Just what we need. Another campus shooting incident....

[poltr1]

From MSNBC: Gunman injures as many as 15 people at Northern Illinois University.

How do we keep guns away from people who would use them to harm other people?

I don't think a total ban on firearms would work.

We haven't learned the lessons from Columbine or Virginia Tech.

Discuss.

(Aside to catalana: Please check in!)

Comments

[athenawindsong.livejournal.com]

I think your mood sums it up. Sad and angry. Alot of people seem to have this unfocused, undirected sadness and anger they can't seem to shake. Psychological effects of war, poor economy, terribly bi-partisan politics, high gas prices, mortgage crisis, the list goes on and on and on.

This is the "worse before it gets better" part of these shootings. No, we haven't learned from them. In fact, their regularity now gives them a viability to those who want an emotional outlet for their misguided rage.

I think we have to go through this period of turmoil to get to the other side, though. We will, at some point, come out of it shaken and aware. But until people start to have faith in the government, the economy, the world around them, themselves and each other, things will continue in this vein and worsen.

[owlsforodin.livejournal.com]

You're pretty close to the truth. Your words made me remember my own personal "Days of the Mad Gods' Rage" period and I don't remember it being pretty. (For me or anyone else) After taking MHT-101 at Sinclair, I have a better idea of how mental health professionals approach their trade. That said, they're still entirely too dependent on what a client reports about themselves. And as I know all too well, unless the client thinks there's something "special" about a perception, feeling, or mindset, they'll probably never mention it, and the counselor or therapist could miss something very important. Before July 2004, if you had told me that overloaded senses were the basis of my anger management issues, you would have gotten a very cynical retort. And even then, it took another three years to get to a truly effective medication and treatment plan.

I'm just glad that the only firearms that I had access to were black powder, single-shot, muzzle-loaders, that I had no clue how to load and use. These were 2 matchlock muskets, 1 flintlock musket, and 1 wheellock pistol. Some of my wargaming friends are also reenactors. Yeah. What a shooting rampage that would have been. Which brings me to a question: Citizens should be able to protect themselves adequately, but does that mean that semi-automatic pistols with 20-round clips have to be generally available? As a bit of perspective, a WW2-era M1 Garand, the US Army's standard issue rifle of the time, was semi-automatic, but had only an 8-round clip. No, owning a firearm shouldn't be illegal, but do we really need to have crowd-sprayers?

[ocean-star.livejournal.com]

How do we keep guns away from people who would use them to harm other people?

What is a gun for, if not to harm others? Guns are weapons. They were created solely for the purpose of ending life.

I agree that a total ban wouldn't work, either, as criminals don't obey laws. However, we must own up to the fact that a gun is something deadly, and has a deadly purpose. Maybe that would help us create more reasonable legislation.

[poltr1]

What is a gun for, if not to harm others? Guns are weapons. They were created solely for the purpose of ending life.

Yes. They can be used for target practice, or hunting animals, or worse. But as long as the NRA and the Second Amendment crowd keeps singing their one-note song, things are not likely to change.

[catalana.livejournal.com]

I work at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, not at NIU. But I'm fine - I was in Chicago.

[catalana.livejournal.com]

Oh, and thanks for thinking of me. *hug*

[poltr1]

Good to hear. I knew you worked at some university in Illinois; I didn't know which one.