Florida shooting ...

crunchman

randella said:

Interesting and relatively un-shouty read on the NRA and their influence in Washington and beyond:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/nov/17/nra-gun-lobby-gun-control-congress

What they are saying about the demographics means that change will happen at some point.  Hopefully it's soon and not 20 years down the line.

randella

crunchman said:

randella said:

Interesting and relatively un-shouty read on the NRA and their influence in Washington and beyond:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/nov/17/nra-gun-lobby-gun-control-congress

What they are saying about the demographics means that change will happen at some point.  Hopefully it's soon and not 20 years down the line.

Yes, I found that interesting too. 

It also seems the anti-gun lobbies are taking the fight to Congress as well, but I think they might be bringing a Gregg's bun to a patisserie fight.  Maybe they'll gain some traction, who knows.

Another point that stood out was the fact that with Trump in power, the NRA have lost their natural bogeyman (Obama, Clinton) so are swinging at the media instead trying to start a barney to get their members and potential voters fired up.

One thing's for sure, gun ownership and control in America is a complex, entrenched problem that ain't going to go away easily, no matter how much I'd like it to.

rocktron

I can see this happening again, and again, and again, ad infinitum. 

Usually, after these incidents, the sales of guns and ammo go up.  

Even if the sale of guns and assault rifles is stopped, there are already too many in circulation in the USA. 

Gun possession in the USA is embedded in their culture and I cannot see that changing. 

Sadly, there will be more mass shootings overthere. 

english_bob

ICBM said:

The really shocking thing about all this is that in 1979, school shootings were so rare and shocking that someone in another country wrote a (great) song about one.



But in 2018, they're so common that they only get reported internationally when they're far worse than the one Geldof was writing about... which was two dead, nine injured.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland_Elementary_School_shooting_(San_Diego)

As if to prove your point, the Wikipedia link redirects to a page that gives you a choice of four different shootings you might be thinking of when you search for "Cleveland school shooting"

digitalscream

As fretmeister put it, rather bluntly, on Facebook: America's political class (and a good part of the population) has already decided that no amount of dead kids is reason enough to ban guns.

It's time for the feigned hand-wringing to stop, and for them to react with their honest feelings when this sort of thing happens: "Meh, we like guns". Anything else is disingenuous at best and dishonest at worst.

Realistically, the only thing that'll make a difference (and I'm not advocating this by any stretch) is if people take advantage of the lax gun control and start taking pot shots at pro-gun politicians every time they're out in public. Self-preservation is all they care about, and putting that in jeopardy is the only way this is going to change in the near future.

cacophony

but then trump'd say "everybody needs to be armed, to protect our politicians and the democratic american way..."

crunchman

cacophony said:

but then trump'd say "everybody needs to be armed, to protect our politicians and the democratic american way..."

Bet they don't let anyone with a gun within half a mile of Trump.

Sassafras

America's war on terrorism is aimed at the wrong people.

Garthy

You’d be forgiven for thinking America is the only country in the world that has guns with 18 school shootings in just 6 weeks.

They have ‘only’ three times more guns per head than Canada, France or Norway. It isn’t just the guns that is the problem, although the guns obviously make the situation far, far worse. For some reason quite a number of Americans appear to be prepared to murder at the drop of a hat and this should not be overlooked. It stuns me that the public can buy a AR15, its sole purpose is to kill lots and lots of people. It seems unwieldy to use in the house or hunting.

The right to bear arms is often cited by the NRA, when it was implemented, the citizens had a fair chance against the army. Now the American armed forces would absolutely crush a citizen insurgence, on paper at least. 

Emp_Fab

Make it compulsory for everyone in America to own and carry a loaded assault rifle then wait a couple of years then we can walk in and take our now empty colony back.

Philly_Q

I wonder what they're saying about this on American guitar forums?

Ravenous

Philly_Q said:

I wonder what they're saying about this on American guitar forums?

I can't bear to look...

Elx

Axe_meister

There is a rot in American society, where it does not seem wrong that carrying a gun is a right but healthcare is a privilege.
America is actually fairly isolated from the rest if the world with just the Canadians and Mexicans as direct neighbours. All conflicts in modern history (even WW1 and WW2) have always been elsewhere. 
There is a culture of me first rather than us together. My rights first fuck everything else.
And Money seems to be the main this people measure others by.
Also the it attitude of quantity over quality sums it all up.

crunchman

Ravenous said:

Philly_Q said:

I wonder what they're saying about this on American guitar forums?

I can't bear to look...

I just had a look at TGP.  Their no politics rule neutered the conversation quite a lot but it ended with the thread getting closed and the moderator threatening infractions.  To be fair to them, there were some people on there talking sense.  There were also some of the stereotyped gun nuts who ought to be locked up for their own good.

Ravenous

How ironic that The Donald is saying that people with a history of bad or erratic behaviour, displaying arms and threatening the neighbours, should be reported to The Authorities.

Does that include you, Donald?

BigMonka

From Family Guy a few years back:

randella

Ravenous said:

How ironic that The Donald is saying that people with a history of bad or erratic behaviour, displaying arms and threatening the neighbours, should be reported to The Authorities.

Does that include you, Donald?

Is it me or can anyone else sense the mental health card about to be played far and wide?

Guns don't kill people, 'Loners' and those who are 'a bit weird' do.

ICBM

english_bob said:

As if to prove your point, the Wikipedia link redirects to a page that gives you a choice of four different shootings you might be thinking of when you search for "Cleveland school shooting"

The editor wouldn't let me post the direct link for some reason - I did try, but you're right that the 'disambiguation' one is actually quite telling in its own way.

underdog

randella said:

Ravenous said:

How ironic that The Donald is saying that people with a history of bad or erratic behaviour, displaying arms and threatening the neighbours, should be reported to The Authorities.

Does that include you, Donald?

Is it me or can anyone else sense the mental health card about to be played far and wide?

Guns don't kill people, 'Loners' and those who are 'a bit weird' do.

Trump also repealed a law that prevented mentally ill buying guns not long ago, he's possibly helped create the situation himself.