Politics & Current Events
vlagrl29
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tired of mass shooting
seems like it happens every 2 weeks or so. I'm a firm believer that guns should not be taken away from citizens, but why not make assault rifles illegal and more background checks and waiting periods. Can we all not agree on that at least bare minimum? DD saw it on the news yesterday and it made me realize that we will have to talk to her about this before kindy because don't they do lock down drills at school now?
Re: tired of mass shooting
I believe that the problem is with our attention-seeking, violence-loving society. I think that we should improve our mental health programs and that we should have stricter gun laws, but that these actions won't truly solve the problem. The way to fix the problem lies with the media. A study was done in Seattle after reports of increased car thefts...after the media reported it, car thefts increased even more. It's a correlational study, but this basic psychological phenomenon has been seen in many other areas as well. Monkey see, monkey do. For example, the Tennessee theater shooting happened around the same time the media was reporting about James Holmes' trial (batman premier shooter). Not a likely coincidence. The media needs to regulate how they report news. They glorify the attacker every time, showing their faces and names and publishing their extensive life stories. Focusing on the victims and heroes of the attack, rather than the attacker, IMHO as a psychology graduate student, will be the most effective way to curb mass shootings-far more than stricter gun control and increased mental health care will.
It's also a lot more likely that the USA and other western nations will continue to see violence as a result of the radicalization of young people toward jihad.
What's sad is that a neighbor to this CA couple saw a lot of odd things going on at their home and had thought to report it, but did not because they were too afraid of being labeled as a racist...now 14 are dead and many are wounded.
The fact is, right now "if you see something, say something," as all the airport signs read. Who cares what others think of you?!? Besides pretty much all LE agencies have anonymous tip lines so no one need know that you reported your neighbors or people doing something in the street. Just pass on information to the rightful places. They can take it from there.
There was a lady here in MN that reported odd behaviors she'd seen by a young man at a storage facility. Turns out, he had the thing stocked with guns and other materials and was planning a mass shooting. Good thing she followed her gut instinct.
And people shouldn't feel bad about reporting stuff. It's LE job to follow possible leads. It's what they are paid for with our tax dollars.
I agree that better mental health care is needed. But, people have become like animals. Look at the violence that has occurred on Black Friday over the years! Are we seriously beating people up over TVs and crap? So that's not a mental health issue. ISIS isn't a mental health issue. Many of the mass shooters today on trial aren't even declared insane. So where does that leave us?
I have heavily considered getting my conceal carry permit. I am going through an extensive training at home and I might go through with actually getting my permit. My BIGGEST hurdle though is all the places I could NOT carry. So many places have signs that read "guns banned on these premises." If a place or LE discovered I was carrying concealed in a place that had that sign, I could be charged with trespassing. So responsible CC holders are essentially gagged from helping out if an active shooter ever came in. I could not carry to our doctors' offices, gym, grocery store, the public high school where we attend church on Sunday when no students are present (we pay rent to the school district to use their cafeteria), countless other businesses...so what's the point of being a warrior citizen???
Plus, those signs label the occupants of a building as defenseless sheep saying, "Please come in here - none of us are armed because we follow the sign on the door frame." It's pathetic. Let's go right ahead and announce to the mentally insane and the terrorist that we're in here all unarmed. We just volunteered to put a target on our backs for you guys!!!
There are tens of thousands of CC permit holders in the USA. But they and maybe someday, we (if I get mine), cannot get into places legally where an active shooter situation is likely to occur. It's silly.
So yes, we need better mental health care. But we need to remove those darn signs or at least say, "Only law enforcement and conceal carry permit holders may bring guns onto these premises." At least that leaves some mystery surrounding whether or not an armed warrior person "good guy or gal" is in there and removes the "come one, come all, killers because we're defenseless targets."
