What do you say is the real solution for these mass shootings?

[markroxny]

Pick your solution and say why

[Whirlaway]

Ban "gun free" zones....let those who are trained and licensed carry legally.

[Whirlaway]

I wouldn't ban them; but instead of beating up on gun owners and gun right advocates, politicians, news outlets, and the left should start laying blame on Hollywood, the media, and distributors/producers of violent video games and other violent laden entertainment.

Poor parenting is the big culprit in my opinion. Too many broken homes with single parents who are ill-equipped to properly raise children. Help them by using the presidential bully pulpit against the producers of violent trash !

[Whirlaway]

We have a culture in which is is ok to kill late-term or partially delivered babies.....change that culture.

[markroxny]

Actually the culture is a good point Whirl, how do i change the poll?

[fetishfreak]

All of the above. Assault riffles are already banned in many areas. Some tightening of gun control laws are fine. Mandatory waiting periods are fine. However this alone is not a solution since it will mostly affect law abiding people trying to protect themselves.

Improving work with mentally ill is never a bad thing but should not come at taxpayer expense. Now if you want to legalize drugs free those imprisoned for non violent drug related crime and use the savings to restore mental health care I may support that.

The last two are a preventive measure. This does not solve the problem it merely helps to reduce the damage should the problem occur. I believe that had teachers been armed or a security presence been available this guy may still have tried to do this attack. However, it likely would have resulted in fewer deaths.

In this case number 2 would likely have had the best results. 3 and 4 would have only served to shorten the attack.

[joe bloe]

There is no solution. To say that there is a solution is to say that the problem can be solved. It never will be. We can try to improve security in our schools. We can try to be more vigilant in looking for warning signs of mental illness that might lead to murder. But in the end, this sort of thing will happen again; there is no way to prevent it.

The worst mass murder in an elementary school in American history happened in 1927. Thirty eight elementary school children were killed with dynamite. We didn't outlaw dynamite.

Also, don't forget the twenty children that died needlessly in the Waco Massacre in 1993, because of Janet Reno's incompetence. They didn't die because of inadequate gun laws. They died because of an out of control federal government. Part of the trumped excuse for attacking the Waco compound was that David Koresh had a hoard of illegal guns. Ironic isn't it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath_School_disaster

[CJ7]

theres not a solution

the best prevention is educating the people to be aware of potential threats and report them to the police before the situation escalates ... police should make investigating cases of this nature their #1 priority, and not shrug it off simply because the person of interest hasnt broken any laws YET.

the situation in Oklahoma was stopped because classmates went to the police before anything tragic took place ..

[Whirlaway]

I agree JB.

My comments are not solutions, but steps toward lower levels of violence (hopefully).

3 of the worse school mass murders in modern world history occurred in Germany. A country that has extreme gun control laws.

Originally Posted by joe bloe

There is no solution. To say that there is a solution is to say that the problem can be solved. It never will be. We can try to improve security in our schools. We can try to be more vigilant in looking for warning signs of mental illness that might lead to murder. But in the end, this sort of thing will happen again; there is no way to prevent it.

The worst mass murder in an elementary school in American history happened in 1927. Thirty eight elementary school children were killed with dynamite. We didn't outlaw dynamite.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath_School_disaster

[guest010313]

I'm glad at least one person realizes that it is the mental health issues that we need to address.

[Fancyinheels]

Originally Posted by Whirlaway

I wouldn't ban them; but instead of beating up on gun owners and gun right advocates, politicians, news outlets, and the left should start laying blame on Hollywood, the media, and distributors/producers of violent video games and other violent laden entertainment.

Poor parenting is the big culprit in my opinion. Too many broken homes with single parents who are ill-equipped to properly raise children. Help them by using the presidential bully pulpit against the producers of violent trash !

I call bulltwinkie. I watched people get blown up in action movies, shot in combat/western/mob movies, eaten by aliens and stomped by dino-creatures in sci fi, sucked dry by Dracula and his relatives and cut to ribbons by Freddy Kreuger in horror, and I didn't turn into a serial killer. (That vampire thing may have had some influence, however.) Tons of kids grow up watching violent TV and playing shoot-em-up games and are just fine. We're talking about a few people out of MILLIONS.

At least slow them down. NOBODY needs an assault rifle to hunt Bambi or defend your home from invading zombies. Only police and military should have them. And there are plenty of single parents out there who are doing a great job, so don't demonize them. Two parents who fight and curse each other 99% of the time but stay in a loveless, acidic marriage "for the kids" can leave much worse and longer-lasting damage.

I also think we need to place more emphasis on treating mental illness in this country and recognizing the symptoms, not ignoring them or patting someone on the back and saying, "There, there, you'll get over it."

[JD Barleycorn]

You may think you tried your best but do you really think that there is one simple answer to everything? You use some loaded words "real" and "mass". To me the use of the word "real" means that there is one final solution and we just have to gird our loins and do it. Why not ask about general violence instead of mass shootings. What consitutes a mass shooting? Two dead, three dead, four dead? What about the wounded? If no one died but many were shot is that a mass shooting.

I won't participate in your poll but I will (once again) tell you some of my ideas and there is no guarantee that any single one of them would stop this. After all, mass killings and attacks go back thousands of years in human history. For the record the worst school murder incident was in 1927 and involved dynamite. Look up Bath, Michigan massacre.

Grabbing guns has never been the answer, nor is grabbing magazines or bullets. The hardest row to hoe is societal values, That will not be fixed overnight. We don't even have the people in the classrooms qualified to teach decent values. We have to teach those people in order to have the people to do the job in 20-30 years. We could ban certain video games, movies, songs, books, or art but we know that is not going to happen. Parents could become more involved with their children when they play their games and divide into their peer groups but that is hard work.

I would call for having some armed, trained adults at our schools with written authorization to use lethal force. That is what we are used to; a quick fix.

Are we willing to put people away who may be a decent well adjusted person 95% of the time but are capable, and likely, to use massive violence 5% of the time? Will we violate their rights to protect ours?

[jmcqd]

I agree with the above...better trained armed personnel and education on mental health is needed. Unfortunately, how many times does a person just snap, with no signs of a problem. If it's going to happen, it will. I don't understand the over reaction to firearms either...it is not the firearm that kills...it is the person pulling the trigger. Banning and lawsuits only hurt the majority of decent law abiding people and companies; not the criminals or those that go off the deep end. Besides, how can you blame a car for killing somebody during a crash when the driver was drunk or high?

[markroxny]

Originally Posted by JD Barleycorn

Are we willing to put people away who may be a decent well adjusted person 95% of the time but are capable, and likely, to use massive violence 5% of the time? Will we violate their rights to protect ours?

I throw that question back at you jd. What about this young man who did this? He was a "decent" 95% of the time.

[CJ7]

10 ' chain link fences shrouded in razor wire top to bottom, guard towers on all 4 corners, cameras positoined to monitor every square inch of the grounds, inside and out, armed guards/metal detectors at a one way in and one way out gated hallway ..

sigh~


class begins at 8:15am ..

http://www.appalshop.org/h2h/film/im...er%20image.jpg