I wouldn't want my little kid playing violent games because I do believe exposure to depictions of violence can be bad for your mental health. But it's an enormous and absurd fucking stretch to say that games cause people to murder people.

fuzzy, 17 people really died right in the next town over from me. this is real life. we need real solutions. extensive background checks, mental health exams, licenses, and gun registration that requires renewals every so many years.

I mean did Helter Skelter make Manson order all those killings

or was he just a fucking psychopath

absolutely agree

or did the other Manson cause Columbine? jesus christ

is radical Islamist terrorism fueled by Halo as well, or just white boy terrorism?

it's too bad trump was too much of a chickenshit to address the public while in parkland

400 years ago people were burning each other for being jews and witches and blasphemers. I wonder what shooters they were playing

I don't disagree with this. I think it's astonishing that there isn't more of a screening process involved and I'd like to see that be implemented... But I think if you blame the guns that you're missing the bigger picture.

There's a spiritual deficit that has occurred with the fast-paced life with the "internet"... People haven't had time to examine the side affects of such a rapid increase in the way people live their lives... I knew tons of disturbed kids sprouting with anger growing up, hell I was one myself... We never thought of going and slaying innocent people. I could have easily got access to weaponry in my own house, it never crossed my mind in the slightest way.

There's a change... And unless you address that, violent crimes will continue to uptick regardless of the weapons available

a lot of that change has been pushed by the gun industry and the NRA

The USA isn't more violent than other countries. The violence is just more deadly. Because of guns.

fuzzy are you aware that in the US, the GOP passed a law in the 90s making federal research on gun violence illegal?

I know that's right!

when I was a kid I remember getting so frustrated a few times I screamed, threw my controller across the room, etc. and had my N64 taken away. what was I playing? Diddy Kong Racing. It was HARD.

I'm not against any of this and it's entirely reasonable and I personally agree with you.

There's a lot of politics involved though. Americans love their right to buy guns. They see a few comprises here and there and next thing they know the states are coming for their guns. Not totally unthinkable either.

Either way, I think things will change in America regarding the screening process... If not under Trump then under the next president.

same thing but with yoshi's story. FUCK that game!

There's gonna be walkouts and shit coming up. Marching. We'll see what happens. I hope Parkland is the last straw but I'm not very optimistic. I think it is possible that Marco Rubio will get tossed on his ass next election of (when) he keeps talking all that NRA cash

i am hoping people will finally demand real change this time. people are very vocally expressing how fed up they are with "thoughts and prayers"

at this point I can't imagine that any event like this would turn things around. the 2nd Amendment historically wasn't even viewed as an unlimited personal right to own guns, it was always viewed in the context of being in a militia until the last half century when the NRA became an evil special interest group and changed public opinion all the way up to SCOTUS

I shouldn't even bother though... I'm gonna be misconstrued. I would like to see a better screening process in the United States... That would literally only be a band-aid on the bigger issue at hand though...

The thing society needs to get to the bottom of is why there is such an astonishing increase in this violent behavior... What is possibly going through a persons mind to unleash such hatred and violence? That is the big issue, and unless that gets solved, these reckless wastes of life will continue to happen and happen...

And think of it... If someone is THAT determined that they're literally going to go on a murdering spree, do you not think they'll find access to weaponry whether or not they can legally purchase it? These are extreme acts... Do you think simply not being allowed to by weaponry at Walmart will deter these utter maniacs? If you do, you're fucking dreaming and delusional.. I'll tell you that right now. They'll just easily get the weapons on the black-market... That's the dilemma about it all.

you are 100% wrong though. there has been an astonishing DECREASE in violent crime in the US in the last few decades. This specific type of crime has escalated because of HOW EASY it is to get assault weapons

yeah, that must be why the UK, Canada, and Australia have so many mass shootings. Cause people just get guns illegally. Oh wait, they have strict gun laws and it does in fact stop violence

You have these young people with their WHOLE ENTIRE LIVES AHEAD OF THEM, and their best idea is to be a murdering psychopath.

