School Shooting Newtown CT

[ZTAngel]

Originally Posted by Kevin

Sorry to bring facts into this discussion, but emotional catharsis is not a good excuse to restrict gun ownership.

I'm not advocating for restricting gun ownership. In fact, in my original post, I stated that hopefully a meaningful discussion can be had about preventing this problem which includes better access to mental health services. The problem is that any time this issue is discussed the NRA jumps in with, "Nope! Now is not the time to talk about it! You're not taking my guns!" The politicians have been too afraid to discuss this issue because of the backlash they'll receive. Instead, we have a country with a mental health system that fails. This should've come up for discussion back during Columbine, VA Tech, Fort Hood....but it didn't. And that's unfortunate.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by ZTAngel

I'm not advocating for restricting gun ownership. In fact, in my original post, I stated that hopefully a meaningful discussion can be had about preventing this problem which includes better access to mental health services. The problem is that any time this issue is discussed the NRA jumps in with, "Nope! Now is not the time to talk about it! You're not taking my guns!" The politicians have been too afraid to discuss this issue because of the backlash they'll receive. Instead, we have a country with a mental health system that fails. This should've come up for discussion back during Columbine, VA Tech, Fort Hood....but it didn't. And that's unfortunate.

The trouble is, every once in awhile, there are just really bad people out there who do bad things. The kid wasn't lawfully in possession of those guns. We don't even have any great evidence that there was ever an opportunity for mental health intervention or warning signs or anything like that.

And as far as our mental health system goes, yes, it's pretty badly underfunded, but considering our 'free market' approach to healthcare and the fact that mentally ill people are hardly ever of significant means or even employed, unless we were to nationalize healthcare I don't really see things changing.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by ZTAngel

I'm not advocating for restricting gun ownership. In fact, in my original post, I stated that hopefully a meaningful discussion can be had about preventing this problem which includes better access to mental health services. The problem is that any time this issue is discussed the NRA jumps in with, "Nope! Now is not the time to talk about it! You're not taking my guns!" The politicians have been too afraid to discuss this issue because of the backlash they'll receive. Instead, we have a country with a mental health system that fails. This should've come up for discussion back during Columbine, VA Tech, Fort Hood....but it didn't. And that's unfortunate.

THIS. I am not attached to any one policy or solution (restrict automatics? better background checks? something else?) because I don't know what works. I am not an expert. I haven't read all of the studies. The problem is that any attempt to even TALK about the issue is met with so much resistance that we can't make any meaningful progress on getting down to the root causes and coming up with real solutions.

For example, everyone points to Chicago: handguns are banned but crime is high. Does that mean handgun bans don't work? Well, no, if anything, it means that a handgun ban in a city surrounded by many, many other cities/towns without handgun bans doesn't work.

I don't at all like the idea of the government being armed while the citizens are not. I am far to the left on civil liberties, and I'm not sure that it's intellectually honest to be for drugs, orgies, and abortions, while against gun ownership. But I do know that something is wrong, and I want to talk about it without being immediately shouted down by the NRA.