ACTIVE SHOOTER: MARJORY STONEMAN DOUGLAS HIGH SCHOOL IN PARKLAND

Yeah, I get it.

 

Why does anybody "need" a car that will go 160 mph when the speed limit is 70? Why does anybody "need" a $50,000 bass boat when an aluminium bateau will get you to the same fishing spots? Why do I "need" to eat an prime aged beef ribeye when a hamburger will fill me up just as well? It is our right to own whatever it is that we want and can afford as long as we don't use it to harm other people. The vast majority of AR-15 owners don't use theirs to harm other people.

 

I'm sure that a bow and arrow system capable of mass rapid fire could be fabricated by somebody with a little ingenuity. Or a crossbow.



How about an automatic trebuchet hurling pots if boiling oil. Here is one somebody built out of legos.

 

When Coke bottles are outlawed, only outlaws will have Coke bottles.

 

Except that most of these shooters have gotten the guns legally. Restrictions on age seems reasonable in that case. There will always be lawbreakers which is why they will never be able to have "gun control" with laws.

And we agree on the societal issues.

 

While that's true, and I don't have any stats to prove it, there a whole lot of societal misfits around who never engage in mass shootings. You could probably to to any school in the country and most places of work and somebody could point out just who might be the most likely to go of the deep end. The FBI had gotten a tip from somebody who saw Cruz's Facebook posts but whether they investigated or not who knows. It there are as many societal misfits as I suspect then nobody can investigate them all and predict just which ones might pick up a gun.

 

Every year I taught we had a small handful of kids that fit the profile. There were several that were right there.

The counselor was informed, frequently, but with a single counselor for 695 students, she was spread pretty thin.

As I have said before, I would not have been one bit surprised if we’d have had a shooting.

What sticks out in my mind is how 100% of these students talked guns, frequently. Mostly hunting, never criminal intent.

 

They've been around a while but there was a ban on them not so long ago.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Assault_Weapons_Ban

 

The FBI already said they didn't. 39 police visits to this kid's home. Social media depicting violence to animals and saying he wanted to be a professional human killer. A recommendation by the school for emergency intervention. The adults with whom he was staying KNEW he was depressed but still allowed him in to their home....WITH HIS GUNS. Who the fuck does that? There were more than a few clues that he was likely to snap. What are the chances at this point that Florida will stay Red next time?

California restrictions already in place....

-10 round magazine limits on all firearms
-"featureless" semiautomatic rifles (because rifles with pistol grips, collapsible stocks, etc. are somehow more dangerous)
-the handgun "roster." Only a small fraction of all handguns are available in California. You cannot buy any new Colt semiautomatic or the Sig 320 (official U.S. Army service pistol).
-beginning 1/1/18 online ammo sales are banned, which means that unless you reload you could end up paying twice as much for ammo. Will eventually need to pay for a permit to purchase in person, leave a thumb print, and pass a background check.

And yet we had San Bernardino.

Everyone still focused on guns. Nobody is willing to take on big pharma to discuss the lobbying money going to members of congress. When young developing brains are polluted with chemicals, it's changes the brain chemistry....and we don't know to what extent. It's very likely that Cruz got fucked up from the combo of pills he took and then at some point, refused to continue taking. The bigger problem in this country is legal, government induced and approved drugging, not guns.