Horrific Newtown, CT school shooting

[Dahoss]

Originally Posted by Danzig

http://news.yahoo.com/analysis-inspi...144009286.html


heard part of obama's speech last night. so, how do we proceed? no one wants another of these mass killings to occur, so how do we prevent them? can we?

We can't prevent a psycho from doing something psychotic unfortunately. But I don't understand the need for civilians to possess semi automatic weapons.

I think it should be a lot harder for people to obtain guns. I know what the 2nd amendment says, but maybe we need to look into this more. Clearly, this monster had serious issues. His mother was a doomsday prepper so I think we can assume she was pretty nutty as well.

How was she able to obtain the kind of weapons she did, and why did she think it was a good idea to teach her clearly troubled son how to shoot?

[joeydb]

Originally Posted by Dahoss

We can't prevent a psycho from doing something psychotic unfortunately. But I don't understand the need for civilians to possess semi automatic weapons.

I think it should be a lot harder for people to obtain guns. I know what the 2nd amendment says, but maybe we need to look into this more. Clearly, this monster had serious issues. His mother was a doomsday prepper so I think we can assume she was pretty nutty as well.

How was she able to obtain the kind of weapons she did, and why did she think it was a good idea to teach her clearly troubled son how to shoot?

I believe it should be a lot harder, if not impossible, for any whackjob like that nut to get any firearm. But making the whole process harder for everybody is not something that I would support.

Do you mean all semi-automatic weapons or specifically semi-automatic rifles with a high firing rate? The reason I ask is that technically every firearm made today, except for revolvers, are semi-automatic, including the majority of 9mm handguns, and any handgun that has a magazine in the handle.

[Dahoss]

Originally Posted by joeydb

I believe it should be a lot harder, if not impossible, for any whackjob like that nut to get any firearm. But making the whole process harder for everybody is not something that I would support.

Do you mean all semi-automatic weapons or specifically semi-automatic rifles with a high firing rate? The reason I ask is that technically every firearm made today, except for revolvers, are semi-automatic, including the majority of 9mm handguns, and any handgun that has a magazine in the handle.

You know what I am saying. With a high firing rate.

[Danzig]

i think all private sales of guns should be halted, immediately.

[joeydb]

Originally Posted by Danzig

i think all private sales of guns should be halted, immediately.

That would not have prevented this nut from stealing his mother's guns (after killing her with same).

If the goal is really to make laws in response to this incident, that doesn't fit.

[joeydb]

What occurred to me was that this guy probably couldn't even have bought a gun had he chosen to do so.

But, to be sure, if he had committed a felony or was registered as psychotic, the computer check would have flagged him.

We already have this kind of computer check in place (which I was in favor of). We already register the guns when bought. We ought to be tracking the crazy people as well as we do the guns.

Then all you have to do is make sure that if you're on the crazy list, you don't get on the gun owner list. Like the lists they have at the airport to make sure suspected terrorists don't get airline tickets.

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by joeydb

What occurred to me was that this guy probably couldn't even have bought a gun had he chosen to do so.

But, to be sure, if he had committed a felony or was registered as psychotic, the computer check would have flagged him.

We already have this kind of computer check in place (which I was in favor of). We already register the guns when bought. We ought to be tracking the crazy people as well as we do the guns.

Then all you have to do is make sure that if you're on the crazy list, you don't get on the gun owner list. Like the lists they have at the airport to make sure suspected terrorists don't get airline tickets.

which is why i said private sales should be banned. people don't do background checks, but dealers have to in order to stay in business and keep their license.
there are guns for sale every week in the local paper. no way the sellers are doing checks. at the turkey banquet every year, we have someone there to do all the required paperwork for each gun that is bought or won. they can't take the gun home until they've been cleared; we have a licensed dealer handle it all.

[GPK]

I don't know all the particulars about selling a gun (it's been years since I bought one), but I work at a place that sells firearms (no handguns) and I do know that there is a sh*tload of paperwork and identification that goes into selling one, along with a waiting period for State Police background check. Those that do sell the guns are trained to listen for certain phrases and words, and if they suspect something, they are given authority to refuse a gun sale.

