School Shooting In Great Mills Maryland

[SabreFan1]

7 minutes ago, Alflives said:

Is it relatively common now for US schools to have armed security?  

As far as I can tell.  Even my old high school has one.  I think it's as much of a CYA thing as anything else for suburban schools.  If a shooting does happen, the school district is able to say that they have a security person(s) on staff.  The majority of Colleges/Universities in the US have had campus police and security for decades.

[Tortorella's Rant]

1 hour ago, Jimmy McGill said:

its so sad that this is just a normal week in the US. How did this ever get normalized? I think I'm in the fatalistic camp on this now, I just don't see how it will ever change. 

NRA extremists hijacked government. That's part of it. They don't promote many good ideas for the general public, that's a reason why they bribe politicians to ignore this.

[ForsbergTheGreat]

21 minutes ago, Warhippy said:

Albertas population is like 4 million.  That's 10% of the entire population applying in only 1 year

131,146 white tail licenses alone were issued in 2016. I think they approve around 300k total draws per year including waterfowl. 

 

I should correct myself though. It’s 440k hunting applications.  It’s roughly  130k “registered hunters” + youth + natives puts it around 220k+ hunters in Alberta. 

[SabreFan1]

1 minute ago, Tortorella's Rant said:

NRA extremists hijacked government. That's part of it. They don't promote many good ideas for the general public, that's a reason why they bribe politicians to ignore this.

Their power mainly comes from extortion.  Money is only a part of it.  The NRA's influence comes from it's very politically active base.  They've proven that their influence can hinder a politician's chances to get re-elected.  Just look at their grading system.  If you're a conservative in a deep red state, anything less than an "A" grade by the NRA can sink your chances of election/re-election.  People in those states say they want tougher gun legislation, but when it comes down to it they will always go tribal and vote on the most conservative person.  For now, "true conservatism" includes having the favour of gun clubs like the NRA.

[DonLever]

1 hour ago, Junkyard Dog said:

Good thing the police officer didn't wait outside the school.

It was not a police officer but an armed guard.   The question is whether more schools should have armed guards to stop shooters from killing more people.   It certainly did not help in the Florida school shooting where the guard did nothing to stop the gunman.

[Junkyard Dog]

1 minute ago, DonLever said:

It was not a police officer but an armed guard.   The question is whether more schools should have armed guards to stop shooters from killing more people.   It certainly did not help in the Florida school shooting where the guard did nothing to stop the gunman.

They should target and monitor more mentally ill people deemed dangerous like they failed to do at Parkland where the policed department had 39 calls on the shooter, the shooter called the police himself and the FBI got two on this guy.

 

 You can have more common sense laws but to propose that there should be a nationwide gun ban is preposterous and literately impossible.

[The Lock]

2 hours ago, SabreFan1 said:

 

 

I'm not for heavy handed gun control, but I would like more common sense in the laws.  The biggest being people with diagnosed medical mental issues should be barred from ever owning a gun.  If you have violent behavioral issues, you lose your right to own a gun for a determined amount of time by a state judge.  It won't stop gun crimes, nothing will, but it will lessen them.

The problem I see with this is not all of these people are diagnosed. There are so many people with mental issues that are not even diagnosed that I think this would be impossible to fix by simply creating laws that are more "common sense". Not only that, but these laws wouldn't even necessarily prevent a diagnosed person from having a gun in the first place if another family member has a gun that is accessible. We are talking about human beings in the end who don't always think straight. So I question how much it would actually lessen it, if at all. Just because someone can't access a gun legally doesn't mean they can't find other ways of acquiring that gun.

 

That being said, I think if a gradual overall ban happened in the states, it would prevent the lopsidedness of the bad guys having the guns and not the good guys, but it would have to be done right, which is easier said than done.

[SabreFan1]

Just now, The Lock said:

The problem I see with this is not all of these people are diagnosed. There are so many people with mental issues that are not even diagnosed that I think this would be impossible to fix by simply creating laws that are more "common sense". Not only that, but these laws wouldn't even necessarily prevent a diagnosed person from having a gun in the first place if another family member has a gun that is accessible. We are talking about human beings in the end who don't always think straight. So I question how much it would actually lessen it, if at all. Just because someone can't access a gun legally doesn't mean they can't find other ways of acquiring that gun.

