It’s a common refrain we hear from “gun rights” advocates after mass shootings like the one that took the lives of 19 children and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas. Politicians such as Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) say we need to “harden schools” with increased security. The NRA says we need to arm citizens so there’s a “good guy with a gun” to stop the shooter. Texas Governor Greg Abbott claims we need to focus on “mental health” rather than gun regulation.
"Second, there were also plenty of “good guys” there with guns." No sir, there were no such people in evidence anywhere. A uniform and a badge does not make you "a good guy" anymore than a halloween costume makes you Batman.
The fact that our country's AR-15 style weapon arsenal has grown to an estimated 20 million is unfathomable. It means that even if we achieve a miracle and manage to ban future sales of these weapons, it would need to be coupled with a plan to buy back or otherwise neutralize this massive arsenal.
Sounds about right for the various police forces across the USA. Big and brave while shooting an unarmed suspect in the back of the head, or a 13 year old with his arms up, but faced with a shooter with an AR-15 and body armour, they were too afraid for their own lives to do anything.
And that is the basic idea that has spread. Anyone with an easily obtainable semi-automatic gun, some body armour, and a grudge, now feels invincible and can go and do whatever they like, while the cops hide, because they don’t have the ability to easily take this type of shooter down.
And as gun numbers increase, this is going to become a daily occurrence, and The Republicans will continue with their refrain of “Thoughts and Prayers” and “we need more guns”. At least until someone decides to take their anger out on them. Then their attitudes will change so fast it’ll cause whiplash.
Why did the police wait? I don't understand that! If they had not waited and shot him while he was outside, many lives would be saved. I agree with strengthening gun laws and addressing the mental health issues, but that is all long term. stopping the continuing crisis of school shooters need swift and immediate action that will stop or at least prevent anyone who thinks of it from being successful. If a shooter stills want to do it, they will be prevented from doing it by being killed without hurting anyone else. I am about as liberal as they come, but I sincerely think we need armed police/security/military outside every school where there is an unlocked entry point. They need to be prepared to shoot to kill anyone who approaches with a weapon. Once we stop the shooters, we can continue to address the remaining factors.
The law enforcement at Uvalde were like the firemen in Fahrenheit 451: " Is it true that long ago firemen put fires out instead of going to start them?" "No."
Meanwhile, the GOP has once again proved that, to them, life begins at conception and ends with a sacred sacrifice on the altar of the Second Amendment execution.
Maybe some of these we expect to be brave lose their appetite for the fight once the bullets start whizzing by. They appear much more feisty when there's 5 of them with clubs, tasers and guns taking on a 60 year old, unarmed jaywalker.
i'm an old guy. The first mass shooting i remember was an ex-Marine, attending college in TX at Austin, climbed to the top of a tall building on campus and rained death down on whoever crossed his field of view. Then there was the postal employee, shot up his workplace in Oklahoma City. That, they brought in a lot of psychologists, sociologists, took a long, hard look at work conditions with the Post Office that lead to significant changes in Postal Service operations to significantly reduce employee stress. Unfortunately i've seen a lot of mass shootings here in the US. What i've noticed about them, they almost always involve individuals under significant stress and who are largely alone in this. What i've also noticed is that the perpetrators are getting younger, people who are much less skilled in dealing with stress.
But background checks? From what i've seen, in most of these shootings the perpetrators would likely have passed, with no criminal record and no previous adverse psych health issues. While i strongly agree something needs doing, i am strongly against making empty gestures that accomplish nothing for the sake of feeling good, 'Look! We did something!' Not heard of any criminal or psych record for this guy in TX yet, would likely have passed a background check. The guy in Las Vegas who shot up a bunch of party-goers from a hotel window had been a solid figure in the community, would likely have also passed. Sandyhook? The kid stole Mom's guns, no background check would have helped there. The law banning ex-military with PTSD from owning guns, that was likely a good idea, even if it's a wide net that cost a cousin of mine his job as a detective on a police force.
It's disappointing to find such hysterical irrationality in your newsletter, not what i subscribed for, thought you were more level-headed/reasoning than this.
Ya, ARs, they seem to be the weapon of choice among the kids, they look cool, if you're going to be a mass killer, above all you should no doubt look badass.
Banning guns outright, ya, that would be somewhat effective, though i've heard of people in more restrictive countries doing some serious damage in schools and on public transpo (anywhere people gather in large numbers, that's what makes schools so attractive) using knives. You cite Australia and Britain, they also don't arm their police. But to attempt something like that here, you know that would not fly, wouldn't be surprised to see something like that leading to a second Civil War over government overreach, especially given the extreme polarity the Democrats and Republicans have fostered in this country (leading to the emergence of such radical extremist centrist reactionaries with no alignment with either party such as myself). You didn't mention Switzerland, a country awash in guns, even requiring adult males to learn how to use one and practice at least once a year, with gun ownership encouraged, and have a homicide rate approaching 0. They would seem to be doing something right there. Given US culture, that might be a better example to go looking at.
Hysterically grasping at straws, throwing meaningless laws at a problem, is not going to solve anything! It's going to take some really calm, cool analysis. Raising minimum age for ownership of some classes of firearms (ARs, handguns...) might be a very reasonable place to start, something that could actually be effected. It would not stop the killings in Chicago, with the large number of illegally owned weapons, people not giving a hoot about any 'background checks'. Solving the high degree of stress and frustration faced by many adolescents trying to transition to adulthood, something really stressful for many in the US, that's not going to be so easy to fix.
