This shit with the latest school shooting is pissing me off.
After everything spree shooting there's talk about gun control.
This time however the right is taking the moral high ground and claiming that's it's just wrong to bring it up so soon. While I can understand where they're coming from, I call bullshit.
If the perpetrator was brown these same people would be up in arms over border control.
So no. You don't get to play the moral high ground card here.
I have no solutions, or at least easy ones. Like I said, it's a societal thing here in the States. We need to somehow evolve into a better society. Though the government can do some things to help, they certainly can't fix the problem.
As for the gun thing ... I disagree a bit on the availability of cheap military weapons in the past. A very good M-1 Carbine or Garand (seventy year-old plus Tech) could be purchased for a song back in my youth, along with all the dirt cheap military surplus ammo I could carry. The same was true of a WWII era P-38, Browning Hi-Power, or 1911 Colt handgun and ammo. And believe it or not, back before the '68 gun control law, all could be purchased by anyone through the mail from an ad in a men's magazine. I guess I'm just trying to say that the firepower was there and easily accessible ... the thought process to do anything with it other than plink or hunt, wasn't (generalization, of course, but none the less more accurate than not).
Sorry though ... I don't know how we get to that place again and it's sad to me that this has happened on my watch. All I know is somehow, evolution past the violent society which is now so pervasive is the only answer. I guess somehow we have to get back to thinking for the good of all, instead of what our own individual preferences.
As for Voat ... there are many good people. I ignore what I don't like there, which is getting harder all the time BTW, and attempt by what I post and comment to make it a better place. This may be a futile effort, but I'm not alone. But it is what it is and I understand how anyone could be easily jaded.
That's interesting I didn't even think about the post WW2 surplus when they were advertising M2 flamethrowers to farmers for the purpose of clearing brush. Obviously I'm not familiar with that time period. It does almost seem to be the simple though of "Oh? That's an option?" like the serial killer analogy I made elsewhere in this thread. It seems to inspire copy cats that would not other wise even consider that an option.
Maybe it does have a lot to do with our media coverage, Manson inspired shit because of his Infamy, as have Dylon and Eric. And it's so fucked I know their names and not the victims. Perhaps some of the problem lies there, the killers are portrayed so prominently while the victims become a statistic. And eventually a score to beat by some other dejected fucktard trying to be remembered in the only way they're capable of.
Fuck, now I'm just dunk and ranty and depressed.
Edit: On the topic of Voat, I tried for nearly a year as I watched a wonderful community become overpowered by an obnoxious and straight up vile group of douche bags. I tried to stick it out. I had invested so much time and energy to help voat be unique or somewhat intelligent. But the community spoke and chose ignorance and hatred over anything. Driving LockeProposal out with pitchforks should have done it. But eventually I just couldn't browse it without feeling disgust. You can't change a mind that's made up, no matter how hard you try. RIP @Alias_Unknown.
ALright for reaaL though I'm going to bed now.
Amazing response, I'm so jaded from voat that elegant responses still astound me.
I've fired an AR-15 before and have looked into buying one, I'm not a total stranger to gun culture itself, though not quite as experienced as you are. There are hundreds of weapons with comparable killing power, so I can understand that the discussion centered around that particular weapon is pointless. That gun is a meme by this point. While civilians have always had some military weaponry available, for the first 150 years or so, it was far too expensive for the average person to be able to afford. Since the advance of semi automatic weapons the efficiency of putting lead down range and cost have both dropped dramatically. $500 gets me a decent high-point carbine and hundreds of rounds of 9mm.
I have really nothing to retort with your second paragraph as I completely agree with basically every point. People are so afraid of admitting they're wrong that they'll just bunker down despite any evidence. And it's no longer just on touchy topics like does god exist? But every single thing now, it's ridiculous.
There's got to be a solution somewhere, the rest of the world has tried different methods to varying success. What is it, like Norwary requires everyone to own a gun, and Australia outlawed them all. Those are two extremes that we could never accomplish.