America's Gun Control

I can see you have a big issue in US in terms of criminals keeping guns but changes here have resulted in no school shootings for a long time

This is a huge positive and children not safe from shootings at school is something I’d avoid

What I don't understand is why anyone outside if the States cares about this. Americans are well informed, they know what's happening. They are a democracy, they can change things if they want. Truth us, they're happy with the status quo. All the children that die, at school or at home when they get hold of mommy's gun, that's a price they are willing to pay. As long as no fetus is killed in utro, they're not right bothered what happens to them thereafter. Strange but there you go.

This really just isn't true. A large majority of Americans support at least some level of gun control. The problem is that a vast, unwieldy patchwork of state and federal laws and statutes and an intentionally bent reading of a constitutional amendment coupled with politicians bought and paid for by the gun lobby, make figuring out how to enact any kind of reform extremely difficult.

https://www.axios.com/2022/06/05/gun-control-laws-poll-prioritize

‘We couldn't punish Hamilton, so we punished the innocent.’

is that what we did? Or did we acknowledge that the type of people who want to carry around hand guns are almost certainly the very people who shouldn’t be allowed to?

How many mass shootings have we had since our gun laws were tightened? How many schools shootings?
Speaks for itself, doesn’t it.

‘What I don't understand is why anyone outside if the States cares about this.’

you’d have to be pretty hardened not to care about children being murdered in school, repeatedly, wherever the country.

This. If this kind of news doesn't make you shudder and break you heart, nothing will

@Wallaw I don't have the evidence but he produced some research or other that did say that. Logically it makes sense. If a woman or man was carrying a gun and an attacker produced a knive or even a gun, then you stand a better chance as the victim of surviving. warped logic I know, but its still logic.

and as I say, the genie is out of the bottle, and you can't get it back in.

And the NRA lobby is massively influencial

My in laws live in a very gun heavy state.Most households have guns, they do gun safety classes in the high school, kids hunt from 11/12 years old if not before.
It does not feel safe, knowing that everyone - regardless of their mental health, attitude,
politics, health - is armed.
Everyone knows someone or a family affected by gun crime, or by ‘poor’ behaviour around guns - ie mixing booze with guns, drugs with guns, illegal hunting and on and on.
There are times it feels like one big tinder box about to go up.

‘and as I say, the genie is out of the bottle, and you can't get it back in.’

thats a weaknassed argument, often dragged out by people who do t want to give up their assault rifles.
the bad buys have guns, WE need guns … it’s too late to do anything about it …

And the weapons get more and more powerful, cheaper and more available.
Guns for kids - smaller, lighter, more accurate to shoot, faster. Guns for women, smaller lighter.
The bullets get cheaper, and are developed to do more and more damage as they hit the human body - saves money when one bullet is guaranteed to destroy the internal organs.

Arms companies wouldn’t be spending millions developing these weapons if there wasn’t a huge market for them. Children deaths are funding their research, and profits.

Except when it's migrant children being killed at sea because of inhumane asylum policies that people vote for - then it's OK.

Why do we care about children being killed even though they're in another country? Do I really need to answer that?

The US isn't a full democracy. There are very serious flaws in the system and most politicians are in the pay of someone.

@route111 Not sure what you're on about there but any child dying in any way is horrible

More whataboutery. If you want to discuss immigration policies, go and start your own thread.

Not at all. Pointing out how hardened a lot of the hand wringers here actually are allowing migrants to be murdered by their callous indifference.

"you’d have to be pretty hardened not to care about children being murdered in school, repeatedly, wherever the country."

@route111 do you live in the uk ?

Yes

@route111 can I ask why when you seem to really hate it ? Are you British and stuck here like alot of us ? 😆
Genuinely wondering not looking for an argument btw...

Recent events re children overboard near Italy made me feel the same as that image of the shooter in the school tbh

How many have drowned in the English Channel this year so far? I'll wait...

In the same time period, 9,870 people in the US were killed in gun violence. There's no comparison.

That's OK. Northern European with British family so leaving not an option. I don't hate it, I'm angry and have been since about 2016 when I suddenly woke up one morning to find a country I'd happily made a life in until then turning rabidly anti foreigner and getting worse and worse since. I see the developments here in the last few years as wilful self harm caused largely by ignorance and manipulative, corrupt politicians and their spin doctors and the right wing media.

A life is a life, it shouldn't be about numbers, and here you actually have a chance to do something about it whereas you don't in the US! But of course it's much easier to pontificate about other countries than face inconvenient truths about your own.

I agree with this. Some people do want to talk about a topic. If not there’s much more on mn dealing with other stuff