Texas Shooting

[Eternal]

So here in Oz there's been the usual media coverage of mass shootings in the US, with the emphasis on issues surrounding gun control etc etc

Interested in what the view from the ground is. Are people talking the need for greater gun control in the US or are the conversations being had are completely different?

[Spider]

It's texas. People mate with vegetables down there. This doesn't matter at all. they'll probably start talking about arming the teachers or something and that'll be the end of it.

[Kane]

[uebermann]

There will be no serious discussions. See: all of the other shootings

NRA gives too much money to Republicans, and guns are too ingrained in Conservative culture. You might as well ask for people to chop a leg off.

The "discussion" so far has been arming teachers, limiting schools to only 1 door, hiring more guards, locking down schools more in prison fashion, etc. Everything except limiting guns in any fashion. Oh and mental health, but of course we keep cutting any budgets towards that so no way there is going to be any impact on that front.

Essentially nothing will change short of getting some extreme changes in office on national and state level, which is NOT likely to happen, especially right now. Dems are looking to lose quite a bit in the midterms overall, and will almost certainly lose the house, senate, and WH with the way things are going at the moment.

[Kane]

Huh. Now the police chief of the school district police department isn't cooperating with the Texas Department of Public Safety.

It's an interesting sideshow that will shift the debate from guns being the problem to malfeasance by a specific officer. Gun nuts will be able to rest easily as they cuddle their weapon of choice in bed and focus on gun availability will recede until the next school shooting.

Good times.

[John Galt]

look there's some differences with this one, starting with the complete f**k failure of law enforcement to save those kids

what have they done? they've made gun control arguments harder in many respects. next time there's a school shooting, nearly every parent will show up, armed, and refuse to listen to police instruction. because the police clearly don't f**k care about your kid. i know if that happened here and my kid was in danger that's what I would do. police have been told by the supreme court they have no duty to protect anyone but themselves, and they have apparently listened. so next school shooting will have a side effect of police shooting parents trying to save their children.

it also made some other respects easier to swallow. he bought the gun at age 18 basically on his birthday and a week later he shot up a school over the course of 90 minutes (while the police were too scared to do anything). for any talk about how criminals break the law anyway -- he followed the law to the letter so he could break it. i think we can seriously see some movement on raising the age to 21. 21 is a much more appropriate age of majority. still a little young but better than 18.

daniel defense has ads showing toddlers playing with the same weapon that the kid shot up the school with. i think there may be movement on advertisements with and for children as well.

gun violence is so bad for the youth that it's the number one pediatric cause of death in this country (is you count to 19 year olds, anyway). it's pretty messed up

that said nothing else will really come of it. the "arming teachers" bit is hilarious because these are the same politicans who will in the same breath also say the teachers and their "wokeness" are the real problems causing this to begin with. republicans just like to blame "mental health" then offer zero solutions to any of it. kick the blame elsewhere and don't even try to address it

[Saz]

The lack of action, on scene and politically afterwards, is alarming at this point. People will start assassinating public officials if this keeps up - the coward cops are rightfully in fear for their lives and yesterday I saw the second most popular comment on a recent NYT article was basically saying nothing will change until republicans senators and their children start getting shot. I live in Texas and I don't know a single person who is as militantly pro gun as apparently every republican senator. You can't f**k around with peoples kids like this - I think we are closer to real political violence than we have been since the 60s.

[John Galt]

of course i have long guns, and of course i have semiautomatic long guns. i'm an american damnit. and I agree with the statement that almost none of them are used in crime. the problem is that this isn't normal crime, and these people don't expect to live. you bring a handgun if you expect to get away with it. you come fully loaded if you don't.

generally I'm not going to favor bans, but I see no problem with licensure. just follow the pattern for automatic weapons. sales or transfers of weapons must require tax stamps, send in your photo and fingerprints to the FBI, etc. fine, put in a clause that if any weapons detailed become banned the whole list has be deleted, I don't care. automatic weapons were not banned but whatever, think it's going to happen this time

because you're right, it seems to be coming to a head. lets see if prime time jan 6 committee can kick it off a cliff

[Kane]

lol

My expectations of the Jan 6 committee are so low - I don't even thinks it's quantifiable. Schiff went on and on about Russiagate and then they produced a bunch of relevant stuff about confidants but nothing critically damning. I doubt anything released Thursday morning will cause anybody's perception of Trump to change drastically.

As for guns - I have some. I actually went to a gun show over the weekend (Yes CA still has them) and bought some parts that will soon be banned. It's a fun project. Alternatively, would I feel threatened if we required gun licenses, background checks for all, etc etc? No....not at all.

Sure would be nice to see some sensibility out there.

[Saz]

I don't have a gun. It's not normal that every person in a "civilized" society feels the need to own or carry an instrument of death. Like what the f**k do people DO with their guns? Go to the range and shoot every week? I just don't get it - an AR-15 is to kill people, it has no alternative uses. Sure you CAN shoot other things with it but who the f**k is taking their AR hunting? Why are civilians able to purchase BODY ARMOR? Hell, why can civilians purchase 1000+ rounds no questions asked? Marines take what, 250-300 into COMBAT?

There is no point talking about it because it's obviously not logical. I agree with the NYT piece, start shooting at the ones who insist the guns aren't the problem. They will change tune REAL QUICK.