Zonie63
Posts: 2826
Joined: 4/25/2011
From: The Old Pueblo
Status: offline
|
quote:
ORIGINAL: PeonForHer
quote:
ORIGINAL: Kirata
quote:
ORIGINAL: PeonForHer
Why do you assume this? Sure, the wide availability of guns doesn't cause most gun owners to kill - but what makes you take it so much for granted that it isn't a causal factor behind the murderous actions of the minority?
How would that work, precisely? Maybe guns give off some kind of undetected radiation that they're susceptible to?
K.
Please strive not to be a plonker, old chap. 
No, it works because people are a) able to see guns b) buy them and c) given lots of ideas about the fun they could have with them from numerous sources.
Anti social feelings, aggression, the desire to hurt . . . get channelled and focused in a particular way - towards guns. The fantasy of killing - which, maybe, is present in many minds at many times - is egged towards a reality.
Seriously, is this really so difficult to grasp?
Speaking personally, I've never killed anyone, so I can't really grasp the concept on that basis.
To me, the gun is just an inanimate object. It's just a tool - a tool for killing, yes, but a tool nevertheless.
I'm not really against the idea of gun control in theory, although I've seen this debate played out in the media and public forums all my life, and both sides are at an impasse. It's a dead-end argument, a merry-go-round that goes nowhere. I have somewhat mixed feelings about the issue, since I can see both sides and understand the arguments they're making. But I also see that there's a lot of political footballing going on which doesn't seem very conducive to finding any practical solutions.
Realistically, I don't think guns are ever going to go away. It's too heavily ingrained in our history, our culture, our political/social perceptions. To try to challenge or restrict that in any way is like banging one's head against a brick wall. It doesn't matter if you feel you're absolutely right, it's a no-win situation.
I think that there might be a potential compromise towards finding a practicable solution to the problem, but that might involve taking the focus off of the "the gun" as the be all and end all of the argument. From a practical standpoint, there are so many guns in circulation right now that no matter what laws are passed, it would be very difficult to put that genie back in its bottle. The larger issue is crime itself and what can society do to stop it. Crime has actually gone down in recent decades, although that may not be saying much since it's really just a reduction from the huge crime waves of the 1970s and 80s. There's still a problem, as events like this clearly demonstrate.
I remember when liberals used to commonly argue that "society is to blame," although I don't really hear that as much as I used to. That argument seems to have morphed into "guns are to blame," but both positions seem somewhat oversimplified to me; even though I can see that there some merit to both positions, I don't think it presents a balanced picture of what's going on. I don't think that anyone can come with a clear answer as to what causes crime, even after countless sociologists, criminologists, psychologists, doctors, and many other learned professionals have grappled with this problem for centuries. Sure, I think we've come a long way from the time when we thought that criminals were possessed by demons, but I still think we have to yet to come up with any definitive solution (which may not ever be).
|
RE: Bored in Oklahoma - 
Profile
) doesn't stop the mindset. These kids were fucking bored. To break their boredom up, they chose to shoot another human being. They could have chosen to set up a target shoot the gun. Instead, they extinguished a human life. That mindset needs to be corrected. That truly is the bigger issue in this situation. 
New Messages
No New Messages
Hot Topic w/ New Messages
Hot Topic w/o New Messages
Locked w/ New Messages
Locked w/o New Messages
Post New Thread