jaymatt wrote:
Interesting comments all.
What I didn’t see was the real root of the problem: people.....
The problem IS people. A lot of people, here UHH and other places, have a lot easy solutions - background checks is one of them. I own several guns and have never been able to buy any of them without a background check, so that suggested "fix" has always been a mystery to me.
But more importantly is that, as a society, we've lost our humanity. There were a $h!t load of guns 40-50 years ago WITHOUT mass school, concert, or church shootings. So, what has changed........... Maybe the hand-wringers and their sympathy for dangerous people (this Cruz character had the police at his house 39 times in 7 years (source:
https://nypost.com/2018/02/16/deputies-called-to-suspected-shooters-home-39-times-over-seven-years/). Read the article and tell me if the gun was the problem or if our societal approach to problems is the problem. Ask yourself why people like this guy were able to pull this massacre off. Here is a video of a guy that reported Cruz back in September-
http://www.sunherald.com/news/local/crime/article200281739.html - what really pi$$es me off about it that in the video this guy said that the FBI was at his house 2 HOURS after the Florida shooting asking questions about Cruz - you don't suppose Cruz was at the top of the 'do nothing' FBIs list? The FBI has a couple hundred agents and lawyers chasing a hoax instead of taking care of what everyone around the country is hollering about today .... why?
When we call murdering 13 people "workplace violence", or have millions of kids on mind altering drugs, effectively the absence of the death penalty, etc. - then what are we doing?
And when 8 years later we're "reviewing" Nidal Hasson's case when we KNOW damned well he did it - at some point we define the value of life. We make excuses for too many evil acts and send a powerful message.
Your point is taken - Indy, Chicago, Baltimore etc. - why? If any gov't official tried to solve the issue the howling from the hand-wringers would be deafening. I have my own theories about why government has taken a kid glove approach to crime but I'd just be called "crazy" if I 'went there'.
And for those of you that are using the word "he", we know who you mean. "He" has been President for 1 year and when I think about all of this I seem to remember that this stuff was going on long before "he" was elected. There was another "he" that was President for 8 years that did nothing, either. Why, or why not? For a gov't solution it takes more than a President asking or demanding something (see 1/2009-1/2017). And before you blame the Congress, both sides have had complete control (House, Senate, President) in the last 9 years. And please don't tell me it's the NRA - they have zero power amongst honest people....
There are approx. 400,000,000 guns in the US - tell me what law you want to pass (that we don't already have) that will fix the people that pick up the gun for evil purposes. I don't think there is one - it is already against the law to murder someone .... sooooo .... How about we confiscate all guns - impossible but I'll humor the thought. Then what - they blow up the whole school and kill 500-600? Don't misinterpret what I just typed - I did NOT just say killing 17 is OK or better - simply that I fear what path evil people will go down next.
There is so much more to this 'problem' than background checks, mental health treatment, "see something - say something", etc. - there is no simple answer and anyone that thinks "if we only did xxxx this would stop" is simply hallucinating. We have to change who we are - we are so polarized right now the solution is a long, long way off. The agitators have been successful - we're fight against each other when we all really want, in the end, is the same thing (certainly, a different approach but the same outcome).