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Originally Posted by jmurphy75  All of this and protect our schools, since there have been so many school shootings we can assume that they are and will remain a target for phsycos. Put security protocols in place and armed "resource officers" at every school. |
Pretty sure New Jersey has this, or maybe my high school last year was just an exception. For my four years of high school, though, there was an armed police officer on school grounds for all school functions. And it isn't as if I lived in a part where there is a lot of crime. I live in a very, very rural part of the state, where honestly it probably wasn't that big of a necessity. Until something like Newtown happens.
In my opinion, this isn't a gun problem, or a mental healthcare problem even, but it is a societal problems. 6 of the 12 deadliest shootings in this country have occurred since 2007. The media posterizes the killers all over the place. I can still perfectly picture Jared Loughner's insane look shortly after his rampage or James Holmes's orange hair. Thankfully, I haven't seen too many of Adam Lanza's pictures on the television, but when it was initially thought his brother, there was pictures all over the place. And honestly, I know they are just reporting the news, but maybe they should treat it is an anonymous terrorist attack. I know it isn't that, but at the same time, these crazy people who sadly would probably just go to their basements and kill themselves are now seeing this on TV and instead of just being some loser their whole life that wasn't remembered for anything, they now try and outdo all these massacres because they will receive infamy. The attention should be given to the victim and the heroes such as Victoria Soto, not Adam Lanza.
Another contributing factor(once again, this is strictly my opinion) is the violence in Hollywood and video games. In Call of Duty MW2, you are a terrorist in one level that kills hundreds of civilians ruthlessly. Or Grand Theft Auto where you just go around doing whatever you want, killing and stealing in order to beat the game. This doesn't even get into the topic of Hollywood movies such as "Rampage". If you haven't heard of it, read about it. I wasted my time shortly after the Movie Theatre Massacre, and I think to myself, 'wow, this really could have given Holmes an example or motivation of how to pull off such a crime'. There are 100's of movies, excluding war, police, or spy movies, that have people just kill like it is nothing. Our society treats life as if it is nothing. They just throw it around. When you are growing up and exposed to this all the time, to go along with mental issues like the shooter, this can create something really bad.
Our society needs to teach gun safety. It is imperative. How did this kid have such easy access to these guns? Were they not in a safe? I don't think it is a good thing to prohibit guns, at all, but at the same time, there has to be some kind of limitation. I really like New Jersey's law on guns. You must have a permit to own and purchase them, and it takes about 6 months in order to get a permit because of all the background checks that the state and FBI does. There is also a month long waiting period when you purchase a gun and when you get it. It also has an assault weapon ban, which essentially means no bayonet stocks, no magazines greater than fifteen rounds, and it can be switched from automatic to semiautomatic among some other characteristics. The second amendment needs to be protected at all costs, but to what extent?
Banning guns is not the answer. Australia has found this out the hard way. Violent crime has spiked. For Christ's sake, Mexico and Brazil have gun bans too, how is that working out for them. Even the UK has some kind of gun ban where handgun crime is up 40% since the ban took place. It isn't going to stop the criminals from getting guns. And heck, if I am a criminal, and I know that family doesn't have a gun since it is illegal, I can guarantee you I am more likely to rob them than if I knew they had a gun.
I apologize for a bunch of thoughts into one post. I've just been thinking a lot about this since it happened and it is more me venting over the events and seeing how some people have reacted to it and what not. If some of my thoughts are off base or incorrect, please inform me.
God bless.
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