I never read this thread because the gun problems in the US feel hopeless and it’s so frustrating and infuriating I don’t want to think about it. I came yesterday because it’s finally happened up here. I expect Maine to react with new laws.
I'll admit this one hit at little bit harder. At least at first. Initial reports just listed him as a firearms instructor and one of my beliefs has always been that it is not the legal owners who are the problem.
As more comes out, he never should have been a firearms instructor, nor should have been allowed to have guns.
I am fine with restricting ownership with one caveat, Due Process. As long as someone gets a fair day in court, then I'm OK with there being restrictions on ownership.
To the ammosexuals, taking away a man's guns due to mental issues is a dangerous practice to get into. Who gets to decide what constitutes а mental defect? Afore ya knows it, they'll start a-callin' a man crazy just onacuzza he has fifty guns.
At this point the only thing they’ll say confirms mental illness is doing a mass shooting but that’s only because it deflects from the guns.
At this point the only thing they’ll say confirms mental illness is doing a mass shooting but that’s only because it deflects from the guns.
There is no “one” solution that can be pointed to. We need as many realistic methods to address this crisis and to be creative in ways to get them improved and implemented.
as usual the cowards way out.They are saying he shot himself.
as usual the cowards way out.
yep then shooting yourself more so.Shooting people literally is cowardly.
Bring back the assault rifle ban that lapsed in recent history. “Liberals can’t even define what an assault rifle is. LOL!”. I guess we’ll just pretend we didn’t already have a ban and that excuse wasn’t used. But fine, let’s define them then and get them off the streets.
This is a verbose post all to say “let’s collect some data guys” but why don’t we try something for once, and banning AR-15s would be fine by me. Doing absolutely nothing doesn’t appear to be working.I’m not opposed to an assault weapons ban, but I’m not an outspoken advocate of either. I’m far from being well versed in what the research says on assault rifles and mass shootings- but I know the results are contradictory- not surprising considering the statics can be easily manipulated based on inclusion exclusion criteria- especially when there are no universally accepted definition of mass shooting. I think there are generational/cultural factors that cannot necessarily be accounted for either. Mass shootings have evidently become such a romanticized fantasy for disturbed and angry young men (in particular) looking to take the world down with them. And there’s definitely pattern of the same style of gun popping up in nearly every high profile masa shooting.
My thought considering his practically is that if the desire exists in person to perpetrate such an attack, they will use the next best tool, presumably a pistol. So I wouldn’t assume an AR ban to influence the numbers significantly from what they would have been otherwise. There might very well be some reduction in the number of people killed due to reduced “efficiency” (not to sound so clinical on such a morbid topic).
It’s a complex problem and I don’t believe there is any one solution, let a simple one. If every gun with w legal history were turned in with a gun ban, there would still be an unimaginable amount of guns in this country. Given our gun culture here you can bet black market arms sales would become a massive industry with likely many previously law abiding citizens getting involved.
I’ve never considered this but those who want to legalize drugs because banning them hasn’t worked are often people who want to ban guns. Kinda ironic but I digress. I don’t subscribe to binary ideas on any of these matters.
Back to guns, i believe we need a multifaceted approach that provides protection to society but also strives to maintain our freedoms. The irony, as I often say is, the more the “not another inch” people fail to inch.. or in some cases inch backwards into less protections; the more heinous atrocities occur, the more people support outright bans or other severe restrictions.
First we need high quality data and for it be analyzed objectively and without aiming to promote an agenda. That data should then inform laws- like we already have really good evidence those <24 (really men specifically) are most likely to be involved with gun-related violence. Maybe raise the age, at least for pistols and ARs, to 24? Grandfather in existing owners under 24 so as not to deprive a right they already had. After X years assesses the data to see if the law worked (based on predetermined metrics). If yes, keep the law on the books. If not, remove it. Or extend it and reassess again when you have more data
Testing out laws like this that must meet agreed upon outcomes and be supported by evidence makes it a lot harder to argue in absolutes the merits of a law when by design the law must prove itself. And laws that serve no meaningful benefit can get tossed. Maybe politicians would be more likely to cooperate and do more than virtue signal if their policy lwould be formally reviewed for their outcomes.
This is a verbose post all to say “let’s collect some data guys” but why don’t we try something for once, and banning AR-15s would be fine by me. Doing absolutely nothing doesn’t appear to be working.
Yup, you can’t sell them anymore and everyone should turn their personal guns in for a reimbursement of some sort. Clutch your pearls, gun owners, bemoan the communism of it all, use it to criticize the Dems, you’ll still have other firearms for that sweet, sweet civil war you jerk it to.
(17 Feb 2016) Brian Bilston said:England is a cup of tea,
France, a ripened wheel of brie,
Greece a short squat olive tree
America hs a gun.
Brazil is football in the sand,
Argentia, Maradona's hand,
Germany, an oompah band,
America is a gun.
Holland is a wooden shoe,
Hungary, a goulash stew,
Australia, a kangaroo,
America is a gun.
Japan is a thermal spring,
Scotland is a highland fling,
Oh, better to be anything
than America as a gun.
– Brian Bilston
A silencer? Those are legal in Maine? Seriously?
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