It's an approach that isn't going to change much. How different is Sandy Hook if the shooter had a shotgun or two handguns vs. an assault rifle? VT the shooter used a hand gun. The tragedies won't stop.
I've said this for many years, as a gun owner: Ban handguns, with very few exceptions. Will you get rid of them overnight? No, of course not. But if you want to cut the number of gun deaths in America, that is where you start.
Yea... and then you put more in it... kill the school resource officer first and then boom... who at an elementary school is going to stop you? Like Virginia Tech demonstrated... even a hand gun or two can inflict mass causality events. Society won't be free of this sh** until guns aren't easily accessible or accessible at all. Best case scenario the half-measures you suggest reduce deaths at these mass causality events a small %.
The Vegas shooter would have shot and killed 60 people from his hotel room with a shotgun and handgun? The Orlando shooter would have still killed 50 in the nightclub with just a shotgun?
Be pedantic if you like. Obviously, some weapons have greater capacity to inflict damage than others. Getting rid of certain weapons may help to a degree, but mass causality events have occurred and continue to occur with simple hand guns. Getting rid of assault weapons may help to a degree but many people have died and will continue to die with hand guns as the weapon of choice. Who knows how many people the Orlando shooter kills festooned with a shotgun and several loaded pistols. I know the VT shooter was able to kill 33 people armed in such a way. Who knows how many people the Vegas shooter can kill walking down the Vegas strip with a handful of hand guns. 60 people? Maybe not. Only 15? Great success? Banning assault weapons may reduce the amount of people killed at make mass casualty events but it doesn't do enough. You will still have mass causality events and you will still have lots of folks dying. So have the courage to have a policy that will ends these events and not just something that will make them go from horrific to slightly less horrific.
Do yo want to stop "gun violence" in general...or do you want to stop "mass shootings"? It's a legitimate question, especially when you start talking about gun control.
I would go even further by adding a tax on guns to cover the cost for extra security now needed at public events. Have the manufacturer pay for liability insurance aswell
Exactly. The optics around mass shooting is horrible, and people get really emotional about it because lots of kids die in one go, but those numbers pale in comparison the overall gun violence number. There were 387 people killed in 323 mass shootings 2018 according to wikipedia and there were over 14,000 gun deaths. Over 90 percent of those gun deaths were committed with a hand gun. There are more people killed with knives than rifles in this country.
That's why nothing gets done. Both sides are talking out of the side of their mouth and nobody wants to discuss the facts.
People just say "Oh....! but there's already all of these guns? How could we ever get rid of them?" Starting to actually try would be a good kick-off point, dontcha think?
It makes a difference all around the world. Yet another issue in which the US cannot solve problems that have already been solved around the world.
So you're ready to ban handguns in the US? Glad you're on the good side. It's funny how the NRA types use the "but the VT shooter! He used handguns". How on earth does this help your argument for the status quo? Nobody should really give a **** about "assault rifles", that's mostly scare tactics. We need hardcore background checks, they may take a few weeks for johnny to get his gun, sorry, it's a well-regulated 2nd amendment.
Side note... Did we ever get the motive of the Vegas shooter? I heard he was a postal worker so maybe we should ban people from handling mail too long. Or limit their contracts at least, so they can't go crazy over time. I here that job is maddening and we even have the term "go postal". I'm willing to bet that played a role. Talk about gun control all you want, but we need a holistic approach to shootings.
