thinbrit

Just pass a law that outlaws their use.

scrubbedexpat099

Or better misuse.

Pulaski

Yeah, that'd work.

Michael

That's an illogical conclusion to draw anymore than if someone drew the conclusion that British sports fans hooliganism and chavs beating up people are indicative of British society.

The only thing we know about human nature is that violence begets violence.

Michael

No exactly a gun advocate but I wouldn't be in favor for the type of gun control that is in Britain. Guns are part of the American culture much like any other large country with remote rural areas. Unless guns are regulated to the point that they are in Britain, it's highly unlikely that that the 1 in 320 million that want to inflict carnage can be stopped from doing so.

Although every time it happens, it is a major news story but even in a bad year, less than 100 people are killed. I suspect the reason that it gets so much attention is that a suburban white kid is not supposed kill other suburban white kids.

I'm more concerned about guns in inner cities where most of the violence happens but gun control and enforcement can make a significant difference such as New York City where murders have declined by about 70% over the past 40 years.

dunroving

I missed this - not sure what you mean by "a wild card one" ...?

[Also, I corrected my OP - I meant to say GSK)

I think there are a heck of a lot of drugs we pump into ourselves (collectively, I mean, as a society) that do us more harm than good. And the drug company research is not independent enough.

Sally Redux

Rather a lazy shorthand there by me as I didn't have references to hand, but I know when I was reading up on it at one time, its action is poorly understood and it has a lot of side effects. However, it is casually dropped into conversations on TV, "oh where's my Xanax" kind of thing, as though it's a harmless little helper.

scrubbedexpat099

i was driving and somebody on the Radio suggested that if Bloomberg etc had put their money behind Mental Health care then we would all be better off.

Trouble is that Politicians especially like quick simple and cheap solutions when for many situations none of the above apply.

Dorothy

I would like to see these types of killing sprees get less attention. While I do understand that the perpetrators of a lot of these crimes have mental health issues, there is an element of wanting the notariety that goes along with them. Last night on the 6:00 news we were treated to this young man's YouTube video. I don't think we should make killers famous.

Pulaski

This.

robin1234

Sorry to say this, but I think that man was as sane as you and me. And I suspect that most of these mass murderers did not have particular mental health issues that would have been amenable to treatment.

This case, I blame on social media and internet special interest forums that give people with an ax to grind an audience and a delusion of acceptability. Radical and criminal ideas can be reinforced by online peers.

Lion in Winter

I know - let's not hand out guns like penny sweets!

scrubbedexpat099

Depends on what you mean by sane, we all have our foibles, some are more from what might be considered the norm than others.

Everything I have read suggests he was further from the norm than most.

Why that was I am going to assume many will be speculating, nobody will know as will nobody know whether it could be treated. I assume by treated you mean being brought back nearer the norm.

TV, the Internet etc are relatively new, these sort of behaviours are not.

Nor are peoples interest in them.

robin1234

This case specifically; this young man's excessive sense of entitlement and his excessive sense of grievance because (supposedly) he felt that attractive women spurned him. His sense that he was right to punish women by mass murder. Seems to a large extent he felt validated by a weird international online community of such men online. Not sure if there were cases quite like that, before social networking online.

As for was he sane, looking at his video, he looks pretty same to me. There is a sort of vamping it up, overlay of irony that makes him not look mad. I could be misreading that, though.

scrubbedexpat099

Excessive sense of entitlement is not new, I can think of many examples both historical and literary, Pride and Prejudice was on the TV, that is full of it.

Basically we are talking about pograms which are as old as human history.

It is certainly easier for minorities to contact each other now than in the past, whatever their particular interest is, BE for example.

I was more focused on his actions than his presentation.