What to say???

[Major Biggles]

My heartfelt condolences to any of you who have been effected by this awful tragedy.

Like I've said before I love guns and I think it's great that Americans have the right to own them, but surely this should be enough reason to look at limiting gun ownership to those who have passed psychological testing and have demonstrated a real need to own a weapon? The fact that an apparently medicated autistic can own a firearm able to kill 27 people is madness.

This is so heartbreaking.

Again my most heartfelt sympathies to anyone this has effected. I can't imagine what I'd be thinking if that had been one of my children...


Thoughts and prayers <S>

[Vudak]

Like I've said before I love guns and I think it's great that Americans have the right to own them, but surely this should be enough reason to look at limiting gun ownership to those who have passed psychological testing and have demonstrated a real need to own a weapon? The fact that an apparently medicated autistic can own a firearm able to kill 27 people is madness.

The "need" is to prevent those who mean to rule us from being the only ones armed.

[dunnrite]

They were not his guns, and he didn't have them legally.  Try again

[Major Biggles]

The "need" is to prevent those who mean to rule us from being the only ones armed.

I understand that and in many ways agree that a populace has the right to arm itself to protect itself from oppression etc. Would it be so awful to have to pass a 30 min interview and apply for a licence before owning a weapon though?

[Major Biggles]

They were not his guns, and he didn't have them legally.  Try again

I'm slowly learning details, apologies. Could this crisis have been averted if the family had been assessed by an interviewer, who might have determined that special storage requirements were needed to keep weapons out of the hands of a clearly troubled child?

I'm not talking invasive and far-fetched inquisitions here, just a more responsible approach to the sale of firearms, especially those designed as anti-personnel weapons (handguns) rather than bolt-action hunting rifles or shotguns. 

[ScottyK]

I understand that and in many ways agree that a populace has the right to arm itself to protect itself from oppression etc. Would it be so awful to have to pass a 30 min interview and apply for a licence before owning a weapon though?

  They do backround checks on people trying to buy a firearm.

[Hap]

Outrage!

[Hoarach]

Posted this in the other thread that was started.  


While I am not stirring the pot by any means, after reading a update on the story it sounds very fishy.  The mom bought her son the guns.  The mom was found dead at her son's place where she should have been at work at that school where she taught kindergarten.  The shooter was buzzed in by the security guard.  Most visitors have to check in before going anywhere in school especially during school hours.  How the security didnt see the shooter wearing a bullet proof vest and strapped with guns is very strange.  While can hide the guns, a bullet proof vest cant 100% be concealable can it?  The shooter than went to the kindergarten class where his mom taught and began the shooting.  After reading the update it just sounds very strange in my head.


I lived near the town where it occurred both the med school I am currently attending and the town I grew up in are an hour from it, just in opposite directions (from CT).  But I knew many friends that live in the town it occurred in from undergraduate, friends that went to that elementary school growing up, and live a couple streets over from the school.

[Major Biggles]

  They do backround checks on people trying to buy a firearm.

A criminal record search that takes 20 minutes. What is needed is for someone independent to sit down with someone and talk to them for 30 mins, to assess if they're a friggin nutter or not...


To be honest though, guns don't kill people, it's the crackpots behind them. The most important issue here is that there are so many fluffied up american teenagers offing themselves and others. One thing that MUST happen now is for all Americans to look at the causes behind these teen's radical actions...

[CAP1]

My heartfelt condolences to any of you who have been effected by this awful tragedy.

Like I've said before I love guns and I think it's great that Americans have the right to own them, but surely this should be enough reason to look at limiting gun ownership to those who have passed psychological testing and have demonstrated a real need to own a weapon? The fact that an apparently medicated autistic can own a firearm able to kill 27 people is madness.

This is so heartbreaking.

Again my most heartfelt sympathies to anyone this has effected. I can't imagine what I'd be thinking if that had been one of my children...


Thoughts and prayers <S>

 .

[Major Biggles]

Should the parents have been asked to secure their weapons in lockers with separate storage for ammunition then? Does a background check extend the the medical histories of one's family, and if not, should it?

Mental health issues in a family should make it far harder to buy a firearm.


I'll put this in perspective, I'm a Brit but I love shooting, I'm a regular game shooter and I've shot 90% of western military hardware over the last few years in the military. I'd love to have the freedom to own the sort of weapons that you do in America but ultimately, I don't trust the random bloke down the street to own that same weapon. I'm not suggesting limiting the sort of weapons owned, I'm just saying that in order to earn the right to bear arms one should be mentally competent and have proven a need for ownership, even if that need is home defense or sport shooting. Is it so offensive to suggest that to buy a gun, particularly an auto/semi-automatic, you should have to pass a mental health interview and a general assessment of 'weirdness level'???


Is a slightly longer wait to buy your new Sig or AR so painful that it's worth a child's life to you?

[DREDIOCK]

Connecticut already has some of the strictest gun laws around. Just say'n

Still. I dont think this is the time for this debate for either side of the argument. Couple days maybe. yea. But not now

[james]

Ban the guns and the nuts will just find other means to do bad stuff with. Then we keep banning stuff until we are all armed with blenders or other household appliances. Problem wasn't what he had in his hands it was what he had in his head and in his heart. I couldn't fathom what kind of "shut off" a person like that hasto do bad stuff to kids could have. It seems these people just keep trying to out do each other. Pretty sick.

[Major Biggles]

Connecticut already has some of the strictest gun laws around. Just say'n

Still. I dont think this is the time for this debate for either side of the argument. Couple days maybe. yea. But not now

Perhaps. My apologies for wading into what is and should remain an issue for Americans.

The rest of the world is however waiting to see what happens with baited breath. It doesn't matter where you're from, 20 children murdered by an autistic kid with legally purchased weapons is abominable. Clearly the strict gun laws in Connecticut weren't quite strict enough in this case. Interesting to see that gun crime is far lower around the world even in countries where the number of firearms owned per capita is higher. Is american gun (and youth) culture the real culprit here?

[Guppy35]

Amazing.  20 kids died today and the discussion is more concerned with protecting the guns.

Focus on those that died and their families.    

Leave the gun discussion for later.