As for gun control what would actually be controlled? So you limit the magazine size and the features of a rifle or handgun? That doesn't alter peoples' motives or bent to create chaos or to do evil. Violence for evil is a disease of the person's mind. But, we fail to see that VIOLENCE used for good shuts down the evil. Violence isn't bad. It's the people doing it that are either good or bad - what's the end goal of their violence? If their end goal is to cause pain, then their violence is evil. If their end goal is to preserve life and prevent pain, then their end goal is good. We're incorrect and we have been conditioned to believe that violence in itself is bad. When in fact, it's not. The evil people behind it are.
So if you control guns and posts signs you prevent the people who choose to be sheepdogs (most people are peaceful sheep, and other people are wolves, but the third group are the sheepdogs who protect the flock), from carrying out their GOOD intent to use violence as a tool to shut down an attack. How does that help anybody? All it's doing is making the people who are able and capable of being sheepdogs and turning them into sheep. Who is protecting then?
Even the best LE agencies take 5-7 minutes to reach a situation. I've heard recordings of people who have called 911 being put ON HOLD by dispatchers even before they can report that the shooting is occurring. I've also heard calls that LE is 10-15 minutes out from arriving. What then, sheep?
It was a weird terror attack though...the location chosen was odd, and the office argument made it seem like workplace violence may have played some role. Also, there was no manifesto or anything which is typical of terrorist attacks. It is not usually the case in terror-related crimes that it's this hard to find a motive.
I think that people on the terror watch list should not be able to buy guns. I don't think this will prevent terrorist from getting guns, but may make it a bit harder. The fact that the NRA is so against this amazes me, because NRA supporters are the same people scared out of their minds about refugees. You'd think if they were that scared of terrorism from a group who has close to 0% of having terrorists in them, then they'd support anything that might prevent terrorism.
Yeah, I never said they didn't "get" to post whatever they want...legally they are permitted to post signs and in fact I alluded to that point when I said that a CC person if found out and reported on their premises could be charged with trespassing.
Businesses can do what they want, but I said it was basically like putting a target on your business and announcing to everybody that you're unarmed. It's just foolish. Would you walk around saying via a sign that you had $2,000 in your pocket? Why advertise to terrorists or crazy people that you're defenseless? Do the regular passengers know where the federal Air Marshalls are seated on jets for domestic travel? Nope they don't. Should the airlines and FAA post the seats that air marshals sit in? Nope, they shouldn't.
Why would someone want to identify their weakness to a criminal?
The signs don't stop criminals anyway. They don't see a sign and say, "Oh, I guess I can't go in there because there's a sign posted. I'll have to go shoot up another place." But, a business posts that sign and it keeps the back ground checked, responsible armed citizen away because s/he is law-abiding.
Why should concealed weapons scare you? Criminals will carry no matter what. Law-abiding citizens follow the rules and training and classes for their permits.
I am parent of 3 kids under 5 1/2. And, having grown up in a home without guns with a Vietnam Veteran father who actually hates them and is borderline irrationally scared of them, I can tell you that a healthy respect for firearms is way better to pass on to kids than an irrational fear of "nope, not ever will my child learn or be around them." The fact is, probably a significant number of households have some form of weapon - like a shot gun. Fewer homes would have handguns. Yes, you need to know the families your kids hang with anyways, for a variety of reasons, but a responsible family with efforts made to lock up guns doesn't have to mean your kiddos cannot be buddies and hang out together.
Furthermore, it would be actually quite difficult for a younger child to operate most weapons. They are heavy and their fingers wouldn't be long enough. Plus, if a responsible family owns them, then they also keep ammo and guns separate from one another. And, unless a child is shown how, loading magazines into a handgun, or bullets into a revolver, or shots into a shot gun or bullets into a rifle takes some time and some finesse. There are things to manipulate on the weapon to get it loaded.
Furthermore, unless a family outrightly and openly says they go hunting, then families don't typically announce to the world that they own firearms. It's kept private. So, of course you could ask each new parent you meet, "Jimmy wants to come over for a play date, but I will only let him go if you tell me you have no firearms in your home." Why not also ask about drugs, alcohol, porn, perverted family members, bad movies, and use of curse words?" I feel like those are way more developmentally worrisome to a lot of parents then firearms.
I would be more worried about my kid drowning in a friends' pool or being molested by some family member (sexual addiction is crazy rampant now) in their home than finding and using a gun.
