Recent Shooting and Discussion

What’s been tried and failed?

I agree that there’s a mental health component to this and that gun laws won’t totally solve anything. I don’t have any realistic ideas on how to fix mental health, so attempting to stop guns from falling into the wrong hands is the next best thing.

Plenty of cities/ states have strict gun laws. And none of them are any better off that I can tell.

“Mental health” is too broad of a term. Yeah some people are loony and belong in a nuthouse. But they aren’t the majority of the problem. Seems like most mass shootings are at the hands of angry teens/ young adults.

I live in rural north GA. The area I live in is not poor by any means. Almost any direction I go, within 10 minutes I can find $1m+ homes and $1m+ tracts of land. About 2 years ago, a lady I go to church with who works in the local school system(yes I go to church and yes I believe in god) told us about a student in her class that was having anger problem and lashing out, failing grades and always starting fights. But the previous years before he was a great student. When they finally sat him down and asked him why he replied “I’m just hungry”. Turns out the only time this kid got a meal was when he was at school. So that got them looking at other kids in the schools and the number of kids in my area that are going without the most basic of human needs blew my mind. It’s 2019 and tons of money in the area and kids are lashing out simply because they are hungry? I would have never thought that would be possible, but it was the case. We have since created a outreach program with donations from the church, members of the community and even local businesses and grocery store to make sure that anyone that can’t afford food,due to whatever the circumstances might be, can have food to eat. We give out backpacks every year before school starts and it amazes me how something so simple as a backpack can’t make a kid light up. There are kids in every city that are hungry. Hungry for food, acceptance,guidance, friends or maybe they just need to know someone gives a damn about them. There are tons of ways people can make a difference in the lives of these kids. Random acts of kindness have longer and farther reaching effects than random act of violence. Never know, an act of kindness might be all it takes to stop one of these kids from taking their own life or the life of others. Unfortunately a lot of people aren’t willing to do stuff to help others. It takes time and resources. I’d rather be doing other stuff and I’ve always got stuff I’d rather spend my money on but I remind myself that if all goes as planned, I’ll be leaving this world long before my kids and I’d rather focus on trying to leave them a world with a little less hate than a world with fewer freedoms and more gun laws. So anyways, that’s a take on it from and uneducated, gun toting good ol boy.


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Till you get denied from purchasing a weapon because you got in a fight in grade school over some playground bullshit. But you answer honestly on your evaluation so now you’re a “violent” person.
Obviously that’s probably an exaggeration.
Have you ever taken a mental health evaluation? I have and there’s definitely questions asked that, if answered honestly, pretty much anyone could be classified as a risk.


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No doubt I would fail something like this, especially in this society.


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Plenty of cities/ states have strict gun laws. And none of them are any better off that I can tell.

“Mental health” is too broad of a term. Yeah some people are loony and belong in a nuthouse. But they aren’t the majority of the problem. Seems like most mass shootings are at the hands of angry teens/ young adults.

I live in rural north GA. The area I live in is not poor by any means. Almost any direction I go, within 10 minutes I can find $1m+ homes and $1m+ tracts of land. About 2 years ago, a lady I go to church with who works in the local school system(yes I go to church and yes I believe in god) told us about a student in her class that was having anger problem and lashing out, failing grades and always starting fights. But the previous years before he was a great student. When they finally sat him down and asked him why he replied “I’m just hungry”. Turns out the only time this kid got a meal was when he was at school. So that got them looking at other kids in the schools and the number of kids in my area that are going without the most basic of human needs blew my mind. It’s 2019 and tons of money in the area and kids are lashing out simply because they are hungry? I would have never thought that would be possible, but it was the case. We have since created a outreach program with donations from the church, members of the community and even local businesses and grocery store to make sure that anyone that can’t afford food,due to whatever the circumstances might be, can have food to eat. We give out backpacks every year before school starts and it amazes me how something so simple as a backpack can’t make a kid light up. There are kids in every city that are hungry. Hungry for food, acceptance,guidance, friends or maybe they just need to know someone gives a damn about them. There are tons of ways people can make a difference in the lives of these kids. Random acts of kindness have longer and farther reaching effects than random act of violence. Never know, an act of kindness might be all it takes to stop one of these kids from taking their own life or the life of others. Unfortunately a lot of people aren’t willing to do stuff to help others. It takes time and resources. I’d rather be doing other stuff and I’ve always got stuff I’d rather spend my money on but I remind myself that if all goes as planned, I’ll be leaving this world long before my kids and I’d rather focus on trying to leave them a world with a little less hate than a world with fewer freedoms and more gun laws. So anyways, that’s a take on it from and uneducated, gun toting good ol boy.

As far as I know no states or cities have had a mandatory mental health screening as part of a background check. I do think some regulation is currently helping, but even if I didn’t I think it’s a bit defeatist to say welp one type of regulation didn’t work so let’s scrap all types of regulation. I hope the scientists working to cure cancer don’t take that approach.

