<p>I don’t disagree with the claim that changing the mentality would help. But you can’t do that with gun control. You would have to somehow make a cultural shift.</p>
<p>Australia is simply not analogous to the United States. It is a small, relatively homogeneous country and they were able to make a cultural shift relatively easily. On the impact of gun control efforts in the United States, see</p>
<p>I stand by my claim that the primary impact of the non-Fox media led campaign for weak gun control laws has been to help create a bunker mentality among the members of the populace that own guns.</p>
<p>This issue has now reached the crisis level in our schools and we need some sort of stop gap measure in place to protect our children NOW. We can figure out the legal and constitutional issues relating to gun control later. Children and teachers are dying.</p>
<p>Until all this can be figured out, what about some sort of “crisis” law that applies to every household that owns a gun that has children in school? The gun or guns would be required to be in a lock box with no access code/keys given to children attending elementary, middle or high school. Parents would sign a statement to that effect as a requirement to enrolling a child in school. While this would not totally eliminate the problem as children are getting guns outside the home, it would help. I am always shocked to read these stories and discern the easy access that children have to household guns. Many children of school age are “gun owners” themselves in certain parts of the country. Sorry, but with what is going on now this is sheer lunacy.</p>
<p>Obviously the coach was right about this threat being taken seriously. I don’t believe a rational individual goes from “joking” about killing someone to showing up at school with a shotgun and two molotov cocktails because they were suspended from a team. Its a very good thing he didn’t make it to the Air Force Academy. The last thing he needed was to have bigger, more lethal weapons to play with.</p>
<p>Regarding gun control, I think that everyone recognizes the difference between someone from a hunting tradition and idiots like George Zimmerman and Nancy Lanza. Unfortunately, there are far too many of the latter.</p>
<p>No one needs a high-capacity magazine to hunt deer. Control should start there, IMHO.</p>
<p>EMM1, I think the “bunker mentality” has a variety of sources, but is primarily the result of a gun manufacturer pushed, NRA-fueled propaganda effort to scare people and make them think that a gun is something they “need” and which will make them strong and capable. I live in an affluent suburb and many of my clients live in similar, extraordinarily safe areas. Yet I know lots of guys who have bought guns - mostly handguns, some semi-automatic rifles - in recent years. These aren’t hunters, they’re overgrown adolescents, living a hero fantasy. Of the people who have bought handguns in recent years I’ll bet you dollars to doughnuts that 90% of them are George Zimmerman types, living the fantasy of being the “good guy with a gun” who will stop a “bad guy with a gun” and be hailed as a hero. It’s the propaganda that feeds that fantasy - not the passionless efforts to institute even the most pedestrian of limitations on armaments like magazine capacity limits - which drives the gun culture. Responsible gun owners - including many hunters - don’t have an issue with sensible regulations. The bunker mentality is driven by people who are making millions selling guns to people who don’t really need them. It’s all about the money.</p>
<p>Most of the time those guns just gather dust; occasionally one will be used in a suicide or go off by accident or go astray and come into the possession of criminals. (Handguns are a prime burglary target; they are easily sold for cash, with no registration requirements.) I know lots of people who own lots of guns and none of them have ever stopped a crime while in possession of a gun. Not one. And I’m old enough to start collecting social security.</p>
<p>He had no reason except that he wanted to shoot someone and he missed when he shot at his target who was running out of the school. He did not know Claire Davis, she was a freshman or sophomore and he was a senior.</p>
<p>Exactly! The gun manufacturers and the NRA joined with like minded press have ratcheted up the rhetoric since 2008. All in the name of $$$$$$$$$$$$. They have been very successful in getting the George Zimmerman types to stock up because “Obama is going to take your guns.”</p>
<p>To my knowledge. there has never been a gun law proposal to ban shotguns. </p>
<p>As with the Lanza case, the onus of stopping violence like this falls on those closest to the mentally unstable young men who are committing these acts. Nancy Lanza allowed her mentally ill son to live alone in a basement with no intervention or supervision playing video games all day long and living in his Columbine fantasy world. </p>
<p>What did these parents know? Did they know about his threat to the teacher?</p>
<p>^i think that is a gross oversimplification of parents’ role, and the scope of their control of a mentally ill legal adult. Posted elsewhere on CC is the current CNN piece detailing the difficulty and isolation of raising a mentally ill child, and it is horrifying.</p>
<p>There are many complicated issues involved, and no simple solutions. I am profoundly disillusioned to live in a country where deliberately shooting children and their teachers — in many places, in many circumstances, for many reasons — does not make gun owners demand accountability for those who blacken their community. </p>
<p>And yes, here in PA, most districts outside urban areas do have the first day of hunting season off.</p>
<p>the shooter is also part of other communities… like high school kids, suburban kids, etc</p>
<p>more white people died so there is outrage… inner city black kids getting shot, and no one seems to care. It’s almost the end of the year; I wonder what the stats will be for Chicago at the end of the month…</p>
<p>Soccerguy: If you truly believe that then perhaps you should pose those thoughts to President Obama. He should have some interesting insight being that he is from Chicago and is certainly in a position to propose remedial measures. </p>
<p>I can only speak for myself, but i take note of the increased violence everywhere in our society. I do not believe it is, or should be, a racial issue. Violence is equally abhorrent no matter where it exists.</p>
<p>HarvestMoon that’s great but unfortunately not everyone is like that. Until we become post racial (fat chance), race will more often than not always come into play, especially in public reactions to violence. If you look back historically, there wasn’t much public outcry/support from white Americans in the civil rights movement until young white people (mainly college age students) went down to Mississippi, Tennessee, etc and were protesting alongside the black people who’ve been doing it way longer. When there was media attention of these white protesters also being harassed, that’s when the majority of white America spoke out. </p>
<p>If you really want to look at “gun culture” and the reasons our youth look to violence to solve problems, look no further then movies and video games. I am not suggesting we ban them, any more than I suggest we ban guns, because it will not solve the problem. Finally, I do not want to live in a country, ever, where the police and military have guns but we ban them from law abiding citizens. And please don’t call me a “bubba” for thinking this way. I assure you I am not one…</p>
<p>My sons went to a speech and debate competition in Denver today. Obviously, there was a lot of discussion about this as many of the kids there attended meets with the shooter. My older son was dumbfounded that the shooter bought the gun himself. “You have to be 21 to buy alcohol, but you can buy a shotgun at 18?”</p>
<p>I just don’t understand any of it. Wouldn’t you notice if your kid came home with a shotgun? Wouldn’t you notice if he was acting really weird/depressed/angry over a prolonged period of time? Wouldn’t you be on guard if something that was so important to him was suddenly taken away (no matter whose doing it was), at a time when he had hopes of using this activity as part of his college applications? Yes, I get that the kid was 18 but he was still living at home (two homes, since his parents were divorced). As I often wonder in these situations, where were the parents??</p>
<p>The girl he shot is NOT doing well, according to her family. </p>