OT: Anything Goes 40
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TLEH
Pronounced T-Lay
CourtneyDagger50
Resident Pig Expert
DisgruntledHawkFan
Blackhawk Down
ChiHawks10
Registered User
There needs to be a lot more focus on mental health. An 18 year old who is monstrous enough to go in a school and shoot a bunch of 7-10 year old kids has obvious mental health issues. And the conversation can get much deeper from there. Are the parents or parent poverty-stricken? Do they have health insurance to get their 18 year old son mental health help? Do both parents have to work to put a roof over the head and food on the table? If so, you have a lack of parenting, parents never home, parents not involved enough in the lives of their children, etc. There's a lot that goes into these situations outside of guns, honestly. I'm not saying guns aren't an issue(and I'm a 2a supporter who owns 6 guns). I'm just saying there is so much going on here in these situations, and the root of it is the current state of this country as a whole.
These are all valid secondary issues. The main and overwhelming issue is easy access to guns.
ChiHawks10
Registered User
I don't disagree. There is very easy access to guns in a lot of places. Illinois has some of the strictest laws in the country on gun purchases/ownership, and I'm perfectly fine with that. It hasn't hindered me in any way. Lots of states you can walk in a store and buy a gun and walk out with it right then and there after a background check that takes less than a minute. It's kind of ridiculous, honestly. Common sense gun laws are only an issue for those without common sense.
I think mental health is actually the biggest issue facing this country right now. Because it doesn't just cause shit like this to happen. It's at the root of most of the problems in this country right now. Most of the far right in this country, and the Qanon followers, are mentally unwell. We have unhinged politicians running amok. There are so many clearly sick, unhinged individuals among us, it's terrifying. Then you add easy access to firearms to the equation...
And yes, it's way too easy to buy weapons. Someone needs to come up with some baseline psychological tests to administer before you're able to purchase a firearm, at a minimum.
southsideIrish
Registered User
And yet in Chicago, in May alone, there have been 265 shootings and 46 killed. This happens each and every month and the only time we hear outcries against guns, violence, etc. are when it happens in a "mass" shooting.
But the politicians on both sides ignore the weekly slaughter that is somehow accepted as normal. Makes no sense,
TLEH
Pronounced T-Lay
every nation has mental health issues. We just so happen to have the most expensive health care access in the world and the easiest access to firearms. Great combo. I have to have a license to fish a lake but not own a gun in my state. f***ing make it make sense. You can’t.
I think you need to treat it like a vehicle. You own a gun, you need to take a test, you need to own a license.
I think you need to treat it like a vehicle. You own a gun, you need to take a test, you need to own a license.
ChiHawks10
Registered User
Comparing legal guns bought legally by law-abiding citizens to gang murders and street guns is kind of nonsensical. Very few of the guns used in the senseless murdering that is rampant in Chicago were bought through legal means.
Illegal guns, straw-purchases, and gun running, are a completely different animal, and discussion... I was talking simply about the legal purchase of firearms.
madgoat33
Registered User
- May 16, 2010
- 17,792
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Iirc the Sandy Hook shooter had his gun(s) bought for him by his mom even with a long history of mental issues.
Blackhawkswincup
RIP Fugu
Cant see how we can have a true conversation on this forum given politics, etc involved but will say
For all the talk of do something
Kim Foxx and her office have routinely declined or downgraded charges for people with extensive criminal and weapons history and even when NRA supported a 1 yr mandatory minimum in Illinois it was blocked by congressional black caucus of Illinois and progressives for years
Most murders in this country come from type of violence we experience here in Chicago and other big cities not mass shootings like what happened in Texas. Foxx and DA's in major counties around country routinely don't prosecute repeat gun criminals or give slaps on wrist
Almost every shooter in Chicago has prior history of arrests including illegal guns or having gun as felon
If people are serious about reducing gun violence that means passing tougher laws and removing power from DA's like Foxx and forcing mandatory minimums (3-5 years would be good start) and other measures for illegal gun arrests and crimes
For all the talk of do something
Kim Foxx and her office have routinely declined or downgraded charges for people with extensive criminal and weapons history and even when NRA supported a 1 yr mandatory minimum in Illinois it was blocked by congressional black caucus of Illinois and progressives for years
Most murders in this country come from type of violence we experience here in Chicago and other big cities not mass shootings like what happened in Texas. Foxx and DA's in major counties around country routinely don't prosecute repeat gun criminals or give slaps on wrist
Almost every shooter in Chicago has prior history of arrests including illegal guns or having gun as felon
If people are serious about reducing gun violence that means passing tougher laws and removing power from DA's like Foxx and forcing mandatory minimums (3-5 years would be good start) and other measures for illegal gun arrests and crimes
No Fun Shogun
34-38-61-10-13-15
The sad fact is that a solid third of the country loves their guns more than they tolerate children, so we’re unfortunately a long way off from meaningfully doing anything.
Maybe when zoomers are in charge in….. forty years by the pace of things, something will actually happen on this issue.
Maybe when zoomers are in charge in….. forty years by the pace of things, something will actually happen on this issue.
DisgruntledHawkFan
Blackhawk Down
CallMeShaft
Registered User
- Apr 14, 2014
- 16,343
- 22,845
It's insane that a 1st world nation has more guns than people. No developed country needs that many firearms.
It's obvious to everyone what the problem is, but thanks to a minority of voters with way too much power, nothing ever changes.
It's obvious to everyone what the problem is, but thanks to a minority of voters with way too much power, nothing ever changes.
DisgruntledHawkFan
Blackhawk Down
And those are just the legal ones.
southsideIrish
Registered User
At the end of the day, does it really matter? People are dying and homicides nationwide have increased by 150% in just the last year. If guns were 100% outlawed sick people or criminals would find them anyway or find other ways to kill, like deliberately driving a vehicle into a crowd of people.
And it's not a completely different animal when the only time we hear about gun deaths are in incidents like these. Chicago alone will have 4-5 times the number of dead this month than the school shooting and we never hear anything from our leaders on those or on CNN, etc. Like someone above said the vast majority of gun deaths have nothing to do with mass shootings and are often the result of multiple offenders being released and re-released and so on.
TLEH
Pronounced T-Lay
The common denominator in every single situation is firearms and the ease of access. I can go on Facebook right now and buy a gun. Why is that even remotely legal?
If guns were 100% outlawed murder in this country would plummet over the course of the years of getting them off the street.
DisgruntledHawkFan
Blackhawk Down
Before or after the ensuing civil war?
TLEH
Pronounced T-Lay
Haha, yeah, after. Im not saying that is even remotely in the cards. Was more just responding to this part "If guns were 100% outlawed sick people or criminals would find them anyway or find other ways to kill, like deliberately driving a vehicle into a crowd of people."
The murderer legally purchased two of these assault weapons on his 18th birthday, that he then used to kill 19 children and two of their teachers. Your deflections aren’t interesting.
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