Reply to Re: School shooting in Connecticut
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December 15th 2012, 10:23 AM
shevek
I don't think stricter gun control goes a particularly long way at preventing school shootings and the like.
When looking at such a large scale, it is important to be careful with generalizations. You seem to say (later) that stricter gun control will not result in preventing all shootings. I agree with that. However, you suggest that it will not have any effect. I disagree; I'm pretty sure that stricter gun control will significantly lower the number of shootings everywhere, including at schools.
School shootings seem to be purely the milieu of social recluses, ie. "responsible" people with no criminal record and nothing to prevent them from legally acquiring a gun.
I don't think this is correct. You're talking about the cases that make the world news. Those are the cases that are exceptionally "successful". Yes, for such results, you need planning. No, they aren't the only shootings that happen.
Plus, here in the Netherlands even responsible people have a pretty hard time getting a gun. Of course you can never prevent everything. But if you're looking at statistics, fewer guns means fewer deaths: people will use what they can get (probably knives), which means fewer deaths, and especially fewer deaths among innocent bystanders.
But all this isn't rocket science, and people who make those laws in the US aren't all stupid. They know this. And they don't care, because they have different priorities. What matters most to them, is that they are not depending on anyone else for their safety. They don't trust anyone but themselves. They know, that by giving the task of keeping things safe to the police, society will be safer. But they also know that they must then trust the police to do a good job. And they don't trust anyone. They take the decreased security of everyone, including themselves, as a price that they pay for not having to trust the police.
Ok, I changed my mind. Perhaps they are all stupid. Or ignorant. Let's hope they are ignorant. And let's hope they will some day understand all this, and live in peace.
When looking at such a large scale, it is important to be careful with generalizations. You seem to say (later) that stricter gun control will not result in preventing all shootings. I agree with that. However, you suggest that it will not have any effect. I disagree; I'm pretty sure that stricter gun control will significantly lower the number of shootings everywhere, including at schools.
School shootings seem to be purely the milieu of social recluses, ie. "responsible" people with no criminal record and nothing to prevent them from legally acquiring a gun.
I don't think this is correct. You're talking about the cases that make the world news. Those are the cases that are exceptionally "successful". Yes, for such results, you need planning. No, they aren't the only shootings that happen.
Plus, here in the Netherlands even responsible people have a pretty hard time getting a gun. Of course you can never prevent everything. But if you're looking at statistics, fewer guns means fewer deaths: people will use what they can get (probably knives), which means fewer deaths, and especially fewer deaths among innocent bystanders.
But all this isn't rocket science, and people who make those laws in the US aren't all stupid. They know this. And they don't care, because they have different priorities. What matters most to them, is that they are not depending on anyone else for their safety. They don't trust anyone but themselves. They know, that by giving the task of keeping things safe to the police, society will be safer. But they also know that they must then trust the police to do a good job. And they don't trust anyone. They take the decreased security of everyone, including themselves, as a price that they pay for not having to trust the police.
Ok, I changed my mind. Perhaps they are all stupid. Or ignorant. Let's hope they are ignorant. And let's hope they will some day understand all this, and live in peace.
