True, but you can only do so much damage with a pistol or shot gun before authorities or good samaritans intervene. There's no reason anyone needs a semi-automatic of any kind. The damage in CT could have been limited...but instead we have 26 people dead.
Connecticut Elementary School Shooting
- Thread starter Annelle
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I agree that no one really has any business owning guns like that, but whether they're illegal or not, people will still be able to get ahold of them.
Except in his case these were his mother's legal guns.
The fact is this, it's not gun control we need to worry about but rather the fact that the US does NOT have a GOOD mental health system in place. People with mental illnesses are NOT required to take medication or seek professional help. When people who have mental illnesses go off their meds there is NOTHING ANYONE can do UNTIL that person either harms someone else OR him/herself. Funding for mental health programs for CHILDREN are cut back and for adults there really isn't anything in place. Locally the ONLY mental health facility for children closed down over a year ago so now children with mental health problems have to be sent to Seattle or Spokane and MAY possibly be seen there IF room is available at the mental hospitals there. For adults there are no places in many locations and in others the facilities are full or for whatever reason can't help.
Personally the discussion of gun control is a moot point and the focus the government should take should be on mental health and doing something about those with mental health problems BEFORE something horrible like the shooting at the school today or at the mall the other day or at the movie theater last month or the grocery store last year.
Dalylah
Lacquer Lackey
I couldn't agree more. Our forefathers were loading muskets when they wrote that. They didn't forsee the mess. If those legal guns hadn't been in that house it would have been a lot harder for him to do this to them and to himself.
Also, I do agree with Zadi about mental health. We need to help our youth unwind themselves when things aren't right. This young man had his problems but he was an honor student and not exactly pegged to turn out as the criminal type. Obviously he will be picked apart because something was broken inside of him. I guess my point is we all have our flaws that could make us seem unstable at points in our life, there isn't always something that gives a big warning.
"He was an honors student who lived in a prosperous neighborhood with his mother, who liked to host dice games and decorate the house for the holidays." Source
I watched most of the day and listened to the police scanner. It is just heartbreaking. So much life wasted.
According to some media outlets who have spoken to family members apparently he had ODD which is Oppositional Defiant Disorder. If he had bipolar (mood disorder) coupled with ODD then yes he was a ticking time bomb regardless of how good of a student he was. When on medication the person is normal but when off... speaking from experience seeing this in another person... the person's mood will go from happy to sad to a rage and in that rage the person is not thinking clearly.
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It's been on the news in my country too. It's a very sad event.
On the subject of guns, obviously this is a major cultural difference, but i will say that to me, having a gun at home is not something i consider sane. We can try to rebuild the world with our theories about guns but i think when someone wants to do damage, the tool doesn't really matter.
On the subject of guns, obviously this is a major cultural difference, but i will say that to me, having a gun at home is not something i consider sane. We can try to rebuild the world with our theories about guns but i think when someone wants to do damage, the tool doesn't really matter.
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I understand the point that the gun didn't make the choice to kill. However yesterday in China, there was a very similar attack in an elementary school. But the guy just had a knife rather than a semi-automatic weapon with hollow-point bullets. 22 kids and 1 adult injured, but none dead. (Not to make light of the China tragedy in any way, of course.)
ETA - Just to mention, I'm not one who believes no one should be able to have guns. Just that there are certain types of weapons that shouldn't be available to everyone, and it should be a bit harder to get a gun than it is to get a decongestant.
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Concerning guns, most criminals aren't obtaining them legally. Stricter gun control makes it harder for law abiding citizens to obtain them and potentially defend themselves. Besides, a person can make any item a weapon. Because there may be a large number of stabbings, should we outlaw knives and other sharp objects? If there should be legislature initiated and passed, it should start with harsher penalties and not giving plea options in exchange for lesser sentences. Do the crime, pay the time. Especially in America, our judicial system seems happy to roll over and merely slap wrists in exchange for snitches or plea bargains. Allowing X amount of appeals, tying up the courts, taxpayers money, lawyers time... Now we want to be sensitive and "rehab" people, when they commit crimes like murder, rape... It's just crazy. Am I the only person who believes you should possibly lose most if not all rights when you take it upon yourself to murder innocents?
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This shooting was truly sad.
Quote:
Originally Posted by zadidoll /img/forum/go_quote.gif
The fact is this, it's not gun control we need to worry about but rather the fact that the US does NOT have a GOOD mental health system in place. People with mental illnesses are NOT required to take medication or seek professional help. When people who have mental illnesses go off their meds there is NOTHING ANYONE can do UNTIL that person either harms someone else OR him/herself. Funding for mental health programs for CHILDREN are cut back and for adults there really isn't anything in place. Locally the ONLY mental health facility for children closed down over a year ago so now children with mental health problems have to be sent to Seattle or Spokane and MAY possibly be seen there IF room is available at the mental hospitals there. For adults there are no places in many locations and in others the facilities are full or for whatever reason can't help.
Personally the discussion of gun control is a moot point and the focus the government should take should be on mental health and doing something about those with mental health problems BEFORE something horrible like the shooting at the school today or at the mall the other day or at the movie theater last month or the grocery store last year.
THIS. Fortunately, AZ medicaid is pretty good about mental health.