 

That being said, I think if a gradual overall ban happened in the states, it would prevent the lopsidedness of the bad guys having the guns and not the good guys, but it would have to be done right, which is easier said than done.

There is no quick fix to this problem.  I'm looking at minimizing the problem for now.  People will be people no matter what.  I'd rather do the common sense fixes first such as the two that I listed and then go from there.

[Alflives]

3 minutes ago, The Lock said:

The problem I see with this is not all of these people are diagnosed. There are so many people with mental issues that are not even diagnosed that I think this would be impossible to fix by simply creating laws that are more "common sense". Not only that, but these laws wouldn't even necessarily prevent a diagnosed person from having a gun in the first place if another family member has a gun that is accessible. We are talking about human beings in the end who don't always think straight. So I question how much it would actually lessen it, if at all. Just because someone can't access a gun legally doesn't mean they can't find other ways of acquiring that gun.

 

That being said, I think if a gradual overall ban happened in the states, it would prevent the lopsidedness of the bad guys having the guns and not the good guys, but it would have to be done right, which is easier said than done.

Maybe the Americans opened a Pandora’s Box when they adopted their Second Amendment in 1791?

[Warhippy]

1 hour ago, ForsbergTheGreat said:

131,146 white tail licenses alone were issued in 2016. I think they approve around 300k total draws per year including waterfowl. 

 

I should correct myself though. It’s 440k hunting applications.  It’s roughly  130k “registered hunters” + youth + natives puts it around 220k+ hunters in Alberta. 

Ah thanks man.  For a second I thought you meant arms licenses

[theo5789]

1 hour ago, SabreFan1 said:

Canada has roughly 3 guns per every 10 people with a population of 36 million people.  Guess what those numbers are in the US.  The genie is already out of the bottle here in the US.  We have hundreds of millions of guns to go with hundreds of millions of people.  Banning them would just immediately take them out of the hands of people looking to protect themselves against criminals who will always have access to a gun for the foreseeable future no matter what.  I'm not willing to shift power to criminals for the next few decades that it would take to get guns to become a rarity here.

 

Yes that means that innocent people will continue to die.

 

Just curious, is it often you have news stories about how a citizen stopped an armed person on a rampage? Or even for example a news story about how someone said thank goodness we had a gun in the house to stop that person that broke into my home. I'm just curious as to why there's the belief that owning a gun makes you feel safer. For me personally, even if I had a gun and if someone broke into my home, I'd probably be too nervous to even handle a gun, let alone be able to even shoot straight with it. I'm sure there are some better under pressure in these situations (like say some police officers who have had training and such), but I would think there are enough people that likely have no clue how to handle a gun properly that should feel more safe just because they have one.

 

I'm really genuinely curious about this because the news stories I hear are often not about how an average citizen who happened to have a gun was able to protect themselves or save others from gun attacks.

[-AJ-]

1 hour ago, SabreFan1 said:

Canada has roughly 3 guns per every 10 people with a population of 36 million people.  Guess what those numbers are in the US.  The genie is already out of the bottle here in the US.  We have hundreds of millions of guns to go with hundreds of millions of people.  Banning them would just immediately take them out of the hands of people looking to protect themselves against criminals who will always have access to a gun for the foreseeable future no matter what.  I'm not willing to shift power to criminals for the next few decades that it would take to get guns to become a rarity here.

 

Yes that means that innocent people will continue to die.

 

I'm not expert on gun laws, but wouldn't it make the most sense then to grandfather some regulations in instead?

[SabreFan1]

2 minutes ago, theo5789 said:

Just curious, is it often you have news stories about how a citizen stopped an armed person on a rampage? Or even for example a news story about how someone said thank goodness we had a gun in the house to stop that person that broke into my home. I'm just curious as to why there's the belief that owning a gun makes you feel safer. For me personally, even if I had a gun and if someone broke into my home, I'd probably be too nervous to even handle a gun, let alone be able to even shoot straight with it. I'm sure there are some better under pressure in these situations (like say some police officers who have had training and such), but I would think there are enough people that likely have no clue how to handle a gun properly that should feel more safe just because they have one.

