First Step in Stopping School Shootings: Ban Assault Weapons

[red dog 1]

Democracy Now
By Amy Goodman and Denis Moynihan
September 5, 2024

School shootings are a recurring markers of a societal sickness, an unshakable acceptance of violence and senseless death.
The murder of two fourteen-year-old students and two teachers on Wednesday, and the wounding of nine others, at a mass shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, is the latest in this seemingly permanent contagion.

Ninth-grader Colt Gray, 14, had an "AR-platform-style weapon," the popular semi-automatic gun all-too-widely available in the U.S., with hundreds of variations and modular accessories flooding the multi-billion dollar gun market.

We know that the accused lived in a home with guns, thanks to a statement from the FBI issued on Wednesday, that read in part,
"In May, 2023, the FBI...received anonymous tips about online threats to commit a school shooting at an unidentified location and time. The online threats contained photographs of guns.
Within 24 hours, the FBI determined the online post originated in Georgia and the FBI's Atlanta Field Office referred the information to the Jackson County Sheriff's Office for action.
The Jackson County Sheriff's Office located a possible suspect, a 13-year-old male, and interviewed him and his father.
The father stated he had hunting guns in the house, but the subject did not have unsupervised access to them.
The subject denied making the threats online.
Jackson County alerted local schools for continued monitoring of the subject... there was no probable cause to take any additional law enforcement action."

More:
https://democracynow.org/2024/9/5/first_step_in_stopping_school_shootings

[Silent Type]

1. +1. And some time after the FBI visit, dad bought son the rifle. Guess dad thought it would make him a man.

[surfered]

2. There's no question it would reduce them...

[Aussie105]

3. 'A gun will make you a Man, my son!'

A tale told around the country!

Other countries around the world, not burdened by an archaic clause in their Constitution and a vested gun industry, banned gun ownership in the hands of private citizens long ago.

A country that put a man on the moon can't stop internal gun related carnage.
Get your act together, America!
If you can't, or don't want to bother, expect more of the same.

[red dog 1]

4. The U.S. is the only nation in the world with a multi-billion dollar gun market

[Jirel]

5. Garbage.

It’s time for the left to stop peddling this stupidity. It’s old, tired, and useless.

The first actually useful step are tough red flag laws. You threaten the safety of others, and you (or yes, even a parent) loses their guns and the right to own more until the problem is addressed.

It won’t fix everything, but it’s a good start. Little 14 year old Johnny has a much harder time shooting up his school when there are NO guns in the house, he’s grounded because daddy’s extensive collection has been impounded, and daddy is really diligent about Johnny getting therapy and passing a program, because daddy wants his toys back.

This is NOT the Reagan era. Guns are overall higher powered, everything has a magazine, and the gun nuts already own waaaaaay more of them (and more ammo) than in the 1980s. Ghost gunning was not a thing in the 1980s, either. Nor were there endless mods like bump stocks available to greatly enhance the ability for rapid mass murder. Rather than getting pissed off when gunners laugh at you when they say the AR style is not what makes a gun deadly, LISTEN TO THEM. They’re literally telling you that everything THEY personally own would likely be cached and hidden, or would pass such a ban unscathed, and you’d better believe they will be legally and illegally modded after purchase in an endless arms race to stay ahead of the future language of bans.

So look for smarter solutions than repeating this last-century drivel like a mantra. If you want guns out of hands, make it easy to take them away for bad behavior, so that owning any, period, while banned will have consequences.

[Silent Type]

6. I've heard that argument many times, still doesn't make sense. Have to start somewhere, or they'll

be another 100 Million of these weapons on the street. Nothing is going to work 100%, but this kid would have gone home if he didn't have a rifle to kill with.

[patphil]

8. There are a lot of first steps to do, banning assault weapons is one of them.

If you're going to stop the epidemic of gun violence, there is a lot to be done.
Red flag laws are fine, and will certainly help.
Banning assault weapons will also help.
Banning the ammunition will also help.
More serious penalties for building or possessing ghost guns will also help.
Buy backs for assault weapons will help.
Strong penalties for possession of assault weapons after the ban will help.
Voting legislators who are unwilling to address gun violence out of office will help.
Electing and/or appointing judges who are willing to interpret the 2nd Amendment as it should be, instead of carte blanche for anyone to have any weapon they want regardless of the threat to the people will help.

I'm sure there a lot of other steps that can be taken to help us end this slaughter, but there are a couple things I know that won't help even one bit:

Thoughts and prayers are worthless.
Allowing the unfettered access to, and ownership of, these weapons of human destruction will insure the slaughter continues.

[Silent Type]

7. CNN just reported dad has been charged with manslaughter and 2nd degree murder.