Thanks! A little sugar from you goes a long, and I mean a long long way buster!
The thing is, we do spend money on those problems. Itâs why we have research indicating how bad soft drinks are for your health, and laws mandating seat belts, and rear-facing camera on SUVs so we stop running over children in the driveway, and federal healthy eating and exercise initiatives, and CPR training for pool lifeguards, and limits on how many people can safely be in a public pool. The only thing we never seem to bother making any policy about is gun violence.
It might also be worth examining why thereâs so little research into the causes of gun violence. Hereâs a hint: itâs because the NRA got Congress to prohibit the CDC from performing that sort of research. Why would an organization supposedly dedicated to promoting safe, responsible gun ownership not want people to understand the potential issues surrounding it?
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With all due respect, you often drag the UK and Australia into the debate but you have no idea what youâre talking about. Have you ever visited either countries? There is a hell of lot of crime and violence but guns generally arenât in the equation. Therefore less people die.
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Sending us to malware infested sites?
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Yes I have been to the UK. Yes they still arenât a crime free utopia. The UK now has anti-knife laws and campaigns.
The UKâs homicide rate has been lower than the US for the most part for decades as far as I can see. Their gun crime rate was also less than ours before the ban.
One could argue their handgun ban didnât actually help their murder rate that much.
So yes, the UK is still violent, though less violent than the US, and the handgun ban didnât seem to affect the murder rate that much, partly because even before it their gun murder rate was lower. So perhaps availability is only one factor to why our crime is worse in the US. And removing guns may not actually make us safer.
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A friend of mine got stabbed in the UK (as a result of a very bizarre argument on the night bus)
You know what - heâs not dead.
What laws? The Knives Act 1997?
Which bans selling or marketing knives as combat weapons.
Seems reasonable.
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You say âwe have to examine the causesâ but you havenât even bothered to do that. Or youâd have seen that lack of mental health care wasnât Elliot Rodgerâs problem. You didnât even know I was referring to him. I read the dudeâs entire manifesto; it reads almost like some kind of reddit MRA parody but he was totally serious. Iâve âexamined the causesâ, thanks.
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Firstly you are deciding that your interpretation of original intent is what your constitution means. This is false.
The current interpretation is what it means. Even if you proclaim yourself as an originalitist. Currently your courts interpret this clause relating to well regulated militia differently from its more obvious meanings and this is quite properly subject to change. You recognise this by saying it has been deemed a personal right, despite the plain meaning of the text, and you also recognise that this is plastic.
I suggest you start bending that plastic, because it is a nonsensical fundamental right.
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This ⌠wait. Is this supposed to be sarcasm, because the the myopia here is blinding.
Do you understand the concept of âto doâ lists; starting at the top, working your way down, re-ordering them as priorities change, and adding new items as new data or trends emerge? Because thatâs what youâre moaning about.
Dealing with one problem doesnât mean all the other problems go away. Dealing with one aspect of a larger issue doesnât mean the whole issue is âsolvedâ. You deal with part of it, then move onto the next bit. Will people dying - be it self inflicted, accidental, or deliberate - ever be a âsolved problemâ? No, of course it wonât. Can we reduce the rate of various causes so that more people live longer, healthier, happier lives? Yes, of course we can. But you have to want those things to begin with, and want them more than you want some toys.
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I read most of his stuff too. Iâm not a psychologist so I donât know if he was crazy or not either. The manifesto I read was sad and enlightening. But anyway - yeah, he didnât seem bat shit insane. Mixed up maybe. Sooo what test could you put someone like through to weed them out? Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?
How about maybe if they have a history of being treated for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and other psychological issues since 8 years old that they canât then legally purchase multiple guns? Because you still donât seem to know what I am talking about. I am certainly not saying that Rodger âdidnât seem bat shit insaneâ. I am saying that he had access to mental health care for his whole damn life and it didnât prevent the shooting, as you seem to think it would have.
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Um, exactly? If you donât know, why are you okay with it being so breathtakingly easy to obtain such deadly weapons?
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No, Mental Illness Is Not the Main Cause of Mass Shootings in America
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Why weed anyone out?
Why not weed people in.
Wrong approach: âanyone can have a firearm except these types of people, who easily can get one anyway.â
Right approach: âno one can have a firearm except for those whoâve shown they have a valid requirement* and whoâve shown they know and understand firearms safety and who have the requisite infrastructure** in place and who do not present a threat to those near them*** AND who have to re-do and re-prove that whole process on a regular basis****.â
'* hunting and sport shooting, for example, is valid, as is collecting, and self defence in very limited circumstances.
'** ie, a lockable, immovable safe.
'*** which we know because we asked the people near them. Why yes, those people do have a veto, because their safety is more important than your toys.
'**** because people are plastic, and that guy who seemed - and was - fine a few years ago might not be now his wife left him and he lost his job and started obsessively watching Christian evangelists on early morning TV.
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What is all this blather about icy steps and pools? How is this a sound analogy? Maybe even if one could purchase pool digging equipment and then just randomly dig holes in your home or workplace that youâd fall in⌠maybe then the analogy would work. Because last time I checked icy steps and pools werenât frakking weapons!
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Uh, thanks for the non-sequitur? The CDC is barred from performing any gun violence-related research. The article and I said nothing about mental health. It talks plenty about it being a public health issue, though, which is a very different pair of words. In fact, I agree with the article you posted, in that the stigmatization of mentally ill individuals as being the primary source of gun violence does a disservice to both the gun violence debate and the mentally ill.
I wonder what is. Maybe some research would help us figure it out, maybe find some answers to preventing it.
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Ubermensch/white-supremacy dudes drinking too much âTHIS IS SPARTA!!â koolaid. Behind closed doors, you wouldnât believe how many people all over the world are convinced the Tarpeian Rock was a good way to deal with the disabled. Mix this default attitude with a bit of classic American winner/loser mentality (âThese days everyone gets a prize, this is insane!â) and garden-variety nazi rhetoric, et voilĂ .
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I have nothing to add to this, I just want to double the probability that people read your comment. Mental. Illness. Is. Not. The. Problem.
Sorry for all the full stops, but good holy mother of Krishna Christ, I get tired of the mentally ill as a social class being implicated in this trend.
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