Why can’t America ban automatic weapons?

[MaryPoppinsPenguins]

I don’t get it. I honestly don’t. After Sandy Hook that should have been enough... statistics speak for themselves.

Why? What don’t I get?

Every gun Massacre is a gift for Trump
It's an opportunity for him to push the 'we need more guns' message
it's an opportunity for the NRA to grab more power

He doesn't give a toss about slaughtered children that's why he needs a crib sheet to tell him how to be sympathetic
He cant be genuine and spontaneous because he doesn't have any genuine sympathy

God knows what the NRA lobbyists have running through their veins... gun oil? I thought tobacco companies didn't give a shit about human lives but this lot actually sound worse.

If having more guns in society worked to deter shootings, then US would have the lowest rate of gun violence, wouldn't it?

Right, not everyone will emerge unscathed but fewer will die if a teacher intervened.

Or the teacher will be the first target. I suspect they won't be keen for precisely that reason.

If this comes into force, all it does is tell the next potential shooter that he doesn't have to bother even to bring his own gun in: he can simply overpower the teacher and grab hers.

If having more guns in society worked to deter shootings, then US would have the lowest rate of gun violence, wouldn't it?
Logic has no place in the gun debate! There is only one answer to all issues. More bullets.

This absolutely IS a Republican problem

Yes it is. My state senator is a moderate Republican who has stood up to Trump on issues like healthcare but when I asked her to support even some basic gun control she told me we have to protect gun owners' rights. This was immediately after Sandy Hook.

Regardless, it's no use us Brits lecturing to Americans

The 2nd amendment is there purely because of Britain.

A number of my friends believe that teachers should conceal carry (one of which is a teacher) she says she has a duty of care for the children she teaches.

I've asked several teachers in my town about this recently. I've yet to find one who wouldn't quit their job if they were expected to carry a gun in school.

The 2nd amendment is there purely because of Britain

The 2nd amendment is there purely because of Britain

It's been kept there for over 200 years by Americans. They've also chosen to interpret it rather badly and act like it was the wild west for the last 200 years. The US can blame only themselves.

It's been kept there for over 200 years by Americans. They've also chosen to interpret it rather badly and act like it was the wild west for the last 200 years. The US can blame only themselves.

Oh, quite. Bearing in mind in that 200 years we had 2 amendments to the constitution ... one to ban alcohol and the other to repeal that ban.

It's almost like the US seems to work to some sort of quantity theory of early death ... if it's not going to be guns, it'll be alcohol.

It's been kept there for over 200 years by Americans. They've also chosen to interpret it rather badly and act like it was the wild west for the last 200 years. The US can blame only themselves.

Yes the second amendment is interpreted very inconsistently, apart from anything. The right to bear arms is clearly limited when it comes to things like rocket launchers or nuclear weapons. It is clearly limited when it comes to felons, under 21s, new immigrants and many other groups. It is clearly limited in the many gun-free zones. There are thousands of laws limiting the right to bear arms.

Yet, for example, somehow the Supreme Court uses the Second Amendment to say that Chicago can't limit the right to carry handguns, despite the carnage there.

Bizarre.

Britain can't lecture, no.

But it's not just Britain saying it. It's the rest of the countries with whom the US aligns itself - western Europe, Australia etc. Surely it's worth a listen?!

But it's not just Britain saying it. It's the rest of the countries with whom the US aligns itself - western Europe, Australia etc. Surely it's worth a listen?!

The bottom line is Americans killing each other doesn't really affect them - or the UK .

There's a lot I grumble about in the UK, but one thing I think we have a demonstrably proven approach to is gun control. Long may it continue. It goes against my generally libertarian nature, but guns are too dangerous and have only one purpose to be left to the public.

Does America ever listen to the rest of the world ? It's hardly fanous for it.

Teachers are already rejecting the idea with the #ArmMeWith hashtag

Does America ever listen to the rest of the world ? It's hardly fanous for it.

I would love to see you all in the rest of the world somehow make America listen to this. I am at the point where I would try anything - having spent more than a decade fighting for gun control from within the US. Throw your ideas at me!

Americans don't care about your opinions, but they do want to sell you stuff. Is there something the rest of the world could stop buying that would hit America in the wallet. Oil? Computers? Iphones?

If you arm teachers then the question is what happens to their gun?

If it’s in a locked cabinet then they become the first target for a gunman who knows they have to shoot the teacher to prevent them from arming themselves.

If it’s not in a locked cabinet then, hello, you’ve got a gun freely available to any child who wants to grab it.

Plus, when law enforcement arrive, how are they supposed to know who the real shooter is when there’s a dozen or more teachers running around campus with guns? Let’s be honest, the US Police aren’t exactly famed for “ask questions first, shoot later” now are they?

Americans don't care about your opinions,

Ain't that the truth.

Empress - I'm just wondering what these bullet proof vests and hoods would look like, should the gun happy trump voting mob suggest them.

Would they be white with a pointed hood, do we think??

CaveMum concealed carrying is proposed.

Rucration it's such an exasperating situation Do you think this time something is shifting or will it short lived be once again?

bullet proof vests

are not a magic cloak. The force of the bullet has to go somewhere and could still break bones and cause a fatal injury. Bearing in mind most automatic weapons can take jacketed bullets.

This discussion

www.quora.com/Is-it-legal-to-buy-armor-piercing-ammunition

certainly raises doubts.

And I'm pretty certain that high velocity bullets can kill merely by shockwaves (hydrostatic shock) although that may be disputed ...

Ain't that the truth.

What do you think about my suggestion to change that?

Rucration it's such an exasperating situation sad Do you think this time something is shifting or will it short lived be once again?

I think it will be short-lived :-(

Decade after decade of 'never again'.
There is little hope for change.

I keep trying to remind people that we in the UK are generally only interested because it's a mass shooting at a school. Meanwhile there are shootings on the streets of Baltimore, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago...
The school shootings are the tip of the iceberg but stir our middle class sensibilities far more than the predominantly black deprived neighbourhoods. The gun issue in the US is far more than school shootings.

What do you think about my suggestion to change that?

I think the US was founded as a country which doesn't change it's mind.

If you riffle through the (very) long list of my great unpublished novels, you'll find one based around the idea that in the 1700s (probably after the 7 years war) a group of very canny British nobles and what we'd call today "social media influencers" got together in secret and realised which way the wind was blowing, and managed to infiltrate the fledgling independence movement, so as to be able to take British control of the new republic. The secret would be passed down the ages, (like the guardians of the Grail in Indiana Jones and the last crusade).

Anyway, we digress.

I think the best way to hammer home the point is to make you tell yourselves the truth. Which has been done on this thread many times already. And which is - as a nation - the US has no problem with the gun death statistics of any time. It must be the truth, because in the 52 years since the (arguable) first, you managed to put a man on the moon.

So a country which can put a man on the moon - and does, but which could legislate to reduce gun deaths but doesn't ... what conclusion would you draw from that ?

It's certainly a trope in some comedy circles to suggest that when we think of America, we think of the fourth of July, Moms apple pie, and the senseless high school massacre.

The tragedy is, in the final analysis, all those deaths were for naught, as I'm of the belief that America is no less at risk of tyranny than if it had no second amendment. Once again, guns providing a false sense of security.

Policeman puts on his uniform; he'd like to have a gun just to keep him warm. Because violence here is the social norm you gotta humanize yourself

Must be time for my meds.