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SQUEEKY2's avatar

Will the U.S ever get control of all these mass shootings?

Asked by SQUEEKY2 (23474points) March 30th, 2023

One side blames it all on the gun culture the states have, another blames mental health.
One argument is what is the point of a firearm law, the shooter already broke the law, so what good is another law?
Another makes a case for mental health, but would these shooters actually seek mental health care if it was available to them?
What is causing these people to shoot innocent strangers?
What do you think could be done, that is more than a knee jerk reaction?

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16 Answers

SQUEEKY2's avatar

What is with shooting up schools?
Want to be a real macho dude go attack a military base see how that goes, at least they will shoot back.

gondwanalon's avatar

Crazy murderers that use guns are cowards that exploit easy targets (gun free zones like schools in general). When was the last time some lunatic shoot up an airport or courthouse?

If you really want the school shootings to stop then increase school security (yes including well trained armed guards). That’s not cheap but it’s well worth the young lives it would save.

Dig_Dug's avatar

Since our government is not going to do anything, it’s up to us citizens. So we will need to have armed guards at schools to protect our kids. Raise taxes to pay for it and to hell with people crying about paying more because our kids are worth everything! We must find a solution and not wait on the do nothing about it government.

JLeslie's avatar

Probably eventually we will will get out of it for at least a while. Might not happen for a while though.

NYC in the 70’s and early 80’s was dangerous and then for 20 years it was way down on the list for violence.

Things do change.

Freakanomics authors would probably say limiting access to abortion will lead to more crime, especially 20 years from now, so that’s a little nerve racking to think about if you believe the correlation between abortion access and crimes.

ragingloli's avatar

Germany had 13 school attacks since the year 2000.
Your country has had 16. This. Year.
You have metal detectors, locked doors, armed guards who brutalise kids themselves.
We do not even have hall monitors.

Dig_Dug's avatar

Oh but @ragingloli We’re “The Shining City On The Hill” “One Nation Under God” etc…

ragingloli's avatar

The most nerve wrecking thing that happened at my school were the periodic fire drills, where we would leisurly stroll out of the building, happy to not have class for once. All for an event that would probably never happen.
You have active shooter drills for something that could likely happen next week.
And your country has already decided, long ago, that this is ok. It has decided that the countless dead children and grieving parents are ok.
All for the sexual obsession with guns, and the insistence that every man, woman, and child (unless you are a minority) should be allowed to walk around in public like an army base armory, while even during the “wild west” period, you were expected to surrender your guns when you rode into town.

gondwanalon's avatar

@ragingloli Most schools in the US don’t have armed guards and a lot are even prohibited from having an armed guard.

janbb's avatar

@ragingloli My school and even my kids’ school was more like what you are describing. Something in the culture has changed. I hate it.

kritiper's avatar

No. Too many copycats. Too much hate. Too many caring only about themselves and not others.

kritiper's avatar

@SQUEEKY2 Soldiers on a military base won’t shoot back at you. They don’t always have their weapons with them and if they do, odds are they don’t have bullets.

gorillapaws's avatar

I think so. Once the boomers die off, hopefully we can start to elect some decent, progressive Democrats or abandon them en masse and swap to a 3rd party. Either way, once the progressive left has real representation in the US again, and starts pushing pro-worker policies. It will create a virtuous cycle and the Republicans will dwindle to an ever smaller, and ultimately meaningless minority. At that time, meaningful gun reform will be possible.

Blackberry's avatar

Similar to what gorilla paws said, this is a massive cultural issue and isn’t going away until a lot of old school macho mentality dies out.

All we can do is sit and wait for time to wash over everything like anything else.

The NRA and gun manufacturers pay politicians millions. They employ people and have to keep the train going because money.

Good luck trying to get rich people to stop making money.

SQUEEKY2's avatar

I understand all that @Blackberry but in the mean time there has to be a way to keep high powered weapons out of peoples hand that tend to do harm to others.

Jons_Blond's avatar

@ragingloli & @janbb My schooling was innocent as well. Fire drills were a time to hang outside and chat with friends. I graduated in 1989. Columbine happened in 1999 when my first two children were in kindergarten and second grade. They were the first generation to need to worry about being killed by a gun in school. What happened between 1989–1999?

JLeslie's avatar

We had bomb threats more than once when I was in school, and in my parents’ generation they had air raid drills. It’s not the first time in history that kids went through drills or actual threats at schools.

It is a new thing to actually have mass murders at schools so incredibly frequently. It really is unbelievable and sad how often it is happening. The idea that some children feel the risk of a shooter as ever present is just awful.

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