another school shooting in U.S. of A. :(

[loowisham]

One poster said crime is down in the US. Compared to what? Where on this earth do we see on such a regular basis so many mass shootings. Children are being killed and idiots are still defending the ownership of assault weapons and sales without background checks.
The news tonight stated that people that came to pick up their children a little later than the one's that had survived were met with the news that their little ones were dead. God help those poor kids and their parents.
Bob Costas was correct. There is no excuse for this heavily armed society.
If owning guns made the US safe then it should be the safest place on earth. Unfortunately, it is not and this argument will go on until these cowardly politicians put stringent laws on the books. Both sides of the aisle are to blame.

Little kids may be the one's that had to pay the price to have this country wake up.

[TyPat107]

We had another school shooting here that happened two weeks ago that I don't know if anyone heard about. The college is across the street from my house and the second crime scene was across the street from my work. Kid used a bow and arrow on his father and a knife on the other victim
Son kills father inside Casper College classroom

[Knock-on]

Gun owners tend to be responsible and law abiding. Most state and localities have strict no-firearms laws for schools. Figure it out yet?

You have a valid point here. If Guns are allowed, it seems silly that your not allowed to bring them into School. I don't know if it would deter these murderers but it is more likely that they would be shot dead by their peers before they killed too many of the other Students.

Of course, you run the risk of lots of other shootings with Testosterone fuelled adolescents wandering around with loaded weapons; not something I personally relish the idea of.

But, as I say, it i for America to decide whether the cost of allowing guns to be endemic in society is acceptable and I thank you for your dismissive comments on my previous post

As for explosives, you are correct. If someone is detirmined enough, I'm sure they can get their hands on explosives but correct me if I'm wrong but aren't explosives subject to control. You cannot go into an explosive shop and walk out with 5kg of C4. This is the difference. You actually have restriction in place and therefore it rarely occurs.

[Dave B]

You have a valid point here. If Guns are allowed, it seems silly that your not allowed to bring them into School. I don't know if it would deter these murderers but it is more likely that they would be shot dead by their peers before they killed too many of the other Students.

This notion keeps getting trotted out: that somehow it's good to have guns because somebody could shoot the gunman. It's never really worked, though, in real life, has it? Besides, is it such a good idea to have even more people firing guns in a school or a darkened cinema?

But, as I say, it i for America to decide whether the cost of allowing guns to be endemic in society is acceptable and I thank you for your dismissive comments on my previous post

I think they've already decided, it's so engrained into their culture. Gun ownership is a right, healthcare a privilege. What a crazy backwards messed-up country. I do wonder if this could finally be the tragedy that starts the ball rolling, but I'm not hopeful. There'll be more massacres, and more impotent politicians saying that something simply must be done, but they're too in thrall to the gun-nuts and the NRA to actually achieve anything.

To many Americans, protecting the spirit of a two hundred year old rulebook (never mind that it was always a work in progress) is more important than tackling the insane homicide (not to mention suicide) rate.

[BDunnell]

You have a valid point here. If Guns are allowed, it seems silly that your not allowed to bring them into School. I don't know if it would deter these murderers but it is more likely that they would be shot dead by their peers before they killed too many of the other Students.

Of course, you run the risk of lots of other shootings with Testosterone fuelled adolescents wandering around with loaded weapons; not something I personally relish the idea of.

But, as I say, it i for America to decide whether the cost of allowing guns to be endemic in society is acceptable and I thank you for your dismissive comments on my previous post

As for explosives, you are correct. If someone is detirmined enough, I'm sure they can get their hands on explosives but correct me if I'm wrong but aren't explosives subject to control. You cannot go into an explosive shop and walk out with 5kg of C4. This is the difference. You actually have restriction in place and therefore it rarely occurs.

Perhaps the main worry should be — and I say this with no attempt to sound cheap — the number of nutcases that seem to be produced in the US, who resort to firearms to make a point?

[Starter]

You have a valid point here. If Guns are allowed, it seems silly that your not allowed to bring them into School. I don't know if it would deter these murderers but it is more likely that they would be shot dead by their peers before they killed too many of the other Students.

Of course, you run the risk of lots of other shootings with Testosterone fuelled adolescents wandering around with loaded weapons; not something I personally relish the idea of.

Funny, I don't know of any state where the carry laws apply to minors. Perhaps you assume something not in evidence?

[Rollo]

"Today is not the day to talk about gun control. There is, I am sure, will be, rather, a day for discussion of the usual Washington policy debates, but I do not think today is that day."
- Jay Carney, White House Press Secretary.

Mr Carney is right, that day should have been the day before this happened. The fact that it didn't happen is incredibly disappointing. America will take 3 weeks to flagellate itself, make crying noises, boo hoo hoo and all that, forget about it and then wait another six months when another massacre will occur (in which time another 5750 people will have died because of guns) and we can all go around the merry go round again.

[Starter]

Children are being killed and idiots are still defending the ownership of assault weapons and sales without background checks.

Almost no one is advocating that and you know it.

Bob Costas was correct. There is no excuse for this heavily armed society.

Costas is an idiot. By what standard does a sports reporter, and not a very good one either, have standing to comment on these things? Above the right of every citizen to free speech that is.

Unfortunately, it is not and this argument will go on until these cowardly politicians put stringent laws on the books. Both sides of the aisle are to blame.

Oh yes, blame it on the politicians. They do what those who elect them want them to do. While influence groups can sway votes, if enough people want something done, it will get done or they'd be out of a job. The people have not voted that way.

[ioan]

The situation is really messed up in the sense that yes, we get pissed off, even our president says that we have to do something about it, some of us talk about stricter psychological background checks - but the fact is that this country is flooded with hundreds of millions of guns. Nearly half -- 47 percent -- of US homes own a fire arm. That's 120 - 150 million people.


Larry Bodine: Guns in America




Best estimates are about 45% or 52 million of American households owning 260 million guns.

Bah, just 5 guns per family?
That's nothing around here it's '0', and we are doing fine.

[ioan]

Race the problem is much deeper that guns. If you take the guns they will use explosives like in the middle east and parts of EU. First check in all of these horrific events should be a thorough investigation of drug usage especially meth. Remember Race guns are banned in Mexico - 60,000 dead because we want drugs. I hope we get a very good report on this cowards background.

I pray for the families

Go ahead and pray it will NOT change anything, nothing at all.
You lot should stop sitting on your hands when such things happen regularly. Bunch of hypocrites.