Shooting at CT elementary school leaves at least 27 dead, 18 of them children

[7,052,770]

Why do people act like it would be so easy to get an illegal gun if the most deadly guns were illegal?  I agree it would be possible for years, until the police eventually confiscate them all, but I definitely don't think it would be easy.  I think most people don't really have any idea where to find an illegal gun...

[Franzl]

Why is it most liberals seem to focus on gun control, and gloss over better mental health treatment, as the most effective solution to this problem?   They seem to hardly even mention it. 

The real issue here. And it's not just liberals glossing over it.

It's perhaps the "real" issue regarding sudden mass killings like this, I won't disagree with that. But gun control is sorely lacking and even if it wouldn't stop the most determined mass murderers, it'd make it more difficult and it'd certainly stop a lot of the less publicized killings that happen across America.

[Meeker]

Why do people act like it would be so easy to get an illegal gun if the most deadly guns were illegal?  I agree it would be possible for years, until the police eventually confiscate them all, but I definitely don't think it would be easy.  I think most people don't really have any idea where to find an illegal gun...

It's not at all difficult to acquire marijuana despite decades of prohibition.

[Napoleon]

Why do people act like it would be so easy to get an illegal gun if the most deadly guns were illegal?  I agree it would be possible for years, until the police eventually confiscate them all, but I definitely don't think it would be easy.  I think most people don't really have any idea where to find an illegal gun...

It's not at all difficult to acquire marijuana despite decades of prohibition.

Can you grow guns in your closet?

[Vosem]

Why do people act like it would be so easy to get an illegal gun if the most deadly guns were illegal?  I agree it would be possible for years, until the police eventually confiscate them all, but I definitely don't think it would be easy.  I think most people don't really have any idea where to find an illegal gun...

It's not at all difficult to acquire marijuana despite decades of prohibition.

Can you grow guns in your closet?

It is not very difficult at all to make guns out of common household objects (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Improvised_firearm). You can find guides online on how they are made. Generally they are less reliable than professional weapons (and frequently must be loaded one-shot-at-a-time), but on the other hand it's easy to disguise them as other objects, especially flashlights.

The more significant issue is that, like marijuana, the government is losing a large source of taxable revenue; that the government, by banning it would make the quality worse and the object more dangerous to the user; that criminal groups would gain power by successfully selling guns; and that the government really couldn't ban it anyway, because of cultural norms (which doesn't really apply to marijuana; there aren't broad swathes of the country where simply due to the composition of the population anti-marijuana laws go unenforced, but such an area would exist for anti-gun laws).

If gun-trade-gangs are anywhere near as successful as, say, drug dealers, it wouldn't even be that hard to find a professionally made weapon (especially considering way more people want guns than drugs) -- certainly if you're persistent enough and are surrounded by like-minded people, even in very urban areas it can't be that hard to find a friend of a friend.

It is impossible to effectively ban guns in the US, and were such laws to be enacted the effects would largely be negative ones. It is possible in theory to enact stricter gun control laws than exist today, but in practice that's also impossible because (to cite an example) a smaller percentage of the population want stronger gun control laws than voted for McCain (who is, I shall remind you, considered to have lost 'in a landslide').

[Meeker]

Why do people act like it would be so easy to get an illegal gun if the most deadly guns were illegal?  I agree it would be possible for years, until the police eventually confiscate them all, but I definitely don't think it would be easy.  I think most people don't really have any idea where to find an illegal gun...

It's not at all difficult to acquire marijuana despite decades of prohibition.

Can you grow guns in your closet?

It's about as easy to manufacture a gun in your garage as it would be to grow marijuana there. Both require technical knowledge that's available on the Internet and materials that are readily available.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

Why do people act like it would be so easy to get an illegal gun if the most deadly guns were illegal?  I agree it would be possible for years, until the police eventually confiscate them all, but I definitely don't think it would be easy.  I think most people don't really have any idea where to find an illegal gun...

None of us are criminals. I'm sure it wouldn't be too hard if you were driven enough to find a gun.

But that's not even the point behind this. These things happen mainly due to the 24/7 news media that glorify these killers, talk about them, try to explain them. They do it to get back at those who somehow made their lives miserable and to make a name for themselves. That's why drives these killers. Gun control, etc, is nice to talk about, but it's not the root of the problem. Banning guns wouldn't likely stop these mass killing sprees.

[Sbane]

We don't need to ban guns, but we need to change the gun culture. I agree banning it is not the answer because all that will do it make it more "cool" to have a gun. What needs to change is the easy access to guns those with mental issues have. We don't know if this guy could have purchased a gun on his own if he was old enough, but yet he had easy access to guns because his mom had 3. Why did she own so many? Why do so many people own guns? Was she going hunting in suburban CT? Did she really need protection in that town?