Quote:
Originally Posted by zadidoll /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Except in his case these were his mother's legal guns.
The fact is this, it's not gun control we need to worry about but rather the fact that the US does NOT have a GOOD mental health system in place. People with mental illnesses are NOT required to take medication or seek professional help. When people who have mental illnesses go off their meds there is NOTHING ANYONE can do UNTIL that person either harms someone else OR him/herself. Funding for mental health programs for CHILDREN are cut back and for adults there really isn't anything in place. Locally the ONLY mental health facility for children closed down over a year ago so now children with mental health problems have to be sent to Seattle or Spokane and MAY possibly be seen there IF room is available at the mental hospitals there. For adults there are no places in many locations and in others the facilities are full or for whatever reason can't help.
Personally the discussion of gun control is a moot point and the focus the government should take should be on mental health and doing something about those with mental health problems BEFORE something horrible like the shooting at the school today or at the mall the other day or at the movie theater last month or the grocery store last year.
THIS. Fortunately, AZ medicaid is pretty good about mental health.
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Medicaid is great about mental health here, as well. Unfortunately, most insurance companies aren't :/
Dalylah
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Obviously Lanza was out of control coupled with a variety of other problems. However sometimes it is easier said than done to get a adult child to always take their medicine and go to the doctor even when it is available to them. Some willingly take it realizing they will get relief from it, others yo-yo on taking it or refuse it all together. It is sad because it is almost always a struggle and it is relentless on friends and family. I think most people do the best they can and hope for the best.
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First let me say that I'm sorry to all of the people affected. The poor children and adults who died were innocent and did not deserve it. Now as far as the shooter, I don't think gun control or better mental health coverage would have prevented this from happening. Some people are evil and crazy and no amount of rules or regulations or force feeding medicine would help them. And from what it sounds like, this guy didn't have violent tendancies. He was just reclusive, which is no indication of him being a murderer. Are we just going to lock up people without their consent who we think might be crazy?? This isn't communist China. This guy would have found a way somehow to kill people for whatever reason he did. He would have bought a gun from the black market or researched how to build a bomb and possibly have killed even more people. I have been raised around guns my entire life. My parents took me shooting as a child and taught me the proper way to handle a gun. Ignorance and fear cause accidents. I was never afraid of a gun nor did I ever play with a gun. I was taught that they were used for defending yourself and for the occasional hobby of shooting targets. I was taught that they could be very dangerous just like driving a car improperly or drinking and driving could be dangerous. I am completely against gun control because I don't think it does anything but keep good people from defending themselves or engaging in hobbies like shooting targets or hunting. If someone came into my home with bad intentions I would have no problem shooting them dead with my gun. I don't want that right taken away from me. Again, my feelings in no way advocate what this evil monster did. I'm glad he killed himself so he wouldn't have a chance to see another day. But I don't think we should be jumping to all of these conclusions because we will never fix a person's heart. Only they can do that. Just because someone owns a gun does not mean they will use it for evil purposes. Guns don't murder. People do.
My best friend's niece attempted suicide this past weekend. When I head about what happened to her I immediately thought of Adam Lanza because "S" could very well have been Adam Lanza. Her father's home is full of guns in his gun safe but obviously she had access to those guns and ammunition. She could have very easily taken the lives of her mother and father along with her sister and nephew as well as her brother. "S" took the gun and went to a local bridge that's one of three bridges in my area that connects the cities together. The one she choose to shoot herself on has the most traffic with thousands of people passing on it per hour. She shot herself at that bridge but she very easily could have taken her father's assault rifles and killed countless people on that bridge. If you're wondering why her father has has assault rifles - he's a former police detective and currently works for the military as a government contractor. She's still alive, I haven't heard any updates this morning, but in critical condition in ICU. There's still the chance her suicide attempt will succeed but either way her family and friends have to live with her actions.
I really do think that it's our mental health system - or lack of one - that needs to be fixed not gun control regulation.
I really do think that it's our mental health system - or lack of one - that needs to be fixed not gun control regulation.
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Do you not think it was the family's responsibilty to maybe be more involved with her life and notice when things weren't going right? I know this is a sensitive issue and I'm careful to point blame. In my opinion, suicide is the most selfish thing a person can do and no one but the person is to blame. There are factors that may lead to that, but that person took their life into their own hands. No one else pulled the trigger or made them hang themselves or however they did it. I think if families were more involved in their children's lives then a lot of these issues could be dealt with before the child gets to a breaking point. I think it's time for people to take responsibility for themselves and the human beings that they've brought into this world. I don't think pumping drugs into a person fixes anything. Drugs fix symptoms not the cause of mental disorders. If they fixed the actual disorders then if someone continued to take them they would no longer have that problem. Instead, the opposite happens. People lapse and "get off their meds" and are just as bad if not worse than when they started. I think the real solution comes from parents being proactive and working to solve the actual problems instead of just putting a band aid on the issue.
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Also, if children/adults are taught that they came from nothing and will die as nothing, then what is to stop them from just killing themselves when the going gets rough. Is it not better to live in non-existence than to live in a world which you hate? If life is nothing more than a pleasure seeking journey and they are not experiencing pleasure, then why not just end it? If life means nothing and babies can be murdered in their mother's womb, then why would someone want to stick around to see the rest of their seemingly horrible life unfold....
