This is one political issue that I align 100% with the rednecks of TigersX on.
In all seriousness, it absolutely blows my mind that so many people (judging by Twitter, the media, etc.) seem to think that the
only logical magic wand answer is banning guns. Repealing the second amendment of the Bill of Rights. As if there's no consequences to that. As if making guns illegal will make them disappear from society. Cliche's just end up becoming white noise, but it bears repeating: Criminalize guns and only criminals will have guns.
It blows my mind that the same people who
see that the war on drugs is a failure, don't see that a gun ban would be just as much of a failure. The last two high-profile shootings were in Colorado & Connecticut. Two states with the strictest gun laws in the U.S. Guess what, they didn't work. They also have the strongest assault rifle ban in the country. How'd that work out for ya?
(That being said, I will say, in the spirit of compromise, I don't necessarily have a problem with trying to ban assault weapons. No one but psychos need those, and I'm ok with minor limitations on the first 10 amendments. You can't yell fire in a crowded theater either, and I'm ok with that. However, more to the point, I don't believe, as evidenced here, that assault weapon bans can or will have their desired affect.)Guns are illegal in schools...didn't stop him. Trespassing is illegal...didn't stop him. Murder is illegal...didn't stop him. The kid tried to buy his guns from the store, and the waiting period did exactly what it was designed to do and deterred him, so he just stole them from his mother and ultimate victim who acquired them legally and would have passed any background check you can throw at her. Thinking you can just eradicate society from the over 300,000 guns owned by civilians is a fool's errand. Simple as that. Pure lunacy to even entertain the idea for more than a second that it's even possible, let alone speculate that accomplishing it would suddenly end all attacks from psychopaths. EVEN IF somehow all guns were impossible to get, even on the black market, this kid would have built a dirty bomb and blew up the entire fucking school. How do these people not see that?
Fuck the 31 pro-gun rights Republicans who pussed out and declined to go on Meet the Press. I watched a little bit of it, and it was just treated as a forgone conclusion that banning guns was
the only solution. David Gregory smugly announced at least five times while I was watching that they reached out to all 31 and had no takers. WHY DO THIS? This implies heavily that the right to bear arms is indefensible when juxtaposed with a real-life scenario. Why not bring up all of these points that my dumb ass can clearly see? Why not rant about how if they allowed teachers to carry, they could have stopped this fucking psycho after the first shot? WHY FORFEIT THE DEBATE???
And speaking of Meet the Press, Bloomberg is a fucking fascist. It seems like he literally gets off from controlling people. Like he inhales deeply and has a tantric orgasm because he may get to take a constitutional right away like he did with evil large sodas.
People trying to blame video games, violent movies, and rap music: fuck you. This kid didn't partake in any of that. Most of these psychos didn't. Scapegoat cop-out, plain and simple. Statistics simply do not bear that theory out. Sorry. Maybe prayer in school's the magic bullet (no pun intended) as many on my Facebook have implied? Adam Lanza was active in his church. Doubt that him being forced to bow his head back when he was in school (he was 20) would have made a damn bit of difference. Sometimes, there just isn't an answer. The human psyche wants to believe there's a reason. There's an answer. There's a solution. Sometimes, there just isn't, as comforting as it would be if there was.
I'll tell you what wouldn't hurt, though. What would be far more effective than a gun ban or any of the other bullshit political agenda driven "solutions". Make it fucking illegal for the police to give out this fucker's name. The dude was a recluse with Asperger's. A loner that didn't fit in with anyone. He longed to be known. Guess what, now you can't turn on the TV without seeing his bitch-assed little face all over the screen and he's now a household name. He'll go down in the history books. He'll get a wiki page, the modern equivalent. I have no doubt, he saw "the Joker" from Aurora, and thought "Wow, people paid attention to him. Look at all the attention he's getting. I've got to outdo that. The bigger the body count, the more likely I am to be remembered forever. I need to one-up these other guys. Maybe I should kill some 5 year olds, that'll get people's attention. Stop with the nonstop coverage of the shooter himself, his story, his motivations, and his ugly fuckin' mug for weeks on end, and maybe, just
maybe you won't inspire the next psycho.
That's what's different. Citizens have owned guns for hundreds of years. Kids have grown up with a media that glorifies guns for generations. Every one of you old fuckers had a cowboy hat and cap gun. The difference is the nonstop media coverage infecting these already deranged minds by glamorizing the killer.
End rant.