There’s a discussion taking place on the role of firearms in these massacres, and what to do about that fact. We are not going to find a solution, which is frustrating to everyone. There is a legitimate concern about how to regulate weapons while allowing the ownership of weapons.
The consensus seems to very much be “those concerns don’t matter because people are dying”. I personally generally agree with that sentiment, and I’m pleased that my home up north might takes steps in that direction. But the likelihood of that happening in the US is extremely small, and so discussing options or how to work around that fact is very relevant to the question “how do we change this situation?”
The fact that there are users who disagree with the apparently consensus is not “no free exchange of ideas”, unless your idea of a free exchange of ideas is “anyone who disagrees with the consensus is not participating”.
No, I’m not. Because guns are a fundamental part of the problem. We don’t just pretend it isn’t because we can’t seem to fix the issue. To me, that’s no different than turning these topics into nothing more than thoughts and prayers.
mass shootings cannot happen without access to weaponry. The fundamental right to own weaponry (in the US) is not equivalent to the fundamental right to live free of gun violence, nor is it equivalent to the fundamental right of everyone to live free of terror. But literally nothing will happen if we don’t deal with the elephant in the room, even if folks would prefer we talk about something else.
If it makes these topics depressing and uncomfortable, then it bloody well should, because the current state of gun violence in the US is depressing and uncomfortable.
That being said, the type of weapon used or such details are only relevant in the context of narrowly tailoring legislation or similar discussions, and absolutely don’t belong in these topics. But one does not remove a discussion of what to do about guns from a topic about guns killing people.
