Guess we just aren't going to talk about this

[Medius]

[Medius]

[Bauce]

You make a good point Medius. It would be very harmful even if it's just a few isolated diehards taking up arms against the government. It would be a bad thing, and one that could easily lead to the government further eroding other rights and liberties which aren't even gun related.

That said, the American public tends to disapprove of vigilantism against law enforcement, even if they agree with the vigilante's principles. I think they would end up blaming the resisters for engaging in violent conflicts with the cops.

It could be comparable to the NSA situation. People hate it, but they're not willing to put themselves on the line to do anything about it, and those who do go rogue to fight it are received with controversial mixed reception AT BEST. More often than not, it's worse though. Plenty of people who are livid about the NSA will stay say that they don't support what Snowden did because they don't think it's cool to leak classified security documents, even if you're doing it for a noble cause.

Anyway, that's the state of our public today. They'll get angry enough from time to time that they go elect someone from the other party than the incumbent, but other than that, they opt to live with policies they find reprehensible rather than revolt against the institutions.

[Medius]

[Medius]

Now that we've gone on every off-track and every possible tangent, I want to ask... How does any of this have any relevance to the situation in the OP?

There was no handgun.
There was no semi-automatic rifle.
There was no private sale.
There was no high capacity magazine.
There was no mental health issue to be caught.
There was no selling to felons.
There was no selling to a potential terrorist.
Background checks were not at issue.

It was a kid who got his hands on a shotgun, modified it himself, and put it towards evil ends.

I'm not saying this isn't a tragedy or that there's nothing we could potentially solve here, but it seems it is being used only as a political talking point to justify completely unrelated gun-control measures.

[Dylan]

[Dylan]

[The Dharma Bum]

[exploited]

That really is sad. But he pointed a gun at a cop. After being asked to put it in his home and after being asked to simply hand it over while the officer was on scene.

[Leviathan]