Should assault rifles be banned in the US?

[GoldenRivet]

The second amendment to the constitution of the United States is a safety measure built in by our forefathers. It is a safety measure which grants us the means to protect ourselves from tyranny. From the tyranny of enemies both foreign and domestic, from the tyranny of those who would stand to do us harm. But most importantly, our forefathers labored under extreme conditions to create a nation as we enjoy today, and they had the foresight to understand that no system of government is infallable and as such they armed the citizens with the basic rights to protect themselves from the tyranny of a corrupt government.

These rights include

Right to Freedom of speech and religion

Right to bear arms

Freedom from forced quartering

Freedom from unwarranted search and seizure

Right to due process

Right to face an accuser in court

Right to trial by jury

Freedom from cruel or excessive punishment

The list continues, but the nature of every one of these is born in limiting government and allowing the people a means of protecting themselves from government. No single amendment is greater than another. But they are all greater than the individual. And I for one will not be turning my back and surrendering any of them freely.

The biggest mistake the government made is closing down mental health facilities en masse thereby denying proper care to scores of individuals with mental health needs. Until this is corrected, expect such mass incidents to occur whether the committed through the use of tanks, assault rifles, machine pistols, muzzle loaders, machetes, pocket knifes, screw drivers, pencils, sharp sticks, rocks, bare hands etc controlling firearms through strict laws treats the symptom not the disease.

[Oberon]

Originally Posted by GoldenRivet

The biggest mistake the government made is closing down mental health facilities en masse thereby denying proper care to scores of individuals with mental health needs. Until this is corrected, expect such mass incidents to occur whether the committed through the use of tanks, assault rifles, machine pistols, muzzle loaders, machetes, pocket knifes, screw drivers, pencils, sharp sticks, rocks, bare hands etc controlling firearms through strict laws treats the symptom not the disease.

Bingo.

For every one school massacre, there are hundreds of instances of violence caused by people with mental health issues that don't hit the global news networks because only one or two people die at a time, or if they do they are quickly forgotten. It's sad that in this day and age it takes a massacre of children to bring an issue to light.

[AVGWarhawk]

The biggest mistake the government made is closing down mental health facilities en masse thereby denying proper care

I think at the time of the closing the care was not proper. Hence the reason for closing these institutions.

[Skybird]

I think the children got what they deserved. Why haven't they gone to school fully armed to defend themselves?

"There are over 550 million firearms in worldwide circulation. That's one firearm for every twelve people on the planet. The only question is: How do we arm the other 11? " (Nicolas Cage: Lord of War)

[GoldenRivet]

My mom recalls that in the early days of her nursing career the govt started shutting all these facilities down largely as a cost cutting measure.

She said that back then these people had constant access to professionals and had access to mood altering medications and other treatments... They were either too content in their own little neverland or to medicated to formulate a plan to gun down a school full of people.

Many of us are asking the wrong questions.

The right questions are:

1. In the present age of tougher gun laws, why are these events much more prevalent than in the yesteryear of more lax legislation?

2. Many people much past the age if 30 are often heard saying "this sort of thing was unheard of when I was in school." But why? While in fact school shootings go way back, why has the frequency and severity of the attacks sharply increased since the mid 80s?

3. Why is it that someone like myself who legally owns fully automatic rifles has not once in 34 years ever committed mass murder, but someone who gets their hands on a semi-automatic "assault rifle" does commit mass murder.

Answer these questions and you're closer to your solution.

[August]

Originally Posted by AVGWarhawk

I think at the time of the closing the care was not proper. Hence the reason for closing these institutions.

I remember that and you're right. There were too many stories of abuse and most of these institutions were just places to house the insane rather than attempt to cure them of their insanity.

It'd been much better if they were reformed to actually help their inmates instead of just being closed down but I think the underlying driving force was money. Cheaper to put the insane on the street than spend the money to care for them properly.

[AVGWarhawk]

Originally Posted by August

I remember that and you're right. There were too many stories of abuse and most of these institutions were just places to house the insane rather than attempt to cure them of their insanity.

It'd been much better if they were reformed to actually help their inmates instead of just being closed down but I think the underlying driving force was money. Cheaper to put the insane on the street than spend the money to care for them properly.

I think in the long run that was the decision. We are perhaps reaping the consequences from the decision.

[Armistead]

Originally Posted by August

I remember that and you're right. There were too many stories of abuse and most of these institutions were just places to house the insane rather than attempt to cure them of their insanity.

It'd been much better if they were reformed to actually help their inmates instead of just being closed down but I think the underlying driving force was money. Cheaper to put the insane on the street than spend the money to care for them properly.

We have a few Mental Health facilities, but I wouldn't advice anyone to to use them. Basically where cops take disturbed people for evaluation.

A few years ago one of my neighbors went nuts, he had lost his job, marriage fell apart, started drinking. They had a big fight and he sat in his truck with a gun going to kill himself, but cops came, tazed him, got him out. I sat with him at the clinic the next day. He walked out in about 30 minutes with 3 presciptions for depressants, including Adderol. I noticed in a week he was high strung, talked non stopped, acted crazy. His wife had left him and he started pulling stunts for attention. One day I heard a gun shot, so called cops, then another gun shot. He shot a window out, poured ketchup on it, I guess to scare his wife that he had killed himself. He then went to hide in a barn, problem was he put his pistol in his waist, forgot he had it cocked and it went off when he was crawling in his hide out. The bullet went between his penis and balls, scraping both and blew the top of his thigh off. He was sent to a state hospital, never saw him again after that. I did talk to his wife later, she said he acted like a nut for another 3 months until a Doctor took him off all the mind meds and he had moved on and seemed fine.

[Cybermat47]

^^^^^
Poor guy.

[Lord_magerius]

We're getting on to the real issue here now which most people have only seemed to gloss over. Gun control laws are just the easiest thing to blame for everybody, it also gives both sides of the fence another reason to spit fire at each other over a national tragedy. When it comes to mental health issues it's a topic that nobody is really willing to discuss, so when something like this happens, it's far easier to blame the secondary or even tertiary cause.

The main reason for this happening is that society let this individual down, it's a bitter pill that nobody is wanting to swallow. Gun control laws, no gun control laws, free lego with every handgun purchased, it doesn't matter. This was a deeply disturbed person and it would have happened either way.

Edit: In no way am I defending the abhorrent actions of this individual, or even saying that we should be feeling sorry for him. I'm just highlighting the fact that the media has plastered over the main issues to pursue the "Guns, yes or no?" topic once again.

[Cybermat47]

^^^^^^^^^^

You make a good point. If Lanza didn't have access to the guns, he might have used a knife. Not as many people would have died, but they would have died nonetheless.