The anguish felt by parents whose children are killed in a senseless school shooting - that's understandable, rooted in the most fundamental of human emotions. The anger felt by gun nuts convinced that the guvment is coming to take their guns ... that's just a product of so much delusional BS. Where
your anger comes from that seems to make you think you are entitled to dismiss, out of hand, statistics as "****ing stupid", only you can answer.
Focusing on mental healthcare and not stigmatizing things like therapy would go a long way toward curtailing gun violence since most gun-related deaths are from suicide. While regular healthcare in the US is good, mental healthcare is atrociously bad. Even when you have appropriate access to mental healthcare, the solution is pills instead of actually taking steps to correct the issue in the long term. Don't get me wrong, pills work wonders and should be part of someone's treatment plan, but just relying on pills is a recipe for disaster.
Another thing that would help greatly is ending the war on drugs. There's a ton of gun-related violence that relates to drugs. Whether it's people committing armed robbery, drug deals gone bad, gang control of a given area, or whatever else by getting rid of the war on drugs it would have a positive effect on curtailing gun violence. It would also have the positive effect of allowing people in poor, inner-city areas where drug convictions are often higher a better chance at not having their life screwed up. We know minorities are often targeted and even prosecuted with a heavier hand than whites when it comes to drug charges. One drug charge when someone is 17 could be the difference between them getting an actual good-paying job or having to continue in the cycle that they're in. Employers in the US do not look favorably at people with records.
There needs to be more responsibility when it comes to guns as well. The prosecutor in Michigan is doing the right thing by charging the parents of the Oxford shooter. If you're a gun owner, you have a responsibility to keep your firearm secure at all times. Gun safes are cheap and trigger locks can often be sourced from your local police station free of charge.
Finally, the US Customs needs to do a better job rooting out illegal guns. How they do this, I'm not sure, but I have to assume if it's under the guise of "homeland security" they can pretty much get a blank check to figure it out.
While all of this won't stop gun violence, it will certainly move the needle in the right direction.
OK, that's an actual
discussion.
Mental healthcare? An important consideration. But delivering the appropriate healthcare to troubled individuals is a a very difficult task. What level of pre-emptive intervention is justifiable? When you look at the history of mass shootings, it's pretty clear that many of the shooters would not have been easily identified or prevented from acting out. Care for those with mental health issues is not just a a problem in the US - it's a common problem everywhere. Where there is not easy access to guns, people rarely are able to act out by killing a lot of people. Even suicides are much less likely to be successful if people don't have easy access to guns.
The drug war? Sure - it's been a big problem. You could certainly argue that the drug war itself has increased rather than decreased gang & gun violence. The worst effects of that drug war have been felt in countries like Mexico, Colombia, El Salvador & Guatemala - countries that have
much, much higher homicide rates than the US. Drugs & the gang violence that goes along with it is a problem in most countries. There's a lot of drug & gang violence in Canada & a significant number of related homicides. Same in the UK & other other European countries, but the homicide rate is lower because even participants in the illegal drug trade & gang members are much less likely to have easy access to guns ... & killing people without a gun requires more effort & intentionality.
Personal responsibility? Of course. But it's pretty clear that people aren't always very responsible when it comes to guns (or anything else). Kids with homicidal impulses seem to be able to get hold of guns with alarming ease. Saying gun owning parents should be responsible is easy ... but how do you actually
make them responsible? Holding them responsible after the fact doesn't change the outcome.
Rooting out illegal guns? OK. How do you do that? See how the NRA & gun owners respond to an increased attempt by the authorities to ferret out illegal guns.
Moving the needle in the right direction is what gun control advocates in the US have been trying to do for decades without a whole lot of success. Assault weapons bans, bump stocks, limited magazines, extended background checks, closing gun show loop holes - every possible measure aimed at reducing the gun violence rate has met vigorous opposition by the powerful gun rights lobby. It's a complicated problem with no easy solutions, but pretending that the homicide statistics don't show
anything that particularly relates to the levels of gun ownership in the US is delusional.