"Second, there were also plenty of “good guys” there with guns." No sir, there were no such people in evidence anywhere. A uniform and a badge does not make you "a good guy" anymore than a halloween costume makes you Batman.
The fact that our country's AR-15 style weapon arsenal has grown to an estimated 20 million is unfathomable. It means that even if we achieve a miracle and manage to ban future sales of these weapons, it would need to be coupled with a plan to buy back or otherwise neutralize this massive arsenal.
And they waited 1 hour while those precious children and their teachers were slaughtered!
Sounds about right for the various police forces across the USA. Big and brave while shooting an unarmed suspect in the back of the head, or a 13 year old with his arms up, but faced with a shooter with an AR-15 and body armour, they were too afraid for their own lives to do anything.
And that is the basic idea that has spread. Anyone with an easily obtainable semi-automatic gun, some body armour, and a grudge, now feels invincible and can go and do whatever they like, while the cops hide, because they don’t have the ability to easily take this type of shooter down.
And as gun numbers increase, this is going to become a daily occurrence, and The Republicans will continue with their refrain of “Thoughts and Prayers” and “we need more guns”. At least until someone decides to take their anger out on them. Then their attitudes will change so fast it’ll cause whiplash.
Why did the police wait? I don't understand that! If they had not waited and shot him while he was outside, many lives would be saved. I agree with strengthening gun laws and addressing the mental health issues, but that is all long term. stopping the continuing crisis of school shooters need swift and immediate action that will stop or at least prevent anyone who thinks of it from being successful. If a shooter stills want to do it, they will be prevented from doing it by being killed without hurting anyone else. I am about as liberal as they come, but I sincerely think we need armed police/security/military outside every school where there is an unlocked entry point. They need to be prepared to shoot to kill anyone who approaches with a weapon. Once we stop the shooters, we can continue to address the remaining factors.
The law enforcement at Uvalde were like the firemen in Fahrenheit 451: " Is it true that long ago firemen put fires out instead of going to start them?" "No."
Meanwhile, the GOP has once again proved that, to them, life begins at conception and ends with a sacred sacrifice on the altar of the Second Amendment execution.
Well said. Thank you.
Maybe some of these we expect to be brave lose their appetite for the fight once the bullets start whizzing by. They appear much more feisty when there's 5 of them with clubs, tasers and guns taking on a 60 year old, unarmed jaywalker.
i'm an old guy. The first mass shooting i remember was an ex-Marine, attending college in TX at Austin, climbed to the top of a tall building on campus and rained death down on whoever crossed his field of view. Then there was the postal employee, shot up his workplace in Oklahoma City. That, they brought in a lot of psychologists, sociologists, took a long, hard look at work conditions with the Post Office that lead to significant changes in Postal Service operations to significantly reduce employee stress. Unfortunately i've seen a lot of mass shootings here in the US. What i've noticed about them, they almost always involve individuals under significant stress and who are largely alone in this. What i've also noticed is that the perpetrators are getting younger, people who are much less skilled in dealing with stress.
But background checks? From what i've seen, in most of these shootings the perpetrators would likely have passed, with no criminal record and no previous adverse psych health issues. While i strongly agree something needs doing, i am strongly against making empty gestures that accomplish nothing for the sake of feeling good, 'Look! We did something!' Not heard of any criminal or psych record for this guy in TX yet, would likely have passed a background check. The guy in Las Vegas who shot up a bunch of party-goers from a hotel window had been a solid figure in the community, would likely have also passed. Sandyhook? The kid stole Mom's guns, no background check would have helped there. The law banning ex-military with PTSD from owning guns, that was likely a good idea, even if it's a wide net that cost a cousin of mine his job as a detective on a police force.
It's disappointing to find such hysterical irrationality in your newsletter, not what i subscribed for, thought you were more level-headed/reasoning than this.
Ya, ARs, they seem to be the weapon of choice among the kids, they look cool, if you're going to be a mass killer, above all you should no doubt look badass.
Banning guns outright, ya, that would be somewhat effective, though i've heard of people in more restrictive countries doing some serious damage in schools and on public transpo (anywhere people gather in large numbers, that's what makes schools so attractive) using knives. You cite Australia and Britain, they also don't arm their police. But to attempt something like that here, you know that would not fly, wouldn't be surprised to see something like that leading to a second Civil War over government overreach, especially given the extreme polarity the Democrats and Republicans have fostered in this country (leading to the emergence of such radical extremist centrist reactionaries with no alignment with either party such as myself). You didn't mention Switzerland, a country awash in guns, even requiring adult males to learn how to use one and practice at least once a year, with gun ownership encouraged, and have a homicide rate approaching 0. They would seem to be doing something right there. Given US culture, that might be a better example to go looking at.
Hysterically grasping at straws, throwing meaningless laws at a problem, is not going to solve anything! It's going to take some really calm, cool analysis. Raising minimum age for ownership of some classes of firearms (ARs, handguns...) might be a very reasonable place to start, something that could actually be effected. It would not stop the killings in Chicago, with the large number of illegally owned weapons, people not giving a hoot about any 'background checks'. Solving the high degree of stress and frustration faced by many adolescents trying to transition to adulthood, something really stressful for many in the US, that's not going to be so easy to fix.
Best wishes, get well soon.