[LOCKED] OT - Mass Shooting leaves 14 Children and 1 Teacher dead at Texas Elementary School

Submitted by Nervous Bird on May 24th, 2022 at 7:43 PM

MOD EDIT - Before this gets too far down some divisive roads, I am going to lock it but leave the comments.

I will just say what I said last night on Twitter - when it comes to the issue of guns and access to them, if Columbine wasn't enough for you, if Sandy Hook was insufficient for you, if Parkland didn't move the needle for you, and all the ones in between and before, all the lives ended or altered and the families torn asunder, then you're simply going to need to be honest - you do not care, at least not enough that you would be willing to do something for the collective good. If you are in this category, please simply accept that about yourself. - LSA

This is the 2nd mass shooting with 10+ fatalities in ten days. I think the issue of gun rights/control transcends 'politics'. This is not about left or right, liberal or conservative, it's about people of all political persuasions demanding reasonable solutions so that our children, our elderly, can shop, go to school and church with more safety. We can protect gun rights and people simultaneously. As a start, maybe the country should outlaw and confiscate any magazine that has more than a 6 round capacity. 

https://www.npr.org/2022/05/24/1101037902/texas-elementary-school-shooting-uvalde

evenyoubrutus

May 24th, 2022 at 11:05 PM ^

Oh FFS, have you never heard of hyperbole? Or are we going to pretend like the last two years have been business as usual?

You're correct that our country is the only one with this problem. But the laws are not the problem. Our culture is the problem. Canada has more or less the same gun laws that we have.

runandshoot

May 24th, 2022 at 11:08 PM ^

I grew up around guns, using them responsibility and after proper education.

Not sure how universal background checks qualifies as "strict gun laws," but it is a step in the right direction since so many claim that the issue is mental health and not the guns themselves.

Have to start somewhere, so how about making those who own guns accountable for their ownership?

blue in dc

May 24th, 2022 at 11:10 PM ^

In other countries, strict gun control seems to be pretty darn effective at reducing gun violence.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2015/12/4/9850572/gun-control-us-japan-switzerland-uk-canada

The math is pretty simple.   If there are less guns to shoot people with, less people get shot by guns. 

It is unclear to me why knowing more about guns would change the empirical evidence we see from other countries.

Michfan777

May 24th, 2022 at 10:59 PM ^

There was a time when this stuff was shocking to me. Now I just go “k” and carry on with my day. That’s how desensitized I have become to this shit in the past decade.

Fuck the 2nd amendment. I wish that this government had the balls to ban all guns and confiscate every last one they can. Americans clearly have demonstrated they cannot be trusted to handle them.

ChuckieWoodson

May 25th, 2022 at 8:57 AM ^

Defensive gun use, whether you want to believe it or not.. is... a thing.  Low end estimates have DGU instances at around 50k per year in the US.  Obviously, impossible to quantify how many of those would've resulted in a homicide, but guns can be useful deterrents as well.  I'm pro-gun but I'm in favor of stricter regulations on them as it's been over due.  There is no way to stop these things from happening 100%, but if we can make any reduction we need to strive to that. 

Beaublue

May 24th, 2022 at 11:32 PM ^

I support gun control.   Limits on magazines are a good place to start.  More accountability for the actual gun owner.   Mandatory instruction on gun safety and thorough limitations on who can actually buy guns.    Just for starters.

However we cannot ignore the glorification of violence and of guns that permeate our society.   Our TV shows, movies, music are full of guns and killing.   I can't watch a game on TV that doesn't have ads for violent TV shows, movies and video games.

Church and scouting and other wholesome activities for boys are now criticized and mocked.   Instead our sons stay home and virtually kill each other on their game systems.   

We then act surprised......

 

BTB grad

May 25th, 2022 at 12:48 AM ^

Canada and the UK consume largely the same video games, TV shows, movies, and music as us and someone like yourself would argue they’ve also had “church and other wholesome activities for boys criticized and mocked” (idk wtf this even means) yet they don’t have school shootings. It’s very clearly driven by differences in gun control. 

ChuckieWoodson

May 25th, 2022 at 10:06 AM ^

While the point isn't well articulated, I do feel part of the reason these things do happen is lack of community involvement and self-reflection.  While I'm not a god-fearing man, even people sitting in church 1 hour a week or volunteering time through the scouts (scandals aside of course), was a net benefit to society and both helped mitigate these situations from occurring. 

CaliforniaNobody

May 25th, 2022 at 2:06 AM ^

Don't express your sadness here if you continue to vote for the people who let this happen. Your taxes and toys are not worth more than childrens' lives. 

RickSnow

May 25th, 2022 at 2:39 AM ^

The idiocy I see on threads when things like this happen make me wish alot of people left our fan base and went somewhere else and took their moronic brains with them .

Here’s a riddle for you geniuses:

Every country has mental health issues.

Only the US has regular mass shootings.

What oh what could explain this? 

 

Owosso_wolverine

May 25th, 2022 at 8:31 AM ^

2 years later , same 50 senators refusing to sign the back ground check bill . Right away after shooting , Ted Cruz starting in right away on “ we must protect out citizen’s gun rights ! “ The same dumbass that was working with McConnell and others behind the scenes with the last administration to remove mental health coverage off Obama care quietly behind the scenes .