Poll: Is there a solution to mass shootings?

[jetriot]

Honestly, I would rather live in a place where I can protect myself and my family then a camera on every street, semi police state like England where I have to rely upon an inept government for 100% of my protection. I trust the police, at least where I live. I really do. But after living through Katrina in New Orleans, I know that there is only one person that can protect me and my family in a crisis and that person is not with the government.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Maybe if we stop focusing so much on the killer. To be famous is exactly what these bastards want.

I don't know if it'd do much to stop them, but giving them exactly what they want is a bad idea anyway.

 

[O maestre]

gun control is working fine here in denmark and with the exception of breivik scandinavia has had view instances of mass violence. if someone snaps all of the sudden the only options they have is knives, and somebody with a knife is a lot easier to stop than someone with a gun. notice how i am not talking about criminals, but mentally unstable individuals who almost always are responsible for these mass killings.

if you claim that it has nothing to do with gun control, than the only conclusion must be the there is something fundamentally different with the american culture that make people more inclined to loose their shit and start killing innocents

 

[Trippy Turtle]

Kill 99% of people and restart human life somewhere in a rainforest.
A little drastic but it would solve a lot of problems.

 

[Grant Stackhouse]

Also somewhat ironically, with all the gun control debates, I think that if there had been a few armed people in the theater, the toll might not have been so bad. The anti-gun brigade loves to say "oh, that would have been worse, the armed civilians would have just unloaded into the crowd". Sure, because even in a moment of terror, your first reflex is to fire into a crowd of fleeing teenagers and kids. Imagine lying between seats, you can see the gunman reloading his rifle. If you had a handgun, you could potentially get the courage to peek out and take a shot at him. Without a gun, you're stuck lying there praying to whatever deity you may believe in that you aren't next.

Oh no, I would not go to a theatre where guns were allowed inside. We have enough killings in theatres already from people sneaking guns or other weapons inside. I've seen food and drinks thrown at rude people, and I've also seen a few fistfights break out inside a theatre, because someone would not shut up.

In a high-stress place with a high concentration of stressed-out people, the last thing I would want is for more of those people to be armed, even if it would improve their ability to fight back in the instance of a crazed mass-murderer walking in. Mass-killings would drop, but individual killings would fly through the roof.

 

[Pyro Paul]

Here's some nice Canadian facts about guns.

doesn't take into consideration Population Density...

Higher population density exponentially increases the crime rates in those areas. There is also issues with climate in assosiation with crimes where individuals are less inclined to react with violence in colder temperate zones then they are in warmer temperate zones.

Simply said, you're not gunna freeze your balls off on a 30 minute car ride just to go on a shooting spree, regardless of how mentally ill you are.

 

[Thaedius]

Kill 99% of people and restart human life somewhere in a rainforest.
A little drastic but it would solve a lot of problems.

Rainbow Six style?

I have to agree that better gun control is needed. I'm aware that this will take quite a while for the problems to stop, and politicians are very short sighted, and will not change things over fear of not being reelected, or for being permanently being remembered for all the wrong reasons.

So I guess the USA loves it's freedoms to be shot at by someone else.

Good Job

 

[Your Fearless Captain]

The only things I could think of that could stop mass shootings is either taking every gun and melting them all down or giving everyone a handgun to carry at all times. Neither seem like viable solutions.

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

Nope you can not be proactive with crazy least you put everyone in jail.

Also cars and legal drugs kill more than guns do at the end of the day if we had a better educational system and a better armed public such things would lessened more than just banning random things to look good.

 

[Voonhartking]

Stop giving people guns. How many times do you hear "would be shooter killed by other shooter, lives are saved"? Never.

 

[Aulleas123]

I'd say mass government spending. We all know that if we throw money at a problem, then the problem will be solved. Just let the experts in charge figure it out.

Another solution is for everyone to have a gun. That way people would think twice about going and shooting up anywhere. And in that rare occurrence when people do decide to try something stupid like this, then it would be AWESOME!!!

Just FYI, these seem like the two extreme solutions on the table and they're both fairly silly.

That being said, I'm fairly anti-gun control and it seems like everything that could fall through the cracks with this guy did fall through the cracks. For example, with background checks (which actually are a pretty good idea), this guy had nothing on his record. I believe that he had no mental issues, no criminal record, not even medication, his record showed a normal young man. So this solution really can't work 100% of the time. In addition, he bought his weapons legally with no controversy until the incident.

Also, tighter laws on carrying weapons seem like a good idea, but then again people who do crazy things will go through black markets to purchase guns when they're illegal, the same way people got booze in the prohibition days and how people get weed and cocaine today. Making things that are bad for us illegal is a sexy solution but not always an appropriate solution.

This isn't really an easy question to answer, it's trying to predict the black swan, the rare occurrence of something terrible that happens. It's sad, but debate on this may be as useful as debates to stop hurricanes or tornadoes.

 

[mad825]

Honestly, I would rather live in a place where I can protect myself and my family then a camera on every street, semi police state like England where I have to rely upon an inept government for 100% of my protection. I trust the police, at least where I live. I really do. But after living through Katrina in New Orleans, I know that there is only one person that can protect me and my family in a crisis and that person is not with the government.

So you agree with that more guns will protect you from getting killed by a gun? Some people never learn.

CCTV is not a means to protect homes but rather people on the streets from crime ranging pickpocketing (general thievery), monitoring individuals, violence (fist, knife, gun, you name it) and "terrorism".

Self-defence is still relevant in protecting your home however it doesn't mean that you can take the law into your own hands.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Oh no, I would not go to a theatre where guns were allowed inside. We have enough killings in theatres already from people sneaking guns or other weapons inside. I've seen food and drinks thrown at rude people, and I've also seen a few fistfights break out inside a theatre, because someone would not shut up.

In a high-stress place with a high concentration of stressed-out people, the last thing I would want is for more of those people to be armed, even if it would improve their ability to fight back in the instance of a crazed mass-murderer walking in. Mass-killings would drop, but individual killings would fly through the roof.

Reminds me of this [http://www.firstshowing.net/2008/angry-moviegoer-shoots-man-for-talking-during-movie/].

 

[Bazaalmon]

Any random psycho with the cash and the patience to wait a few days can buy a gun in America. If guns weren't so piss-easy to obtain, maybe there would be fewer shootings and massacres. Black Market guns are often prohibitively expensive, and much harder to obtain just because you can't walk into a store and pick one up. If this college student couldn't just go and grab a gun off a shelf, this might not have happened. Only the serious psychotics would be willing to put forth the money and effort to obtain a black-market gun, and having guns widely and (relatively) cheaply available just makes it easier for them. I'm not going to say all guns should be banned, because that will never happen. However, I do think stricter control on the sale and the carrying of guns is necessary.
Also, gun control comic by Tom Tomorrow:

Spoiler

 

[Techno Squidgy]

The only solution that would work with a guaranteed success with no mass shootings ever again is to destroy all firearms and shut down the factories. However this isn't realistic with the current state of society.

 

[smithy_2045]

You can prevent mass shootings by magically removing all guns from existence. It won't stop people from being killed by crazies who want to kill as many people as they can though.

 

[EHKOS]

Issue everyone a kevlar vest? Seriously you can't stop this death is inevitable. We only have 100 years max anyway, it's not like life is important.

 

[spartan231490]

http://www.thehighroad.org/archive/index.php/t-270374.html
http://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1200991
http://www.bachbio.com/gunsavelives.htm

Concealed carry. The solution.