<p>The most of us are not evil. At least I hope that this is true. This is the only thing that really stops. However, many evil could be stoped knowing that there is severe punishment for what they do instead of super celebrity status that they normally enjoy. there is a proof for that. there are countries that punish severely for crimes. I am talking about real crimes (not adultery or anything like that). The crime rates are much lower there. And how NYC lowered the crime rate. They started wiht arresting people who jumped the gates in subway. Yes, start with small stuff, many of these appeared to be getting into much more evil things than jumping the gates.</p>
<p>Agree. I think he wanted the entire apartment building to go up in flames. HORRIFIC. Two nights ago I watched the Dark Knight, and in that movie, the Joker,is captured by police, (part of his plan) while creating a situation where two ships filled with people were to explode based on some actions. Too similar.
Thoughts?</p>
<p>So, I’ve been trying to keep up with this thread because I expected to see some good ideas about ways to improve our society.</p>
<p>Whether or not he could or would have caused as much destruction without a semi automatic is moot.</p>
<p>So far, apart from miami’s seeming quest for a judge dredd form of justice (and who can be trusted without checks and balances?) it seems like many agree that “opportunity” for mass destruction could be somewhat mitigated by regulating the availability of semi-automatic weapons and consolidating to form a national regulatory tracking system. Remove the ease of acquisition and opportunity and you might find a reduced proclivity to the kind of gun culture that spawns or fuels this kind of aggression.</p>
<p>If we can regulate ADD meds to the point where a doc cannot fax a prescription, if we have to have photo ID to drive a car or a passport to enter the country, why on earth can’t we simply record and track gun ownership, prohibit pointless semi automatics and clips (eg in case you’re outnumbered by hostile deer? Come on, nobody NEEDS a semi to eat, or else they’re not a competent hunter and deserve to go hungry) and form some kind of sensible registry/national policy with meaningful consequence.</p>
<p>States rights notwithstanding, if we can’t agree on something this simple we should probably not be a country. I notice that those opposed to any govt intervention or meddling with gun ownership are pretty quick to cite a strong, centralized document/policy called “the constitution” In spirit, then, we ought to be operating as fellow constituents and move forward, despite the entrenchment of state rights. At some point, a society has to determine that collective rights sometimes outweigh individual rights.</p>
<p>Some of you will recall the story about the guy on a greyhound near Winnipeg who had a psychotic break and decapitated a fellow passenger with a knife while on rampage. How many people do you think THAT guy might have killed if he could have walked into gander mountain and purchased a semi?</p>
<p>We have a responsibility to reasonably secure access to things that are dangerous. I don’t think I could easily get my hands on plutonium, for example. If I don’t put a fence around my pool, I’m liable if someone drowns when they sneak in.
We can’t ultimately control outcomes but until such time we accept responsibility to reasonably secure weapons of mass capacity, we’re all culpable - we’re in this together - and we’re here to do what we can to protect and help each other – not just ourselves.</p>
<p>Emeraldkity,
What’s the difference between psychopathy and psychosis?*</p>
<p>Psychosis, is an altered state, , can’t think clearly, wouldn’t be able to plan out involved events that were to take place over a series of months.</p>
<p>Psychopaths can function very well in the " real " world, psychotics cannot.</p>
<p>That’s the way I understand the difference anyway.</p>
<p>Can’t online stores selling weapons require a registration to enter the site? Do the items have to be signed for by someone over 21 (like certain medicines, wine, etc) when they are delivered? In this electronic age, this should be easier to track than is being suggested. Of course there are always those who will find their way around some of these systems, but its a start.</p>
<p>He may well be a sociopath but the hint from his mother’s involvement with the mental health organization means that he might have had schizophrenia/bipolar/depression issues too.</p>
<p>I was looking for kitchen scales last year and found a lot of interesting models at Amazon. I also noticed that people that bought kitchen scales online generally bought a lot of plastic baggies and small ties. Then I read the comments and figured out that people were buying these scales to weigh out drugs for sale. I like that we have a variety of cheap and highly accurate scales - and I guess we have that choice because of the booming drug trade here. If Amazon has access to that information, imagine what the FBI could do with it.</p>
<p>We could track a lot more - but we believe in privacy too. I’m not saying that we have the means to track this sort of thing now but we could pass laws to do so or make sales information available to the FBI. It wouldn’t surprise me if the NSA already had access to this information.</p>
<p>Ten years ago, you could walk into a coin shop and buy or sell ten ounces of gold for cash and there would be no record of it. That’s not true today. I guess that some terrorists and drug dealers use gold as a medium of storing value so dealers have to get your information and report your transactions today.</p>
<p>Psychosis can involve hallucinations or delusions. A delusion is a hallucination that you believe is true. One can have hallucinations and know that they are not reality.</p>
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<p>The articles that I’ve read indicated that he didn’t function in the real world very well. He did function in the academic world reasonably well but I think that it’s easier to live in that world with a few oddities than it is in the corporate world.</p>