I’m glad you’re getting involved in your community. We do similar things at my office (admittedly not that personally costs me money, just a bit of volunteered time). Your community certainly benefits from that and the world would be better if we were all more involved in our communities.

However, I don’t see why we can’t try to fix this issue on multiple fronts including different regulations and mental health (I personally think that social media plays a large part). It’s a complex issue that requires a complex solution.
 
No doubt I would fail something like this, especially in this society.

If responsible gun owners became no longer able to buy guns then it would have been implemented poorly. It seems crazy to not consider something that might help because it could be implemented poorly.

I think that implemented correctly it wouldn’t change the lives of 99.99% of gun owners other than to be slightly inconvenienced when trying to purchase. If it stops the 1 in 10,000 (just a random number with no facts behind it) that shouldn’t be purchasing a gun then it’s inconvenience well spent in my book.
 
I don’t believe that. If there was no other option and several people you personally knew had successfully gone though it I don’t think you’d find it a big deal.

Again, we are talking about answering truthfully. I can pass that test if I tell them what they want to hear but who interprets what is right and what is wrong?


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If responsible gun owners became no longer able to buy guns then it would have been implemented poorly. It seems crazy to not consider something that might help because it could be implemented poorly.

I think that implemented correctly it wouldn’t change the lives of 99.99% of gun owners other than to be slightly inconvenienced when trying to purchase. If it stops the 1 in 10,000 (just a random number with no facts behind it) that shouldn’t be purchasing a gun then it’s inconvenience well spent in my book.

Yeah, because welfare was implanted to help people and it hasn’t been abused or misused at all.


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I think that implemented correctly it wouldn’t change the lives of 99.99% of gun owners other than to be slightly inconvenienced when trying to purchase. If it stops the 1 in 10,000 (just a random number with no facts behind it) that shouldn’t be purchasing a gun then it’s inconvenience well spent in my book.

I don't think it's the 'inconvenience' that's the negative issue with this. At least for me it isn't. It's what I posted earlier and what Speedy posted. Who creates the tests? Who administers the test? Who reviews the answers? Who gets to decide who is crazy or not? Etc....... Hell, there's people in Congress right now (BOTH SIDES) that vote on shit strictly to maintain their own power and comfort. They could give a flying fuck about you and me and our lives and freedoms. Will these be the people signing up for these tests? Will they even read the bill?
 
I bought a gun at a gun show, and had a Federal background check conducted. At the ones I’ve been to, every booth must conduct that. I’ve seen a man refused a sale because of it.


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Even in Nevada the booth sales typically go through FFL. It the parking lot sales that don’t (person to person, people walking around offering to sell).
 
To share something beyond NRA talking points and memes. I am deeply saddened today by the many stories of lives lost and the great heroism of so many to come to aid of others regardless of skin color or race or gender or sexual orientation.

These survivors will also never be the same. If you’ve ever come face to face with a gun pointed at you, and death a real possibility, you know this to be true. It is trauma that is never unvisualized. May they all find the support and strength they need to grieve and move forward.
 

We get it already. You're an unoriginal, propaganda spitting, gun toting, god fearing, trump supporting, right wing conservative. Whooptie fucking doo! Give it a rest and come up with something on you're own.

To share something beyond NRA talking points and memes. I am deeply saddened today by the many stories of lives lost and the great heroism of so many to come to aid of others regardless of skin color or race or gender or sexual orientation.

These survivors will also never be the same. If you’ve ever come face to face with a gun pointed at you, and death a real possibility, you know this to be true. It is trauma that is never unvisualized. May they all find the support and strength they need to grieve and move forward.

Very true.


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Indiana was identical when I got my first CPL in 1992. Since I haven’t lived there in a long time I don’t know if’s still like that.



I am with you there. I guess what I’m saying is if there was real treatment in the mental health field beyond medicating the shit out of them, maybe, just maybe there would be an improvement. The two family members I spoke of earlier both said many of their patients began showing symptoms in childhood.

I also have a USMC buddy that is a sergeant on Dayton PD. I did speak with him yesterday. On several occasions over the years he has bitched about how hard it is to get a mental health eval on someone and then once they get approved, the troubled individual is regularly contacted again by LE, sometimes within hours, for similar problems. The flip side, he said, was they get medicated, do ok for awhile, go off the meds and lose their shit again.

Even though I’ve worked for the government for over 20 years, that doesn’t mean I trust it/them.
I just got mine in the last couple years in Indiana. You fill out an application at the local PD and get prints at an fbi approved biometric place.. and wait awhile for the local and state leos to do their background checks. Didnt need to get a photo. No test. No class. No nothing. It is so stupid... and they want to push "constitutional" carry here to make it even more lax. I blame the radicalization of the NRA and all that still buy in to their irrational scare tactics. "No Quarter" mentality will definitely lead to more regulation than would have happened if so many gun owners had not allowed themselves to become gun nuts through the efforts of the dummies that have taken over the nra.

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