germans, Spanish, French, Japanese, koreans and if we got back far enough the Romans, Greeks, etc

And I'm not the only lefty here .... others watch the ABC

 

I was replying to

My point being the only time that an armed population needs to be effective against an army is when they need to rise up against an insane government like Syria, etc. If America was actually being attacked then you would deploy your army not the armed population.

If you don't think America is politically insane, does that not negate the justification of the armed population?
Pete

 

There would be too much whinging on that thread
Pete

 

haha I've bought some new ear muffs I'd like to try out

 

Shooting in Sydney last night: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/dont-die-dont-die-your-fiancee-is-coming-man-killed-after-sydney-shooting-20121219-2bloj.html

As usual the man was known to the police. While not great to hear of, the baddies are shooting each other and I really don't have a problem with that ...
Pete

 

ok, This is a sensible argument......so, please explain to me what's wrong with the following piece of logic?

 

...and on that 'baddies' bit,the 'professional' baddy/villain,would'nt be the one to do what was done in Newtown/Norway/Columbine/Port Arthur/Hoddle Street,etc.
These were all random acts perpetrated by people who had access to a killing machine.

 

This?

 

Not sure I understand your point Simon?

We of course have nutters here too, and yes some have access to guns.
Pete

 

Well said Pete.

 

Regarding the acquisition of firearms,what their intended use is/was...I was essentially agreeing with your statement re last nights' etc.....suggesting that 'those' type of folk woud'nt do etc,etc...

 

Studies have shown time and time again none of these events were random acts. They plan these events weeks or months ahead of time. Which is "professional-like" in my book. No one just snaps and goes on random killing sprees that's Hollywood nonsense.

 

Eh? My comments where in light of someone saying stay out of our business.......opinions can be had...for the record I am married to American, lived their for 10 years and go back 6/7 times a year, oh I also was born in the UK but emigrated ....so frankly I feel I have a fairly balanced view of all three cultures and countries ...and your comment reads a bit of pot calling the kettle black my friend!

 

http://www.theage.com.au/world/boy11-brings-gun-to-school-for-self-defence-20121219-2bmcd.html

 

Random in the sense that the perpetrators are generally 'only' 1 off situations,unlike 'professional' criminals.

Don't try to split hairs,I'm sure you understood what I meant.

Have the perpetrators of :Newtown,Norway,Hoddle street,Port Arthur,I don't know about Columbine),got any previous criminal/firearm or otherwise, form?

Obviously these people have planned what they are going to do.

 

The fact that disturbed people and guns is a bad idea is a given, the question I posed was "what the underlying causes are, and why it is more prevalent in some countries and not others."

I'll make it clear.
Why in the US and say not in Switzerland ?
And why such an increase in the last 30 years or so, not so much prior to that. Surely there were disturbed people then too ? and guns as well? Didn't seem to result in mass shootings though. What has changed ?

M

 

Something I just came across. Still thinking about it, but he makes some interesting points. His theory at least explains why the last 20-30 years.

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showpost.php?p=141976496&postcount=70

 

Neither video is available to viewers outside of the USA.

M

 

I found it on youtube also, hopefully that's unrestricted.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmmWzRzaYFw[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKid4Dwg7MA[/ame]

 

Nope, "not available to viewers in your country"

M

 

No, they are 1 off because they usually get caught or shot. We don't usually give them the chance to see if they would do it again.

Criminals on the other hand will do multiple crimes thanks to the retarded laws that keep them on the streets.

Serial Killers would be probably closer to "random" acts as they can pick random people till they get caught and are perfect examples of mass killings without guns.

 

Sorry to get you interested and then not be able to follow through. I'm not sure how to solve this if the source sites have regional access restrictions.

Here are the source abc links, but they're probably just as restrictive as the others.

http://abc.go.com/watch/clip/the-view/SH002253950000/PL5554876/VD55258574/dr-michael-welner-forensic-psychiatrist---part-1

http://abc.go.com/watch/clip/the-view/SH002253950000/PL5554876/VD55258569/dr-michael-welner-forensic-psychiatrist---part-2

Welner is purportedly a well known forensic psychiatrist in the US that consults on a number of murder/insanity cases. The gist of his discussion was that he minimized the impact of mental illness, though it may have been a contributing factor. He assigned blame mostly to attention/notoriety seeking on the part of failed individuals, hoping to gain recognition, even if bad, through these acts. He also assigned blame to the 24x7 news cycle for putting news spots on that seek to "understand" the killer. His argument is that there is nothing to understand, it is simply wrong; but by trying to understand the killer the media give positive recognition to the murderer's acts, which only encourages the NEXT killers. He believes the media should give little attention the killer and ZERO attention to their motives. Even seeking motives conveys the message that there is a possible rationale for the acts, which is not a message to send. There can be no rationale, it is repugnant, and everyone should say so. He also points out America has a culture of celebrity, which by implication is his explanation for why this happens more in America. He finally assigns additional blame to M-rated video games as an experience that dehumanizes killing. He notes that victims were shot multiple times, 5 times in the face, etc; which he believes is acting out the video game experience. These points would fit with why America and why the last 20-30 years in particular.