Orlando shooting, and those using it to push gun control

[Regulus]

[quote="Kops"]^ To be fair, it's a part of lax gun laws and a very strong gun culture that's causing this problem in the US, not just gun surplus by itself.[/quote]

I somewhat agree, and I somewhat disagree.

The reason why America has more lax gun laws is because some places in America are much more rural than any area of Europe. We have quite a bit of undeveloped land outside all our major cities, and some people live pretty far from anyone else. In that case, for those people, owning a gun just makes sense. It makes sense if you can't expect a sheriff to come to your property in only a few minutes. It makes sense if you live in an area with wild animals. It makes sense if you go hunting.

So, there's a reason why that's part of our culture, and it's not a silly one. Now, that said, having a gun for defense against another guy with a gun is a ridiculous prospect and should be discarded altogether during these arguments. Guns shouldn't be allowed to be owned in urban areas, because that's where the problems arise. If you have a hundred people in one building, and a gun that can shoot a hundred bullets--you do the math, all that's necessary is one idiot to end up with zero bullets and a hundred dead people.

What we have here are people living in urban areas who fear guns, and people living in rural areas who need guns. We're becoming increasingly divided on this issue, and it isn't pretty. If we ban guns across the board, then the people who need them can't have them. If we keep lax gun laws across the board, then anyone can get a gun and shoot as many people as their heart desires. But if we have strict laws in urban areas and lax laws in rural areas, could that really help? I don't know. I would think someone as determined as some of these mass shooters are would simply go to a rural area to buy their weapon.

So, you know what? I've been saying this for a while, and I'll say it again. I don't think gun control or lack thereof is the problem. I think everyone can agree that background checks for mental health and a criminal record could be helpful, but we can't expect this to solve the entire problem. We can't solve this problem with a simple "guns or no guns" switch.

Instead, I'm going to pull a gargantuan twist here. What we really need isn't gun control at all. What we need is better mental health care. We need publicly-funded mental health care, available to anyone who walks in. You need help? No problem, we'll help you. It should be that simple. We need publicly-funded colleges and universities, so that people have opportunity in this country. We need to guarantee a minimum wage of $15 an hour, high enough that someone could live off of. That way, we don't have people poor and hopeless enough to steal and make ends meet using socially unacceptable methods. Our culture needs to change so that Americans are not overworked and underpaid. People need to work less, take breaks to relax, and get more sleep. We're so stressed out all the time, and that's not helping our culture any.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think anyone wants to be a sick person. What everyone wants always appears to be the same; it's just basic needs. These people who do things like this--don't you think it's because they feel like they've been wronged by society and they don't have any other choice in life?

[KopsTheTerminator]

^ That is very true and you're making a lot of good points. While of course there's some people who are just born psychopaths, I think improving in the areas you mentioned would do a lot of good in dropping crime rates so people wouldn't resort to criminality to make a living.

[SlayerOfLight]

*cough* religion of peace *cough*

[FlipMode]

But going to therapy isn't going to make someone who is broke suddenly not broke.
Also the hard part would be getting them to sign up in the first place. Do you think someone who is about to resort to crime just to make a bit of money to live on is thinking logically like that? I somehow doubt it...