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by joeydb

That would not have prevented this nut from stealing his mother's guns (after killing her with same).

If the goal is really to make laws in response to this incident, that doesn't fit.

my point is that everyone should have to go to a licensed dealer, and have everything checked out.
would it have applied in this case? maybe, maybe not. did his mother buy all her weapons from a licensed dealer, and had to perform background checks? i have no idea. but i do know that people buy and sell guns privately every day. how else would felons be in possession? and that happens, a lot.
there is far more at issue than this one mass shooting.

[joeydb]

Originally Posted by Danzig

my point is that everyone should have to go to a licensed dealer, and have everything checked out.
would it have applied in this case? maybe, maybe not. did his mother buy all her weapons from a licensed dealer, and had to perform background checks? i have no idea. but i do know that people buy and sell guns privately every day. how else would felons be in possession? and that happens, a lot.
there is far more at issue than this one mass shooting.

Maybe something similar to vehicle sales would work. In other words, vehicles are sold privately every day. But the seller calls the insurance company and takes it off his policy (date and time), and tells the state that the car is no longer his. The buyer then must insure the car himself, and register it with the state under his name.

With computers this could be enforced pretty easily. You could have private sales, but the registration requirement (which already exists everywhere) is made a component of the sale in the same way as it is for cars, and modernized for enforcement and tracking.

[joeydb]

Originally Posted by Dahoss

You know what I am saying. With a high firing rate.

That's what I figured - just asking. Some of the reporters in coverage I have seen over the last couple of days have been generalizing to "semi-automatic" as if that always meant M-16 or AK-47.

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by Dahoss

We can't prevent a psycho from doing something psychotic unfortunately. But I don't understand the need for civilians to possess semi automatic weapons.

I think it should be a lot harder for people to obtain guns. I know what the 2nd amendment says, but maybe we need to look into this more. Clearly, this monster had serious issues. His mother was a doomsday prepper so I think we can assume she was pretty nutty as well.

How was she able to obtain the kind of weapons she did, and why did she think it was a good idea to teach her clearly troubled son how to shoot?

i know that if a psycho is hell bent on doing something, he's going to do it. it's too bad that in this case, his parent also seemed to be a loony. i haven't bought a gun in forever, i don't even know what all you have to fill out to purchase one.
as for the school...i have to think all schools must do something in regards to having all access blocked during the day. in a former job, i had to go into schools. i'd say i went into a variety of schools dozens of times, and not once did anyone ever question why i was there. that needs to change. they said lanza broke a window to gain access to the school. i think all admins need to take a look at their buildings and do what's needed to bar access to every person who might want to get in and do harm. businesses are taking more steps every day, whether it's key pads on doors, gates, cameras, etc.

but yeah, we don't have the capacity to stop every thing that could possibly happen...and that is what frustrates people the most. life is random, evil is as well. hopefully more people will be more willing to step up and say 'hey, this guy needs help'.

[Dahoss]

Originally Posted by Danzig

i know that if a psycho is hell bent on doing something, he's going to do it. it's too bad that in this case, his parent also seemed to be a loony. i haven't bought a gun in forever, i don't even know what all you have to fill out to purchase one.
as for the school...i have to think all schools must do something in regards to having all access blocked during the day. in a former job, i had to go into schools. i'd say i went into a variety of schools dozens of times, and not once did anyone ever question why i was there. that needs to change. they said lanza broke a window to gain access to the school. i think all admins need to take a look at their buildings and do what's needed to bar access to every person who might want to get in and do harm. businesses are taking more steps every day, whether it's key pads on doors, gates, cameras, etc.

but yeah, we don't have the capacity to stop every thing that could possibly happen...and that is what frustrates people the most. life is random, evil is as well. hopefully more people will be more willing to step up and say 'hey, this guy needs help'.

Unfortunately the media has been their usual irresponsible selves, so I'm not really sure if he broke a window, or shot through the locked doors as I had read.

But yeah, having access into schools should be something to look at. But then when you look at the movie theatre shooting and the mall shootings...obviously that doesn't work.

Stricter gun control laws would though. No reason for anyone not in the military to have access to some of these weapons, IMO.