Guns...

[theduvalprogressive]

Nothing in what you're said indicts me as being against the first amendment. The spirit of my questions is how do we privately regulate guns and gun violence without government intervention, and how do we privately regulate the violent nature of our media and culture without government intervention. I'm all for society policing itself if it possible.

[BridgeTroll]

Nothing in what you're said indicts me as being against the first amendment. The spirit of my questions is how do we privately regulate guns and gun violence without government intervention, and how do we privately regulate the violent nature of our media and culture without government intervention. I'm all for society policing itself if it possible.

As long as it isnt "shoved in our faces" right?

[KuroiKetsunoHana]

I dont have too... there are plenty of people willing to give up my right to own one.  Well meaning people... such as yourself... are willing to hinder MY right to own them.  If you do not want to own one... dont.

the problem is that me not owning one won't stop you from shooting me with one.

i'd think that you, especially with your didactic boat signature, could appreciate that.

[Jameson]

As much as I hate when CNN or local channel breaks in with a "school/mall/workplace/(insert crowded location here) shooting, I don't believe gun control is the answer. It has been the right of Americans since the birth of this nation to defend ourselves against our government after seeing what a monarchy that didn't allow weapons to be held by non-govt persons did to their liberties. I do not own a gun, nor do I wish to, but that doesn't give me or anyone else the right to say that others may not choose to defend themselves. Drunk driving kills more people than guns, and I like to drink, so what if after we take guns off the street they decide to go for prohibition again?!! There is some famous poem that I cannot recall now, but it talks about how the Germans took away people and a man remained silent, and when they came for him there was no one left to stand up for him. Same principal applies here in my opinion.

I actually noticed that there is another common link besides guns. None of these shootings, or most gun crimes in general, are done by people working 9-5 and raising a family and watching football on Sundays or going bowling on Wednesdays. Every single time the people that knew the shooter are not surprised, they make claims of knowing they just weren't right or that they'd been stressed lately. If you want to make the world safer, don't waste time on the political sideshow of gun control, focus on revamping the mental health system. I know it is a scary subject, everyone likes to shake their head and then forget about the crazy person. We don't like to face the "ugliness" that mental health puts in front of us. I don't believe this means bringing back the age of the asylum, but in every account that I've read there were several signs that could've prevented the final outcome, just nothing in place to link it all together.

Gun control is much like the drug war to me, it is another unbeatable endeavor. The stricter you make gun laws, the more you strengthen underground black markets, which grow stronger through increased violence.

Just my $.02

I agree. Especially with the part about mental health. The Columbine, Newtown, Aurora, Navy Yard shooters all had mental health issues and/or had a history of taking prescription medication for their mental illness(es) that came with very bad side effect warnings.

[KuroiKetsunoHana]

I actually noticed that there is another common link besides guns. None of these shootings, or most gun crimes in general, are done by people working 9-5 and raising a family and watching football on Sundays or going bowling on Wednesdays.

i don't understand the way you chose to start the paragraph about mental health.  are you implyïng that anyöne who isn't basically Ward Cleaver is insane?

[theduvalprogressive]

Well the 1st amendment is "shoved in our faces" when it comes to asking private media forms, arts, or whatever one wants to call it, to present entertainment products of a less violent nature for children. So again, I pose the questions I posed earlier. How do we regulate private gun ownership to cut violence without legislation, and how to we regulate entertainment to not "inspire" violence without regulation.

[NotNow]

Don't use your private weapons violently and don't patronize violent entertainment.  Ask others to join you. 

[civil42806]

Don't use your private weapons violently and don't patronize violent entertainment.  Ask others to join you. 

Whats the fun in that, there is no compulsion, we will just have some strange ambiguous civilian body, like the old comic codes or maybe the current movie rating.  But mind you it will be for a good cause, authoritarnism  with a smile! Also didn't one of my earlier posts on this subject disappear?

[JayBird]

I actually noticed that there is another common link besides guns. None of these shootings, or most gun crimes in general, are done by people working 9-5 and raising a family and watching football on Sundays or going bowling on Wednesdays.

i don't understand the way you chose to start the paragraph about mental health.  are you implyïng that anyöne who isn't basically Ward Cleaver is insane?

Not at all. By saying 60% of a population as college educated doesn't mean I'm calling the other 40% dumb.  Interesting how you interpreted it that way.