<p>Remember we had a 10 year ban on assault rifles from 1994 to 2004. Congress has not seen fit to enact another.</p>
<p>I haven’t seen the polls lately. As late as October of 2011, a majority favored banning/restrictions on assault weapons, but support for restrictions on handguns had gone down to around 25%. States’ rights are not totally the culprit since Cal. bans assault rifles and a few (5 or 6) restrict large capacity magazines.</p>
<p>Sadly, there still does not appear to be a strong movement to restrict handguns (perhaps other than on CC) and, under the recent 2nd amendment ruling, it probably will take a repeal of the 2nd Amendment. </p>
<p>There actually seems to be a movement towards concealed carry.</p>
Maybe if Holmes hadn’t been able to get all those firearms, he might have done THIS instead. It seems to me that it’s obviously true that a person who couldn’t obtain a 99-round magazine for an assault rifle might have devised some other means of killing a lot of people. On the other hand, he might have chosen some other deranged act that would have killed fewer people, or only himself, or nobody. This (most likely) isn’t a political terrorist with a goal of killing a lot of people to make a point–it’s a deranged person who is acting in a way that makes some kind of twisted sense to him. </p>
<p>I can understand protection of the right to have handguns, hunting rifles, even concealed carry. But what is the justification for public availability of 99-round magazines for assault rifles?</p>
<p>If you google “Federal Assault Weapons Ban” you will get a wiki annotated page. It seems that the “justification” is that assault weapons are a tiny fraction of illegal gun use/deaths. Sort of a “so what, why bother” attitute. BTW–the FAWB also limited the size of ammunition magazines.</p>
<p>While the mass killings by assault weapons get focused attention in the media and on CC, death by fires, unintentional drowning (non boat) and boating drowning, poisonings (including misuse of presciption drugs), auto accidents (12-14 dead in Texas this weekend in a one pickup truck crash into a tree) and non-gun homicides and non-gun suicides EACH account for many, many more deaths. While I have read of a few instances where an assault weapon was used in domestic violence/domestic killings, the non-assault weapons seem to be used in the vast majority of gun domestic incidents. </p>
<p>It would be interesting to hear if any CC posters have written their state and/or local representatives to demand a ban or have organized or contributed money to a formal movement to enact such a ban (think Brady).</p>
<p>I’ve never written a local/state representative or organized or contributed to a movement to affect legislation. If I felt like our government actually acted on behalf of the people and not the well placed I probably would. I don’t think our government representative give a flying Yahoo! about what people like me think. I think they care what their contributors think and they see them at dinner parties and other fund raising events. </p>
<p>I’ll just dive out of the way, like everyone else, when my misfortune comes.</p>
<p>Psychosis is, I believe, a term from Freud, who distinguished between people with neurosis (those whose defense mechanisms were faulty but still somewhat functional) and people with psychosis (those whose defense mechanisms were completely overwhelmed).</p>
<p>Modern psychiatry doesn’t accept Freud’s explanations (overwhelmed defense mechanisms) but “psychosis” now means some kind of break with reality (hallucinations or delusions). BUT someone with psychotic symptoms could function quite well, in areas of life that are not impacted by the psychotic symptoms. So say that the suspect here had a delusional belief that he was the Joker–he certainly could have carried out his apparently very involved plans, because his belief that he is the Joker does not mean that he does not understand how to order ammunition online.</p>
<p>For people who are interested in learning more about what it is like to experience psychotic symptoms, I recommend a book by Elyn Saks called “The Center Cannot Hold.” Saks is now a law professor, and graduated from Yale Law School despite experiencing symptoms of schizophrenia.</p>
<p>I would like to say that I am learning alot here about how people think but I believe most of the people on CC can and do think logically and can put things in perspective but not everyone can do that. I know my BIL was dead against the long gun registry we had in Canada but complied and never thought anything more about it. I also have friends in the States that would probably shoot me if I suggested they should register their weapons, as he has told me ‘it is his given right to protect his family at all costs’ . I find that attitude very disturbing, I do not, have not and will own a firearm but even I did I fail to understand why registering a firearm is so bad unless I have something to hide. I personally believe that every weapon sold should have the riffling registered so that if a weapon is used in a crime it can be more easily traced back to the owner. I agree that semi automatics or any assault weapon should be banned from private purchase in every country and oversized clips should not be available period and those selling them should be charged. I admit that I do not understand the American attitude towards weapons and I will not judge whether it is right or wrong but logic says that it needs to be rethought. Any controls put in may not prevent mass killings but it may easily prevent the ones that involve a domestic dispute etc. My 2 cents and they are Canadian cents (worth 1.5 Amercian cents today)</p>
In spirit, then, we ought to be operating as fellow constituents and move forward, despite the entrenchment of state rights. At some point, a society has to determine that collective rights sometimes outweigh individual rights.</p>