by DGFone » January 28th, 2013, 10:02 pm
[quote="Regulus"][quote="DGFone"]
Maybe that's why. I'm almost certain that's why we've had so many mass shootings-- it's not because crazy people can get guns, but because our lives suck so much, it makes people crazy.
A hundred years ago, we didn't have this problem. In addition to the obvious fact that assault weapons were basically military prototypes back then, life was also different. Things were much simpler. We were more in touch with our instinct.
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Just to be clear, a hundred years ago, the average citizen had better guns than what the military used. Up to, and somewhat past the civil war, a regular citizen would own a hunting rifle- one that can hit where you point it. It was much better than the muskets that the army would use. In fact, in the revolution, the militia's Kentucky Rifles were in fact the equivalent of a super weapon. The British hated them so much that they even complained.
And another statistic that all gun haters always ignore is this simple fact: Even as guns get more circulated, and the average gun gets deadlier, somehow, despite all that, gun violence is actually dropping, with less people dying each year from guns. And not just every now and then. It had been dropping steadily for the past two or three decades at least.
I don't know much about depression, apart form the fact that I had it, and my sister did too (I know why I got my depression though). Never in the middle of that, did I ever think of taking my own life, nor of someone else's. I handled guns then too. My sister also handled guns after her depression, when she wasn't legally allowed to own one (granted, she was underage, but it was due to her depression). She never even came close to killing anyone because she was always under close supervision from out parents.
What I'm getting at is that I think the best solution for gun violence is, while not making sense at face value, I think works well:
Force everyone to use a gun at least a few times. Teach them how to use them, as well as the responsibility behind them. In short, remove the "toy" nature of guns that society treats them today as, and get it into everyone's head that a gun is a tool, but one that requires great responsibility and restraint to handle.
And to back it up, there's a family with at least five kids, many of them very young, and plenty of guns simply laying around the house. The only time there was an accidental discharge? When a family friend from California, with some of the strictest gun laws in America, came over. Not knowing how to handle a gun, there was an accident...
...In a house with children as young as five or even less. The second time the Californian visited and accidently discharged a gun, they knew that this person was not safe with guns. The reason why this family never worried about the children being around guns (they were free to grab the guns at almost all times, usually under supervision) was because everyone in the family were taught how to handle firearms at a very young age.
What it comes down to is that if you train people how to handle guns properly, even if they are depressed, get bipolar disease, etc, the training will always be there in the back of the mind, preventing problems.
Just look at the military: the most stressful job in the world, the biggest, deadliest weapons in the world, and the only people who get shot are the enemies. If guns were themselves a problem, they wouldn't be adopted by the military, because soldiers would simply shoot themselves to death.
But if you train citizens how to handle guns as well as soldiers? Problem solved...
...Like in Switzerland. And Israel.
