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Here We Are Again
May. 25th, 2022 01:04 pmSo, here we are again - another mass school shooting. I'm not sure why the 18-year-old shooter decided to kill first-graders and it's doubtful that we'll ever know. It's also noteworthy that three cops traded lead with the shooter but were unable to stop him. A "good man with a gun" was not helpful. Other thoughts:
A Brief Thought on the Shooter
I was a somewhat weird kid in a small town so this thread by Amanda Marcotte rings true. Fortunately, I had a stable home and the general wherewithal to get myself out of my small town.
Longer Thoughts on Guns
I've expressed it before, but I'll say it again - in a society with the technological resources to put a toaster oven in every kitchen, you'll never be able to successfully ban guns. I am, in fact, writing a book in which somebody on a space station makes a gun for what they see as good and sufficient reasons. Having said that, making a gun, even one designed specifically for ease of manufacture, is not "easy." The kind of loser or lunatic that shoots up a school won't be able to do so.
There are things which can be done to reduce the number of shootings, mass or otherwise. They require the Republican party to vote on changing laws and provide funding to law enforcement. Specifically:
1) Background checks for all gun purchases. Currently, private sales (like from me to you) do not require Federal checks.
2) Better information-sharing between law enforcement so background checks are more accurate.
3) Anybody buying guns at retail in high volume is selling them on the street illegally. Flag and investigate those people.
4) Federal law preventing straw purchases (people buying a gun specifically to sell it to somebody not otherwise eligible to own one.)
5) Private citizens do not need assault rifles. Definition of an assault rifle = a weapon of intermediate caliber with a high capacity magazine and a high rate of fire designed to kill a man at 300 meters. This is a military definition, not a civilian one. You might as well argue that you need a 105 MM howitzer as an assault rifle.
A Brief Thought on the Shooter
I was a somewhat weird kid in a small town so this thread by Amanda Marcotte rings true. Fortunately, I had a stable home and the general wherewithal to get myself out of my small town.
Longer Thoughts on Guns
I've expressed it before, but I'll say it again - in a society with the technological resources to put a toaster oven in every kitchen, you'll never be able to successfully ban guns. I am, in fact, writing a book in which somebody on a space station makes a gun for what they see as good and sufficient reasons. Having said that, making a gun, even one designed specifically for ease of manufacture, is not "easy." The kind of loser or lunatic that shoots up a school won't be able to do so.
There are things which can be done to reduce the number of shootings, mass or otherwise. They require the Republican party to vote on changing laws and provide funding to law enforcement. Specifically:
1) Background checks for all gun purchases. Currently, private sales (like from me to you) do not require Federal checks.
2) Better information-sharing between law enforcement so background checks are more accurate.
3) Anybody buying guns at retail in high volume is selling them on the street illegally. Flag and investigate those people.
4) Federal law preventing straw purchases (people buying a gun specifically to sell it to somebody not otherwise eligible to own one.)
5) Private citizens do not need assault rifles. Definition of an assault rifle = a weapon of intermediate caliber with a high capacity magazine and a high rate of fire designed to kill a man at 300 meters. This is a military definition, not a civilian one. You might as well argue that you need a 105 MM howitzer as an assault rifle.
