Another High School Shooting ... Santa Clara California (page 3)

iwantoutnow

It isn't the guns that are the cause of these killings, its the psychological social environment that these young people are absorbed into.

Really? You mean the dont have the same environment in Canada, or England, or Norway, or Germany?

There's a whole generation of kids out there, many of whom are pampered, narcissistic and too thin skinned to deal with the realities of life. We live in a time of instant gratification where Microwave ovens are too slow and fast food takes far too long. Calling someone on the phone is too much of a commitment compared to sending a text or instant message. Behind the wheel of a speeding car, even a generally balanced person will fell justified when they become enraged by a driver who isn't going at least 10 mph over the speed limit.

Kids spend hour upon hour playing video games where one simply blasts everything out of their way. They've grown up with Social Media where one can anonymously weigh in with their opinion or spew hatred and unfriend or block anyone who disagrees. They've seen their parents, from the anonymity of their speeding car, become enraged and endanger themselves and everyone on the road, because someone dared to get in their way.

I fear that some of the kids today have become so isolated and detached from others that their view of reality is skewed. Those they view as enemies, aren't seen as real people. Every problem they encounter or difficulty they have with someone in the real world, feels like a life or death matter to them and they don't have the coping skills they need to work things out in real time. They deal with these things the only way they know how...swiftly and with the skills they learned in their imaginary world.

Combine all this with the availability of a gun and there you have it...

Simon

They are fed a diet that the world is ending, they have no future, that they should be "a winner" and that if they are not it's because someone has cheated them out of it and the way to respond to things is by screaming and raging.

They might go through school and life never having anyone tell them to show some respect.

There are many possible explanations, but one thing is certain: declaring schools or anywhere a "gun free zone" doesn't actually make them a gun free zone, it makes people very vulnerable to someone who has a gun.

If I was a resentful prick that wanted to go out by shoot a load of people, it's hard to think of a better place than a school. Guaranteed lots of people in confined spaces with no one to stop you ... unless there just happens to be a passing cop.

But it all happens so fast, even an armed guard might take minutes to get to the right part of the school and it may be unclear who the shooter is (it may help in some cases, but there will inevitably be some accidental shootings)

It's probably lots of little things. Stop the endless diet of doom and gloom news, give people a reason to want a future. Deal with the people who are assholes (because the "no one saw it coming" ones are really quite rare). Stop reporting things on the news because like suicides, the media hype about them encourages more.

joey jojo

Some of you guys have mentioned what it was like in the good old days, when everyone cruised around, openly displaying weapons and no one ever got shot.

I'm old enough to remember the exact same scenario here in Australia, guys would walk down the road in country towns with guns on their way home from shooting. Guns were everywhere, nearly everyone I knew owned a gun, especially in the country areas. They were part of our culture.

That all changed after the worst mass shooting by a single shooter ever. It only took one, single bad event.

If there were nearly 400 mass shootings in any other developed country in the world in a single year, the citizens of that country would be rioting in the streets for social change.

The only countries that come close to America's gun violence are in South and Central America and war zones.

I'm not judging, I'm not against guns, but I can't believe people will blame everything else except the fact that there is easy access to guns in the US.

Simon

I can't believe people will blame everything else except the fact that there is easy access to guns in the US.

Of course that's a factor, but as it's impossible to change, there's little point in calling it the problem when looking for solution and the fact that as you said, it wasn't always the problem, means maybe it isn't the root cause?

It's like blaming drink-driving on easy access to cars.

joey jojo

Simon, I usually agree with a lot of your comments but I think comparing drink driving to gun violence is a classic strawman argument.

Vehicles and transportation are necessary for everyday life, guns are not, unless you are actively serving in some type of security.

Vehicles, also are designed for safety and usually the drunk driver has no intention of killing.

Pete Zahut

It's like blaming drink-driving on easy access to cars.
Simon, I usually agree with a lot of your comments but I think comparing drink driving to gun violence is a classic strawman argument.

Perhaps the similarity of the two examples could be seen if it were said that a contributing factor to the drink-driving problem is the easy access to alcohol rather than an easy access to cars and that a contributing factor of the mass shootings is the easy access to bullets instead of guns.

The thing is, alcohol and cars have always been available to the public but the difference now is that there are the increase in the drink-drive problem is because there are more drivers on the road and the odds of there being a drunk driver among them is higher and so is the likelihood of them accidentally hitting someone on the crowded roads.

Similarly, guns and bullets have always been available here in the U.S. but the troubling thing is that something has changed recently in society itself, to cause the use of guns for intentionally killing people in public places, to become a trend.

I feel that the things I mentioned in my earlier post, as well as a trend toward a victim mentality and to blame others for ones problems, coupled with the availability of guns, could be the perfect storm that is taking place and resulting in what we are seeing.

RubaDub

I can't believe people will blame everything else except the fact that there is easy access to guns in the US

Easy access to guns, at one time, is not the answer. When I was growing up, guns were far easier to purchase than they are today. You went to your local hardware store or sporting goods store, put some cash on the counter, and walked away with a gun.If you were buying it under age, and the guy behind the counter knew your family and you said you were buying it as a gift for your father, you would walk away with the gun.

Access to guns is not simply the answer. I think the reason WHY people buy them needs to be examined.

Rub a Dub

Simon

I think comparing drink driving to gun violence is a classic strawman argument.

The point was that the "tool" has always been around, so simply blaming the tool for being available isn't the cause per-se. Sure, it's a contributing factor, but given that there is zero chance that guns can be magically removed, it's pointless just blaming them.

In fact, I think blaming guns is a way of doing precisely nothing, because the people calling for it must know it can't happen unless they are willing to offer some major concession as a negotiating chip - which they won't, because they don't really care, it's just a political football.

In this case it was an asian shooter with an illegal weapon (from what I read), so the problem solves itself: it will disappear from the news by tomorrow, never to be mentioned again because it's not a white kid with an AR15 and a MAGA hat.

LongHairGal

PETE ZAHUT:

Yes, your theory is true and it’s really hard to feel sorry for some of the selfish, impatient and sarcastic young people around. Their view of reality is definitely screwed up.

Amen to what you said about people having road rage if you’re not doing 10 miles above the speed limit.

I was trying to make a left turn at a light where there was no dedicated left turning lane. Unfortunately, that means people behind me cannot go. I was in the intersection but couldn’t turn because of oncoming traffic and simply had to wait for the light to change...The impatient driver behind me was honking repeatedly.. Did this idiot imagine I was going to get in a deadly head-on collision just to pacify him or her???...While I can’t be sure this was a young person, I tend to doubt it was a mature adult.

Another High School Shooting ... Santa Clara California

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