What Kind Of World Do We Live In That Someone Can Walk Into A School With Guns And Kill 26 People?

[Dombovar]

I know it is in the US, but that a 20+ yr old can get hold of a variety of guns, walk into an elementary school and needlessly kill 20 iinnocent children and 6 adults, makes you wonder what will happen next. Yet some people say that
there is nothing wrong.

[emmie]

according to my paper she had any number of weapons, not only two handguns, a semi automatic assault rifle, and two traditional hunting rifles, she apparently taught both sons to shoot. Described as a paranoid survivalist who thought the world was on the brink of economic and social ruin. She was the first person he killed. Americans will not give up on their weapons, they would have to be forced to, and can't see that ever happening. the gun lobby has enormous power and influence.

[emmie]

you can give money to whatever charity takes your fancy, it's your money after all. In Britain we have a poor at best mental health service, i have been at the coalface for some time and believe me i know. Services cuts are going to see more people on the streets here in Britain, with mental health and drug and alcohol problems. Sadly the same is probably true of the USA. I remember travelling through some parts of the USA and wondering at the sheer level of poverty, it was shameful.

[emmie]

not sure if some saw this, but one little boy who was killed, his family had just moved to the USA from Britain, believing they were giving their children a better life.

[EDDIE51]

The National Rifle Association's answer is to arm the teachers so that they can shoot first. You will never get gun control with that mind set .
To most of the USA 'Gun control' means holding it steady so you don't miss !

[wildwood]

The USA holds the right to hold firearms for legal purposes as a top priority (second amendment??). Guns are never the problem, just the mentality of those using them. I personally would be happy if the manufacture of guns was prohibited worldwide, but that's never going to happen.

If these unbalanced people want to maim and kill others, there are other means available. If the guns had not been available to this nutter, he would have used some other way.

[LazyGun]

The old adage "guns dont kill people, people do" - is often used as a defence against reform of the gun ownership laws in the US.

That ignores several, really important issues - One, the sheer number of guns in circulation, and 2 the easy access to automatic and semi-automatic weapons. Were guns unavailable, it is very unlikely that this guy could have killed as many as he did. According to the coroner, all the victims had more than one gunshot wound.

It is obviously going to be a difficult issue in the US, coming from where they are - but I cannot see the logic of allowing access to automatic assault rifles, for instance. Even access to handguns ought to be questioned - they can have no purpose but to threaten, maim or kill humans.

When a rampage happens where guns are not available, you get injuries, but deaths are minimised. Read this story from China, about a lone assailant on a rampage in a school, armed with a knife...
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/man-attacks-22-kids-knife-china-school-article-1.1220230

[Graham-W]

It crossed my mind, if the killer had gone into the school, thirty school kids pulled their pistols and the only sound was "click-click" echoing around the room as the bullets went into the chambers.........................
Is this really what the American pro-gun lobby wants?

[naomi24]

//According to the Daily Telegraph, his Mother was part of the "prepper" movement which urges readiness for social chaos by hoarding supplies and training with weapons. //

A possible explanation for the state of mind of the murderer.

[mibn2cweus]

naomi24
//According to the Daily Telegraph, his Mother was part of the "prepper" movement which urges readiness for social chaos by hoarding supplies and training with weapons. //

A possible explanation for the state of mind of the murderer.
22:13 Mon 17th Dec 2012

"rather ironic" . . . to say the least! :o/

[joko]

if he believed his mother, maybe he thought...in some weird way that he was actually SAVING the kids from a worse death on the 21st...?


i heard 1 woman say on an interview, that if they ban guns, then only the bad guys will have them, so they'll be in even more danger...

[Bluestone]

"if he believed his mother, maybe he thought...in some weird way that he was actually SAVING the kids from a worse death on the 21st...? "

How ridiculous!! His mother was a PREPPER! She didn't think the world was going to "end on the 21st". She was preparing for an economical crisis. Nothing wrong with that. Great excuse to label all the preppers as metal though, hey...

This kid clearly had his own mental health problems and, the fact his mother had an array of weapons stored in her house, was just a recipe for disaster.
Teaching him how to shoot backfired in the worst possible way.

I have never heard ANYONE say "there is nothing wrong".

Clearly something is *very* wrong. Very wrong indeed...

[Canary42]

The thirteenth mass shooting this year according to the Washington Post. If the others didn't provoke changes, why should this one. Perhaps because of the extreme youth of the victims, but the yanks don't seem unduly upset about killing children if their actions in Afghanistan etc are anything to go by.

[joko]

bluestone - what are you on about? i havent called anyone mental.

maybe you havent heard but a huge amount of the worlds population believe the world will end on the 21st ... and many preppers are amassing weapons and food etc to survive in a post apocalyptic world because of it.

i was wondering about his motives.
but yeah...i guess its much easier to just label him a gun nut eh?

[jno]

conversely, LazyGun, Switzerland has a similar setup to the USA: no army but a citizen's militia; all men up to 30 or so get a gun, which they have to keep at home. And yet people don't kill people there, at least not in similar numbers. Mass murder with firearms seems to be a US speciality.

[wildwood]

I've never been in the USA and probably never will, but I understand their state of mind to protect themselves. There are of instances where security guards or house owners who have foiled robberies and burglaries, perhaps even murders because they have a gun, it is just not media fodder so we don't get to hear about it much.

Most people drive a car which can become a weapon for multiple murder. Even misused airguns of can easily kill people.

[RATTER15]

They need to ban hand guns and all semi automatic and automatic weapons, thay way people can still keep a weapon in the home for protection, the number of handguns available would drop immediatley making it far more difficult for criminals to carry guns, remembering that many of these murderers hold their weapons legally. I don't see so many robbers etc walking around carrying shot guns, of course it stop the murders but it will certainly slow it down. They also need to lose this culture of going out into the desert and letting rip with all these huge guns like it is some sort of party game, they are not toys. I have been around and held guns all my life but I have witnessed such little respect and disregards for weapons as I see in the USA. It really is scary!!!!!!!!

[RATTER15]

But I have "never" witnessed*

[woofgang]

In many states in the US, handguns are defined as "concealed weapons" and you need a permit to own and carry one. You can only get a permit if you can demonstrate a genuine need and that you are a person of good standing and good mental health. Part of the problem in understanding the US is that it is much less homogenous than the UK, both in attitude and in law. I think that there is a feeling in some places that either "it couldn't happen here" or "we need our guns, and are safe with them, not like those weird dangerous folk over in (insert your choice of state here)"

[emmie]

i watch Matt Frei report on channel 4 last evening, he has reported from the US for the last ten years. It was to say the least an emotionally charged report, and some of the testimonies from parents who have lost their children truly heartbreaking. I don't understand the mentality of the gun fanatics, one leader of the gun lobby said that he had no problem at all with gun ownership for all, you can't stop one lone gunman from killing people. With mindsets like this they are not going to convince people to lay down their weapons. One gun shop owner was interviewed who said that the day after the shooting was the busiest day they had ever had. You can't deal with that, not even Obama.

[emmie]

according to the report there are in the region of 300 millions guns in the US, some people may own one, whilst others an arsenal, what on earth for.