To me, it ignores the mindset of the shooters. Carrying a gun into a crowded space and opening fire is their way of saying "Fuck you people, you will respect me now." It's an instant ticket for everything about their life to be hardcore...they get to be a serial killer, man! It's the chilling one-man army you see in all the movies, in glorious reality-bantered on tv, manifesto read by millions, laboriously studied by criminologists and psychologists. This is the ultimate strike back of someone who has been isolated, ignored and bullied their entire life-their "fuck you" echoes in history! Our culture does glorify violent young men (or were all those rappers talking about killing it at Quidditch?), but it's not something that can be isolated to video games, gangster rap or movies. Even if it was, drawing political attention to it just fuels the popularity. Maybe, just fucking maybe, if we made an effort to include more people this shit wouldn't go down? I don't think there's a solution, truthfully this has always been a problem in the US: we have guns, we have mental illness and we have public places and they inevitably mix. Which element of this can effectively be treated for 300+ million people? I say mental illness, but...well, this is America and we're not exactly renowned for our ability to care for the plight of others.
I felt this odd sense of protection when I heard about the shooting in Ottawa like when something really horrible happens to your distant relative. Kevin Vickers is a hero and should be honored as such, but the gun debate is a bit more nuanced. I don't think its feasible to unring the bell of legal firearm ownership in the US and I'm not sure I would want to. I hope there are smarter people than me working on this, 'cause I don't think I'm qualified to suggest a solution. I grew up with firearms and consider them a specific tool for a specific job. I also think we should keep weapons out of the hands of those that shouldn't have them, but have no clue as to go about doing that. This makes me unreasonably upset and I'm not one of those prototypical NRA types you see screaming on the news. http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/co ... un-control DC has one of the most ineffective police departments I've ever seen, so I can understand why people would want to be strapped. If anyone from Chicago wants to chime in on this, I would be interested in hearing it. This is not directly related to the gun issue, but its shit like this MPD: https://twitter.com/mattashburn/status/ ... 7030903808
I agree with shimmered's onion description. There are so many layers to these problems. Additionally, I think that those saying that this will get worse before it gets better are correct as well. To me, I think we need to take a look at technology in general. In terms of it's effects on people and their mental health. I have said this before in another thread and I'm sure many can agree with this. Technology creates an environment where we are insulated from one-another. We put ourselves in positions where apathy quickly takes hold (I can't recall who posted it, but the description of just caring about getting the exchange student gig to the U.S. and not really being concerned about others).This isn't just video games but it is social media and people's general addiction with technology. How many of you can name your neighbors? Their kids? Their pets? How many of you belong to a single local group (charity, volunteer organization or even rec sports league)? It's really alarming to me how crowded this world has become yet how alone people seem to feel. This isn't a good thing, we are losing are connection to humanity to some degree it seems. It makes it real easy to see how someone who is rejected or ill can view the outside world without a care for the pain they could cause others. Now, I have posted here before about guns; I am a staunch supporter of freedom, not just guns. I still don't believe that abridging freedom in the name of security is a good idea. I won't go so far as to say that the current levels of gun control are perfect but I still believe we can fix the problem with removing firearms from the equation.