RIP to all those innocent victims, many of them so young. It is absolutely an monstrous act we witnessed today. My thoughts are with the victims, their families, also the community that deals with this, firsthand. I can not begin to imagine the scene the members of the authorities witnessed at the school.
So is that why in Japan, a country with very strict gun laws, they only had eleven gun related homicides last year and two the year before that? That's more children killed in this one incident than all the people killed by guns in the whole of Japan in two years.
It's cultural. We never had civilians carrying firearms, or defending homes with them.
I've always said that gun control works beautifully in my country. After living in the States for something like twenty years, I can safely say that gun ban is as realistic as inventing a time machine to stop crimes from happening before they happen.
Simply, there are too many Americans who are capable of manufacturing firearms & ammo in their garage, so to speak. Not to mention millions of firearms in the country that the authorities will never recover, not in their dreams.
In Japan, gun is banned, and only outlaws have guns. This works perfectly. If you are just a joe-blow(or average-kenichi, whatever), only guns you'll ever encounter will be on a hip of police officers. Mafia has guns, but being victimized, or even witnessing gun crimes are extremely rare.
In the U.S., this "only outlaws would have guns" has a whole another meaning. You can expect it to be a serious threat to civilians, because unlike in Japan, firearms has been accessible to civilians since the creation of this nation. Confiscating all the guns in this country is simply not possible.
The killing wasn't stopped by a civilian with a gun in any of those cases.
Most of the mass shootings in the States takes place in area where guns are not allowed.
And now the debate over gun control is raised again...
I don't now about your town, but sports radio in my town has turned into an anti-gun propaganda machine here in Portland. I heard one of my favorite sportswriters claim that Second Amendment is outdated, we should take away guns, but he's OK if I kept a handgun at home. A truly ignorant person on the subject who should stick with stories related to sports. The crime committed today, it would have required just one handgun.
The major problem is not guns nor violent video games, neither gun control nor a militaristic attitude, but mostly how our society deals with and represses mental problems. People do not talk about their problems for fear of what others think of them, and in turn, how their place and stature in a smaller society or circle is perceived. On rare occasions, this largely ego-protective attitude permits inferiority complexes to dangerously manifest themselves as superiority complexes with no regard for others.
But being the free society that we are, we can't just lock up everybody who's ever had a naughty thought. We also can't allow the constant monitoring of free individuals' behavior, and attempt to fend off trouble that has been hastily misdiagnosed. I think that only tolerance and mental help for people, without the shame and labelling, without both the back talk, rumors, and whispers are only true way out of becoming a society that is confident in seeking help and returning it in kind.
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On my drive home, there was this lady who called in with a touching message. She asked that we be less-selfish, be nicer to others, so we don't force these people with problems to snap & act out on these horrific violence.
While I think that's as realistic as banning guns in the States, I personally believe in treating people with respect, and making them feel better. Things like that, also how we handle members of our society going through extreme mental stress, or problems, and how we treat them, those things can only help.
As far as realistic gun control go, I think anyone with firearms needs to review who have, or can gain access to their firearms. Again, by itself, not an answer to stop gun crimes, but I think it's a no-brainer that can make an illegal access to firearms much harder.
I've listed just couple of things that popped into my head, but there are many more steps that we can take to protect both the freedom to own & carry firearms in the U.S., but also try to put a stop on this type of tragedy.
