DaveLovesDee

In the wake of another horrific national tragedy, it’s easy to talk about guns. But it’s time to talk about mental illness.

A parent's view

The school shooter autism alledgedly caused him to kill.

People with asperger's less likely to break the law

I have a daughter with autism, and I have no doubt that she's the least likely to become violent to anyone. Her younger sister, who isn't autistic but prone to rage, I can't say the same for. She's a slightly easier version to deal with of the child in the first article, while the Asperger's definition is pretty nailed on (we're just waiting for her test to determine exactly where in the autistic spectrum she actually is).

magnumpi

Indiana man found with 50+ guns and a plan to shoot up another school.

Alan2005

He doesn't act like a fundamentalist christian at all. But I accept that you disagree. Fwiw Dawkins donated to the bus adverts, but they were not his idea. He didn't write that slogan, so he shouldn't be the one to own your criticism of it.

(and after 10 pages I don't think it matters; this is just a redo of the batman thread anyway)

jericho

I thought Piers Morgan handled the issue extremely well on CNN yesterday.
Less guns, not more guns, is the only way to stop something like this from happening again.

If you've ever tried to shoot a handgun, you'll know they're absolutely no use in a self defence situation (except perhaps as a visual deterrent) unless you are extremely skilled in doing so.

DaveLovesDee

Your link doesn't work

Try this one

DaveLovesDee

The best deterrent I've found are a large well-trained Alsatian and a shotgun wielded by someone familiar with it's handling and limitations. If the intruder gets past one, the other's gonna finish the job!

fish.01

Strange take on it. The Australian spin on this story is how we have had no massacres since the handgun ban after the Port Arthur massacre 17 years ago....as your wiki link bears out. I wouldn't expect Australia to be more macho than Canada? Similar urbanised society.

The chart with homicide gun deaths per 100,000 someone posted puts Australia well below Canada and below the UK?

There has been talk about how the Australian experiment with banning handguns shows the direct correlation between banning guns and reducing gun homicides should anyone want evidence.

caretaker

They can't get Mexico on there until the forum gets a web upgrade.

iaink

I was not really referring to "ordinary" homicide as shown in the stats, more the kind of outrage where someone goes postal and takes out a lot of random strangers.

But its interesting what you say about gun control in the wake of Port Arthur, didnt know about that.

ArthurBrit

Very sad situation - the answer to this problem is one that the average american will never agree to and that of course is to remove the right to bear arms.

Americans in general will never accept this change and it's easy for us to criticize them for this philosophy as most of us being British has never had that right - put yourself in a position where most of us were brought up with the majority owning a gun and then the government tried to remove it, this would never go down well.

I can understand their mentality without necessarily agreeing with it.

magnumpi

Removing the right to own automatic weapons would be a start. Limit the magazine size to 5 rounds for hand guns.

But we all know that banning or limiting access to weapons is only part of the answer.

ArthurBrit

True.

This subject has been going on for years now, one of the most novel ideas I heard was bullet control whereby the bullets are priced astronomically high to discourage the user wasting ammunition and ultimately make it harder to go on a mass shooting spree.

There was also talk of selling bullets on the cheap through a hunting licence which would then log the amount of bullets bought and the hunter would return his empties/unused bullets or face a fine.

But like I said they have been talking for a long time but unfortunately the reality is nothing will change until the culture has been removed, that's the true question is how do you change a countries culture.

It's like trying to ban the consumption of tea in the UK - never going to happen.

London Mike

70% of all gun related crimes in Canada are committed using illegally imported guns from the US. Manufacturing and distribution has got to come down dramatically which will take a new economic perspective.

A new thinking is needed much in the same way as smoking / the tobacco industries 20 years ago. Gun manufacturing is big business in the States with big lobby groups attached, and the same used to be true of these tobacco industries. Although not directly comparable, folks at a senior political level in the US should reflect back on what happened with the tobacco industries, I reckon. Surely, there's something to be learned there (without tackling the constitution)?

MikeUK

Its simple but lengthy and expensive in human lives just like the tobacco issue
it will require the American public to lose sufficient innocents, enough that the NRA and its ilk will struggle to win their arguments that more guns protect lives and less likely to be successful in their lobbying at the capitol building, at the same time as this is happens the senators may get brave enough to go hunting for the information that might prove that the gun manufacturers and lobby groups knowingly mislead the public in order to sell more guns , then the laws will change and then the class action suits will follow..
I think we’re close as recently the NRA has been quiet when these sort of issues have happened, disappearing from twitter and shutting down face book pages, pro gun senators instead of making cases for more guns to combat these rogue elements are now not being available for interviews.
America can change, up for debate is how fast and how many children need to die before people are ready to give up their guns…
When the majority realize that the price to keep their 2nd amendment unfettered will also be paid with the lives of children as well as with adults then change will start

GC44

I would hazard a guess that its not the majority of Americans with guns that we need to worry about but the minority!