<p>No I wouldn’t support such a ban. It wouldn’t stop massacres like sandy hook, unfortunately. Sally, I wish Klebold and Harris weren’t murderous monsters, but they were. I understand the desperation to want to do something, but after you do something that didn’t help, you still have the same danger. Klebold and Harris and Lanza didn’t have those guns legally. Where is your concern for the victims of the daily gun violence? Are you equally bothered by the children killed by the fast and furious guns?</p>
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The purpose is to stop them. That’s pretty straighforward.</p>
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One can ban them but it’d be ineffective at halting this violence because one can do just as much damage with a hunting rifle that doesn’t look like something you see in the drama movies. People who rail against the so-called ‘assault weapons’ don’t understand guns. They can also do a lot of damage with handguns.</p>
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It’s not a gun problem - I get tired of people saying it is. (just being contrarian).
It’s a person problem. I can prove it as well - you can hand me (or likely you) a pile of assault weapons, body armor, handguns, etc. and I won’t go attack anyone with them. In fact I have some guns (but no plastic bodied ‘assault-looking’ guns) and haven’t gone out and attacked a school yet. Meanwhile, people have been attacked and killed even by people not using a gun. Think of 9/11 (box cutters and airplane), the Oklahoma City bombings (fertilizer), countless mothers killing their own kids in various non-gun ways (knife, drowning), etc. There’s one common denominator and it’s not a gun, it’s an unstable person.</p>
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You don’t know that. A hunting rifle or handguns could have been used and caused just as much damage.</p>
<p>here is an article about the assault weapons ban:</p>
<p>[Everything</a> you need to know about the assault weapons ban, in one post](<a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/12/17/everything-you-need-to-know-about-banning-assault-weapons-in-one-post/]Everything”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/12/17/everything-you-need-to-know-about-banning-assault-weapons-in-one-post/)</p>
<p>No, the ban didn’t help, and Lanza had handguns. If that’s all he had, he would still have done untold damage with only beautiful, brave Victoria Soto to stop him.
The only people who will abide by weapons bans are the people who would only ever use them responsibly. Just making it easier for innocent people to be targets.</p>
<p>We need to talk about why so many of our boys and young men are so alienated that they undertake these actions. Timothy McVeigh didn’t need assault weapons. It’s what is in their heads that we need to understand.</p>
<p>But you know, mass shootings are very rare. Not every abomination can be prevented, which is the scariest thing of all.</p>
<p>I will drop it after this as we are dancing on the edge of the forbidden, but it was not renewed because of an administration change to one that was more open to certain lobbying efforts.</p>
<p>poetgrl, thanks. I agree completely about protecting our kids and don’t mind a police presence in our schools (whether “fixed” as at my kids’ high school or more random). I object to the arms race and the complete failure to attach responsibility to the owners of guns that end up in the wrong hands. Remember, most of the mass shooters got their weapons legally.</p>
<p>Which shooters do you think got their guns legally, Sally?</p>
<p>Spot on saintfan.</p>
<p>I do not buy the idea that “the bad guys already have their guns”. Not a school shooting, but the Aurora shooter purchased his guns and ammunition in the couple months before his spree with that in mind. Jared Loughner purchased his gun legally as well shorty before his crime.</p>
<p>And while Adam Lanza “stole” his guns from his mother, she purchased them legally.</p>
<p>The assault weapons ban did work to some degree and might have been more effective if not for all the loopholes.</p>
<p>And Adam Lanza used one to kill the little kids and teachers–yes, he had a handgun but he was going for maximum devastation.</p>
<p>If it lets you guys sleep at night, rail against legal guns because we all do what we have to do to make it through this 24-hour news cycle world. And it’s hard to sleep when you admit to yourself that sometimes there realy is a monster in the closet.</p>
<p>Lanza tried to get a gun legally and couldn’t. The guns he used were not legally in his possession, neither were the Columbine shooters’ guns.
Do you folks think that if such a ban were enacted, the millions of weapons at issue would suddenly turn into pumpkins? What is your actual plan for their existence in the world?</p>
<p>Zoosermom, we regulate motor vehicles. Why not guns? Why not make owners liable for their weapons being used by unstable people? And why not make background checks mandatory? Get rid of gun shows and monitor Internet purchases more.</p>
<p>Chicago has a gun ban. Has anyone looked into how murders took place in the last year?</p>
<p>Yeah, tex, that was my husband’s first point when we were discussing this. His second point was simply that any assault weapons ban would be symbolic window dressing and we had better do something practical to deal with the issue at hand. I lost the argument. I admit it.</p>
<p>Sally, all of those things are smart and right and I would support them. We should do what we can to make sure responsible citizens own guns legally, but that won’t do anything about illegal guns - which do most of the killing. I would love to see all guns gone and every child safe, but we have to deal with the reality of the situation.</p>
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<p>Nothing wrong with that. And let’s protect our schools. Also, I don’t think you should be able to purchase a weapon online. Ever.</p>
<p>Here’s the thing for me - on the one hand we talk about relying on and not limiting the access of “law abiding responsible gun owners.” However, most stolen guns, most guns taken from a parent, most guns that are purchased by a parent for a child, most guns which are left in cars or around the house with kids present, most guns that accidentally go off or fall out of pockets in public places originated with legal gun owners. </p>
<p>I understand that there is a problem with illegal/stolen guns and gang violence. That is a different issue than trusting teachers to have a concealed weapon in the classroom and carry, store and potentially use it safely every day of the year.</p>
<p>Yeah, I’m not sure I really understand online fun sales.</p>
<p>I would love if Jym or other mental health professionals would weigh in on how or if we could prevent the mentally il from getting guns legally. I wonder about the logistics of this.</p>
<p>“Chicago has a gun ban. Has anyone looked into how murders took place in the last year?”</p>
<p>And that has what to do with preventing mass shootings at schools or places like movie theaters? </p>
<p>There is a difference between gang members killing each other on street corners and school shootings like Columbine and Newtown. </p>
<p>It is not the common criminal with a gun coming into schools/malls etc and mowing down people.</p>