 

I'm really genuinely curious about this because the news stories I hear are often not about how an average citizen who happened to have a gun was able to protect themselves or save others from gun attacks.

The national news wouldn't report on the average Joe Schmoe from Buffalo who shot and killed an intruder in his home.  The things that you do hear about are the stories about how someone walks into a school and starts firing.

 

When it comes down to it, the USA isn't even close to the top when you break down the data by homicide by firearms per capita.  I already have proof queued up for the first person who goes hysterical in the thread.

[SabreFan1]

1 minute ago, -AJ- said:

I'm not expert on gun laws, but wouldn't it make the most sense then to grandfather some regulations in instead?

It depends on what your end-game is.  The people who want to ban guns outright, wouldn't want that. 

 

If you just want more sensible gun laws like me, you go step by step and evaluate the process as you go.

[Rob_Zepp]

2 hours ago, ForsbergTheGreat said:

In Canada it’s closer to 8.4%. In Alberta only last year, 445K people applied for a license. 

NOT a hope all those 445K people in Alberta NEED a gun.   Not a friggin' hope.

[ForsbergTheGreat]

1 minute ago, Rob_Zepp said:

NOT a hope all those 445K people in Alberta NEED a gun.   Not a friggin' hope.

People hunt. Doesn’t mean you hunt every year but people enjoy hunting the the food it provides. Some people only hunt waterfowl. Others hunt big game. Hunting isn’t only about food for the table it’s extremely important in conservation

[Rob_Zepp]

7 minutes ago, ForsbergTheGreat said:

People hunt. Doesn’t mean you hunt every year but people enjoy hunting the the food it provides. Some people only hunt waterfowl. Others hunt big game. Hunting isn’t only about food for the table it’s extremely important in conservation

Sure, hunt away.   Keep the firearm at your local police station, sign it out when you want to hunt.   Works for everyone.  If people had to keep their weapons away from their home, would be safer for EVERYONE.

[ForsbergTheGreat]

1 minute ago, Rob_Zepp said:

Sure, hunt away.   Keep the firearm at your local police station, sign it out when you want to hunt.   Works for everyone.  If people had to keep their weapons away from their home, would be safer for EVERYONE.

That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. Haha. You don’t get outside the city much do you.  Hunting isnt the only need for a gun. What happens for people who live on a ranch and need to protect their livestock from wolves and coyotes. Should they just yell really loud?

[-DLC-]

2 hours ago, Junkyard Dog said:

Good luck trying to tell any gun owning law-abiding citizen to hand over their guns to the authorities that failed to protect them at Parkland.

 

You're just going to promote more violence if you try.

They'd be crossing over from the "law abiding" citizens group then, which is why they probably shouldn't have the guns in the first place.  They're not really intended to force your issues...they are, supposedly, for protection.  Not to get your own way.  So that, in itself, raised red flags and says it's time to take that "power" away.

[-DLC-]

2 hours ago, SabreFan1 said:

Canada has roughly 3 guns per every 10 people with a population of 36 million people.  Guess what those numbers are in the US.  The genie is already out of the bottle here in the US.  We have hundreds of millions of guns to go with hundreds of millions of people.  Banning them would just immediately take them out of the hands of people looking to protect themselves against criminals who will always have access to a gun for the foreseeable future no matter what.  I'm not willing to shift power to criminals for the next few decades that it would take to get guns to become a rarity here.

 

Yes that means that innocent people will continue to die.

 

Shootouts aren't really that common.  Those using the guns generally aren't fired back on/at from the stories I see.

 

It sounds easy to point and fire, but when you're gripped by fear and a gun is already upon you, you actually have to grab yours and aim.  Too late?

 

That's just my initial thinking.

 

The power is already there...these daily shootings are proof of that.