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Old 02-20-2018, 04:41 PM   #128
redbreegull
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Re: everything that has been said, I don't think the mere presence of more guns in and of itself is making people go on shooting sprees. Obviously we can look at a country like Israel and tell that just because you have a lot of people holding weapons doesn't mean mass shootings are unavoidable. Yes, there are definitely cultural reasons why this is happening, and yeah, it would be great to address the root causes if we could figure them out.

HOWEVER, the NRA and the gun industry is so powerful in this country that they successfully lobbied Republicans in Congress to pass a ban on federal money for gun violence research in the 1990s. Yes, let's say it again for those in the back. IT IS ILLEGAL FOR THE US GOVERNMENT TO RESEARCH GUN VIOLENCE. Republicans backed by the NRA are also the reason we have no universal background check, no way to stop people from being guns with no ID on the internet or at guns shows... so to try and separate the two parts of this issue shows a misunderstanding of what is going on with guns in the US.

The gun lobby has flooded our country with assault weapons, bought their own invulnerability via Republicans in Congress, and sponsored a decades long national legal push to overturn gun laws in every state. And then ON TOP of that, they then made it illegal for the government to research gun violence. It would be wonderful if we could figure out what specifically is fueling this behavior in the US, but right now the only research even being done is by private liberal groups. Furthermore, at least some of this trend can probably be attributed to a copycat effect (there is some evidence that when the media reports on suicides, it actually leads to a spike in attempted suicides. not the same, no, but behavior is contagious and there are good examples of viral criminal acts as well). Are tough gun laws going to fix the underlying cultural issues making people want to murder dozens of people? No. But if you are bleeding profusely you should probably stop the bleeding before you sit down and scratch your chin and wonder what the heck is goin on with all that blood

The gun lobby created this reality and we need to get them under control. We need commonsense gun laws that actually make it difficult to buy a firearm. We need a new assault weapons ban. Time and time again we hear that people would just get guns illegally and commit shootings, however nearly all mass shooters use legally purchased guns, so how could we even know that? It seems pretty likely that if buying a gun were very difficult, a lot of these antisocial whiteboy terrorists would not be able to get one.

Last edited by redbreegull : 02-20-2018 at 04:51 PM.

 
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