Um sorry but the wife in the terrorist couple made a pledge to an ISIS chief to do this. Is that FACT not being broadcasted on all media sites? It wouldn't surprise me if that's the case.
Who needs a manifesto - she made a pledge to ISIS to do this. And, SHE radicalized her husband.
I'm sort of weirded out by your remark, "it was a weird terror attack though." So, there are normal terror attacks?
We won't accept something as terror unless it follows, to a T, all the precedence set for terror attacks. I thought 2 planes flying into the WTC was "weird." That broke the mold for "normal terror attacks." But, don't we just have to see that anything and everything goes for terrorists. They will do ANYTHING to get the job done.
Why should concealed weapons scare you? Criminals will carry no matter what. Law-abiding citizens follow the rules and training and classes for their permits.
I am parent of 3 kids under 5 1/2. And, having grown up in a home without guns with a Vietnam Veteran father who actually hates them and is borderline irrationally scared of them, I can tell you that a healthy respect for firearms is way better to pass on to kids than an irrational fear of "nope, not ever will my child learn or be around them." The fact is, probably a significant number of households have some form of weapon - like a shot gun. Fewer homes would have handguns. Yes, you need to know the families your kids hang with anyways, for a variety of reasons, but a responsible family with efforts made to lock up guns doesn't have to mean your kiddos cannot be buddies and hang out together.
Furthermore, it would be actually quite difficult for a younger child to operate most weapons. They are heavy and their fingers wouldn't be long enough. Plus, if a responsible family owns them, then they also keep ammo and guns separate from one another. And, unless a child is shown how, loading magazines into a handgun, or bullets into a revolver, or shots into a shot gun or bullets into a rifle takes some time and some finesse. There are things to manipulate on the weapon to get it loaded.
Furthermore, unless a family outrightly and openly says they go hunting, then families don't typically announce to the world that they own firearms. It's kept private. So, of course you could ask each new parent you meet, "Jimmy wants to come over for a play date, but I will only let him go if you tell me you have no firearms in your home." Why not also ask about drugs, alcohol, porn, perverted family members, bad movies, and use of curse words?" I feel like those are way more developmentally worrisome to a lot of parents then firearms.
I would be more worried about my kid drowning in a friends' pool or being molested by some family member (sexual addiction is crazy rampant now) in their home than finding and using a gun.
I will absolutely be asking if there is a gun in any home my future children visit. You are welcome to your opinion, but on average, every other day a child is seen in the children's hospital where I work with a gunshot wound. That statistic is enough for me to fear law abiding citizens with guns far more than a terrorist attack.The NRA opposes prohibiting people on the terror watchlist from buying a gun. Their reasoning is that with more than 700,000 on the list some of those people aren't actually known terrorists, but might be friends or family of actual terrorists. I get what they are saying, but I don't think it is a good argument. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/11/16/why-the-nra-opposed-laws-to-prevent-suspected-terrorists-from-buying-guns/
https://www.nraila.org/articles/20151120/nra-statement-on-terror-watch-list-distortions
Here's link to the NRA site explaining their position. It seems that there is a legitimate concern either way. Also as this points out, some people are on the terror watch list because they are people the FBI wants to interview.
Formally, the NRA has issued this statement, " Fairfax, Va. – The National Rifle Association's Institute for Legislative Action issued the following statement on the terror watch list distortions:
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“The NRA does not want terrorists or dangerous people to have firearms, any suggestion otherwise is offensive and wrong,” said Jennifer Baker, director of public affairs. “Under the current system, law enforcement is notified every time a person on the list attempts to purchase a firearm. Law Enforcement then makes a case by case decision on the appropriate follow-up for each circumstance.
"The NRA’s only objective is to ensure that Americans who are wrongly on the list are afforded their constitutional right to due process..."
If we're American then we give each citizen due process "innocent until proven guilty." Should someone's rights afforded to them by our Bill or Rights be suspended because they are waiting to be interviewed by the FBI?