We need to find out WHY-THAT-IS... plain and simple.

fascinating that this is your attitude when the perp is white

curious that I have never seen you talk about terrorism or violence by black or brown people the same way

RBG, better screening is a great idea, and would stop some of these impulsive low IQ people, but I think there's a bigger cancerous spiritual deficit growing in American and out here in Canada... Drug use probably plays a big role too.

This is not a racial thing... Don't make it one. It's disrespectful.

Anyways, my prayers go out to the loved ones and victims of these terrible act.. I'm not trying to rationalize anything here. It's a complete and utter nightmare... But we can't be simple minded in trying to get down to the root cause. That's all I'm saying.

yeah :( for every encouraging cry for change i see, there is also two quips about "guns don't kill people! do spoons make you fat? do pencils misspell words?" :dammit::dammit::dammit:

shut the uck up fuzzy

fuck*

Woah, why did the number of pages on this thread suddenly double?

Oh, fuzzy has been posting.

He's drinking. Like a lord.

fuzzy is not wrong in that there are things beyond the availability of assault weapons that contribute to this fucked state that the US is in (and in many ways, the whole world).

the rise of the internet and the obsessive preoccupation with violence in literally any available medium, be it TV, comic books, cinema, art, music, computer games... it's making everything way too accessible to those who are predisposed to sociopathic or violent tendencies. literally everyone these days has a completely private device that nobody but them has access to, with which it's so easy to get into very dark niches, get reaffirmation for whatever fucked up shit you're into because "other people are into it too", get soaked up in the glorification of serial killers, violent criminals... you name it.

i used to play a lot of violent games as a kid, and in hindsight definitely had a predisposition towards the macabre, i would say, but i honestly don't want to think where i'd be if i grew up in this modern age, where any child anywhere could go on the internet and have easy and completely unhindered access to hard pornography, snuff, stomach turning violence, limitless detailed information about severely ill people who made a name for themselves hurting and killing other people ,etc. i'm very thankful that i didn't tbh.

but anyway, to cap this off, while there certainly needs to be a wholly new system for acquiring weapons in the US, i do think humanity needs a much deeper examination of how all this stuff influences newer generations. cause right now we basically supply every child with a commando knife, a blowtorch and a machete, and tell them to go have fun and pls not make any ill use of it. it's all horrifically imbalanced, and the potential such access to infinite amounts of knowledge brings is far more likely to end in bad consequence than good.

we started paying the most attention at the turn of the millennium but there are records of mass shootings dating all the way back to 1949

do you think these antisocial types are going to have the connections to get a gun off the black market, maybe some will, others won't and there you go lives saved

the problem is TOO MANY GUNS, everything else is a distraction

Thinking in terms of dichotomy is never a good thing

Take that to mean what you want

Look, I don't think violence in the media and video games etc play no role. But these are available in every country with the internet, not just the United States. Might these children and adults try to murder people even if they didn't have guns? Some of them probably would, and others wouldn't. What is for sure is they could not rack up body counts to nearly the same degree with bladed or blunt weapons. So while having much tougher gun regulations is a band-aid, it's a damn good first step, and one that is completely necessary.

As for them finding guns on the black market. Someone like the Parkland kid has no connections to the black market. How would he even go about that? He's a weird kid, possibly autistic, and everyone was afraid of him. C'mon, there's no way he would have gotten an AR-15 on the black market. Maybe he would have knifed some people but he wouldn't have shot 32 people, killing 17 of them. Almost every single mass shooting involves legally acquired guns, or the theft of legally acquired guns from family members. Any barriers we can put up to gun ownership can mean life or death to potential victims. Background checks, face-to-face mental health exams, mandatory gun safety courses, harsh penalties for not registering guns, no private sale of guns without going through an intermediary where the buyer has to go through the same checks and exams. Renewable registration with subsequent mental health exams at each registration. All of this at the expense of the gun owner.

it is generally accepted (in the US, at least) that none of these devices are actually private. Although it doesn't seem like that has done a thing to prevent crime.

also saw this today.."it's strange how people with mental health issues don't do this in other countries. it's almost like there's another reason."