Is it time for gun control in America?

im sorry but banning guns only takes guns away from law abiding people and put them in the hands of criminals .......

 

An interesting theory that does not change the basic premise that the proliferation of, and lax access to, guns gives these nutjobs the greatest tool possible to inflict death and horrific injury on a huge scale.

 

if they dont have access to guns they would use something else ...........

 

The source links are restricted as well.

Welner's theory sounds plausible, although some aspects don't seem to fit for Switzerland, where there are plenty of assault weapons in homes and these sort of event don't occur.
I would imagine that access to video games and the news cycle is the same in both countries, which would tend to negate that as a cause. That leaves the notion of failed individual and the culture of celebrity as primary reasons.

M

 

Ever heard the saying about bringing a knife to a gunfight????

It's considered futile.

Have a think why that is the case.

 

i think it all come down to in this day and age we are too PC to kids/adults that we dont teach then right from wrong most kids and adults know they can do pretty much anything they want these days and get away with it

 

Because if the other guy has a gun, you'd better have one too ?

M

 

I personally think thats unlikely. I suspect the fundamental differences are that in societies where there is widespread affluence, good standard of education, low levels of unemployment and good healtcare there is a much smaller probability of someone becoming a failed individual.

M

 

If neither has a gun, then everyone's safer. I think that road rage video bears that out sufficiently well. Wonder how that would have turned out if one or both of those men were armed.

A gun is a far more effective and efficient killing tool than a knife. And in the wrong hands a gun can cause an incredible amount of damage. End of story. It's a simple point that you gun junkies can't seem to get through your skulls.

 

Makes sense to me. No where in the world is the celebrity so over rated as much as they are in America. When ever my kids say anything along the lines of wanting to be a celebrity I always take the wind out of their sails and say "no, you want to actually achieve something with your life". I say the same thing if they talk about wanting to get in to politics!.

And I've thought for years that the news media have a lot to answer for. We would not, for example, have terriorists if the media would just not give them ANY air time.
Pete

 

Firstly, what about the trunk monkey.? I think that's a great idea to combat road rage.

Secondly, you do know that many more people are killed with knives than guns, And the trend in increasing.

http://www.aic.gov.au/statistics/homicide/weapon.html

M

 

No society is (literally) 'fool'proof. It'll only take one particular kind of individual to 'fail' and if they have easy access to cache of guns and ammo, well, good luck to any poor person that crosses their path.

 

Agree to some degree. The current generation are growing up without a backbone because of the rest of us being overly PC, etc.
Pete

 

People will kill each other with whatever they can get their hands on. However, I'll take my chances in public up against a looney armed with a knife rather than the same looney armed with an assault rifle and magazines of bullets.

 

PP that is only a minor reason I think. I lived in southern Germany but my nearest airport was Zurich. I spent a lot of time in Switzerland. The Swiss and Germans have an "us" culture, whereas America has a "me" culture. That difference is the reason for a lot of the differences you see in those countries.

 

Reading through all this I can't get Janis Joplin out of my head...
Freedom for anyone to carry a gun seems to pan out meaning:
-your kids have the freedom to be shot dead in the compound they were locked up in to 'protect' them from nutters
-you're free to drive anywhere in a locked and sealed car because you can't walk in the city streets at night
-you're free to go wherever you want, except you have to queue up and be frisked, xrayed and explosive-checked before you can get on a plane anywhere

But those who say the problem isn't with the guns per se are in fact correct; and 'gun control' doesn't actually control the guns; it's about controlling who has access to the guns. Legislation should be re-branded since what the aim is is to CONTROL WHO USES THE GUN - you could call it 'nutter control'. Some people have lost the right to access guns.

Millions of Aussie sport-shooters (including my uncle) still have their guns; but they're secured so that the nutter down the street can't access them. Rights come with obligations - if you can't prove to society (or if you're menatlly incapable of) that you're keeping your side of the deal, then you lose your rights.

 

thanks for that, it is the first rational explanation for the carnage without getting hysterical about the guns being taken away.

The media have mostly been the same for some time, even prior to the 20 year time frame BUT the video games fits in very well.

The celebrity thing is a bit odd as there has been a celebrity status culture since the advent of the moving pictures early last century

 

hard to play it down when a couple of buildings collapse


ABC news : ... and in other news today, some dreadful architecture in NYC fell down

 

you're ahead on points Roman, but Michael is a persistent bugger

 

Well yes, seems that way. All that restricting firearms does is force the assailant to use another type of weapon. Makes the whole exercise academic.

Pretty limited chance of running in to someone with an assault rifle in Oz, a knife on the other hand is very likely, especially in capital cities.

M

 

JB's slip is showing