I hear you, though. I think it's really sticky. But, it's not the case that the NRA wants terrorists to have guns. So, making a swooping all inclusive statement to that point is misleading and untrue.
Yes, please ask. But, I would also encourage you to realize that people commonly have an unhealthy level of fear about what they do not understand. There is a difference between fearing something and having a healthy respect for it. I personally do not want my kids to fear guns, I want them to respect them and to know what to do if they are ever confronted with one in their presence.
Really having age-appropriate conversations with children about all sorts of topics including guns is overall very wise. You will not leave crossing the street to chance. Not talking to strangers will probably be covered. You'll probably come up with a safety "code word" for your kids too. You will instruct them about cars and seatbelts. You'll instruct them on water safety and you will put them in swimming lessons. As a teen, you may even have them take a CPR course. If you have a daughter you may give her a self-defense course before she heads off to college. If your kid goes to public school they will likely have the "good touch, bad touch" presentation day as well. You will talk about drugs, alcohol, porn...So all these "extreme" topics are covered.
Guns are a part of this culture, like it or not, and hiding the child away from them can be detrimental. So they will see guns in TV, movies, and video games and if/when they are faced with the real thing, what will they do? You will be under the mindset that "My child won't have any idea about guns." But, they will actually have an idea about them. That idea will be formed by the media venues they view at your kids' friends' home or even your own. The idea will be formed by what the read and see in public. The idea will be formed by the toys they see and maybe use. Will you also ask if your kids' friends homes have toy guns?
Unless we as parents inform them at age-appropriate times about firearms, then we are basically leaving them unprepared to deal with a reality of our nation that is not going to go away.
You do not have to be "pro gun" to still have a respect (as in the way you respect fire and water - powerful things) and knowledge of them.
Accidents have and always will happen. I think it is sad that a child would be hurt or killed by a firearm. So I understand your perspective on them coming in to your hospital. The best way to prevent accidents is to educate people - not avoid it.
Here's a link to the CDC stats from 2013. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr64/nvsr64_02.pdf for causes of death. If you look at page 22-23 in Table 10, you can see the age breakdown of things like drowning, poisoning, falls, motor vehicle accidents, suicide, homicide. Anyway, it is interesting to review to help out things in perspective.
The number of injuries by firearm for kids 14 and under in 2013 was 409. For deaths in the same age group in the same year with accident discharge of firearms that number was 69. For this year in this age range death due to accidental drowning was 625. Deaths due to motor vehicle accidents from this age range in 2013 was 1,345.
The next age range given on the chart is 15-24. In our nation we consider adult hood at 18, and while there's a more than significant jump in both death and injury due to firearms in this age range, the chart seems to indicate that the people closer to 24 have the higher rates of injury or death with guns and that the people in 15, 16, or even 17 have lower incidents (this is my own inference based on the stats provided). The numbers go like this for firearm injuries: Age 5-14, 327 injuries, Age: 15-24, 6,181 injuries. Age: 25-34, 6,555 injuries. There's likely an upward trend in the 15-24 age bracket with the 15 year olds being closer to the 300s moving upward to the 24 year olds being closer to the 6,000 range. Furthermore, the stats don't state if this is due to injury via bullet or injury via another part of the gun...like a bullet casing popping out and scratching someone's eye ball because they weren't wearing proper glasses. Or someone getting their finger caught in the slide.
Anyway, I know it is scary. But there's no sense in fearing it. I am actually more worried about people not properly buckling my kids into their car seats than I am about guns in homes.
The story about the wife pledging herself to ISIS on social media came out after I wrote my inital post. It was a "weird" terrorist attack. I am a psychology graduate student and so I know that thousands of dollars have gone into studying terrorist behavior and terrorist attacks. There were a lot of features of this attack that were atypical of most terrorist attacks. It doesn't mean it wasn't one, but with the information that was out when I made the post, I didn't feel it was possible to draw many conclusions about the attack. Obviously, now it's clear it was terrorism. But it's still atypical of terrorists to attack their own coworkers after having a dispute and then not leave any obvious, clear motive. It took the police several days to find all of the radical social media posts by the wife, who was posting under an alias.