The gun culture is what needs to change, and you don't change that by banning them. Make it a faux pas to own guns. Instead of people celebrating gun culture, make it a signifier of low life culture. Maybe that can change things.  I know this is all fantasy and that it will never happen in "muhrica" but it's our only chance. The reason the crazies have such easy access to guns is not because people are selling it to them (which likely isn't that difficult to do either in this great nation of ours), but because guns are freaking everywhere. All you need to do is just steal a family members gun when you need some mass killing to do.

Also how easy would it be to catch this guy as someone with a mental problem? How socially awkward was he? Or should we ban access to guns for all socially awkward people? Lots of people are saying he was a genius...but was he in college? If not, why not? We need to understand what makes people like him snap.

[© tweed]

and gloss over better mental health treatment

Do we even know if this latest spree killer was even within the system?

And that's part of the problem, isn't it?  Those who need treatment don't get it. 

what if they don't want 'treatment'?  shall we force it on people en masse?

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Westboro Baptist Church is currently planning a protest this month.  Hoping I get to go to the human chain/counter-protest...

[Blue3]

Why do people act like it would be so easy to get an illegal gun if the most deadly guns were illegal?  I agree it would be possible for years, until the police eventually confiscate them all, but I definitely don't think it would be easy.  I think most people don't really have any idea where to find an illegal gun...

It's not at all difficult to acquire marijuana despite decades of prohibition.

Can you grow guns in your closet?

If you have a 3D printer, you can create your own guns now.

[Paul Kemp]

Westboro Baptist Church is currently planning a protest this month.  Hoping I get to go to the human chain/counter-protest...

I suppose it's better than I do not say what I think about that besides saying they're only one slight step above Lanza on the ladder of human filth.

[Bleeding heart conservative, HTMLdon]

It is somewhat ironic that some folks that staunchly support drug legalization because "people will get drugs anyway and prohibition doesn't work" also believe that prohibition on guns will work well.

[tmthforu94]

I hate how much the media is talking about the killer. It's like this with every shooting tragedy - the killer gets talked about constantly, while less is said about the victims. Instead of going out as a nobody, he will be a household name now.

[Meeker]

This is worth taking a look at: http://thebluereview.org/i-am-adam-lanzas-mother/

[Bleeding heart conservative, HTMLdon]

This is worth taking a look at: http://thebluereview.org/i-am-adam-lanzas-mother/

Wow.

[Lief 🗽]

It is somewhat ironic that some folks that staunchly support drug legalization because "people will get drugs anyway and prohibition doesn't work" also believe that prohibition on guns will work well.

I would support drug legalization even if the government was able to magically keep everyone from getting any drugs at all.

[Tender Branson]

The question should also be asked why his mother had purchased 6 (assault) rifles and handguns when it was clear that her kid was "not normal". But sometimes mothers are quite blind and think their kid is the cutest and nicest thing on earth and will do anything for them.

[politicallefty]

It'd be nice if we could at least have a national discussion about some of these issues. No, it's not too soon to have at least have a discussion, as so many try to shut down from the start. (I'm looking at groups such as the NRA on that one.) The time to do something was a long time ago, but there are things to be done in order to prevent the next tragedy. I'm not one to say we need to do one thing or the other (I don't know what we specifically need to do), but we need to at least discuss these issues and figure out what needs to done. There is a massive failure of leadership in this country when it comes to figuring out solutions to these problems. We need to look at everything and take some rational actions in this country.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

It's worth pointing out, just as a hypothetical, that if certain types of guns were banned - genuinely banned - in the entire U.S, then you would eventually see a lot less of them as less would be manufactured due to the collapse of the domestic market for them.

[minionofmidas]

The question should also be asked why his mother had purchased 6 (assault) rifles and handguns when it was clear that her kid was "not normal".

While everyone who goes on such an effective rampage has previously learned to shoot well, not everyone learned it from his parents. That's really all there is to say on that score.

[Grumpier Than Thou]

Why is it most liberals seem to focus on gun control, and gloss over better mental health treatment, as the most effective solution to this problem?   They seem to hardly even mention it. 

Thank you.

[7,052,770]

It is somewhat ironic that some folks that staunchly support drug legalization because "people will get drugs anyway and prohibition doesn't work" also believe that prohibition on guns will work well.

Even more ironically, the same people who say all guns have to be legal because people will still be able to get them will NEVER acknowledge that women will still have abortions if abortions are illegal.

[memphis]

Why is it most liberals seem to focus on gun control, and gloss over better mental health treatment, as the most effective solution to this problem?   They seem to hardly even mention it. 

Thank you.

Yes, when will those darn Democrats start trying to make access to health care for all a priority

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Westboro Baptist Church is currently planning a protest this month.  Hoping I get to go to the human chain/counter-protest...

I suppose it's better than I do not say what I think about that besides saying they're only one slight step above Lanza on the ladder of human filth.

^^^^^^