Targeting the Teacher

They missed the part where he has a history of mental health issues and had heard voices telling him to kill people. He should have lost access to his guns.
- Which is something gun control typically aims at
  
  It's something current federal law does and has done for decades. A person who is involuntarily committed to undergo inpatient treatment at a mental health facility by a court of law is classified as a "prohibited person" and cannot own or have access to firearms.
  Source link: https://www.atf.gov/firearms/qa/are-there-persons-who-cannot-legally-receive-or-possess-firearms-andor-ammunition
  The catch is that a person cannot be deprived of any right without due process - typically a literal day in court. Therefore an individual with mental health problems that have not caused enough trouble to land them in front of a judge can't be declared a prohibited person.
  
  Sorry bud, best I can do is ban suppressors and shotgun pistol grips. At least they won't be able to shoot you ergonomically.
- Dude was literally in a mental hospital for a while, wasn't he?
  
  So according to pro-gun talking points, he should have been completely safe to arm. He received the fabled "mental healthcare" that renders people safe to indiscriminately sell guns to.
- Or you know, we could only give guns to people that really really need them instead of making a hobby out of it
  
  This is how it was for the first one hundred years of American existence. "Purposive open carry." Only lawless shit holes had what conservatives want today, habitual open carry. If it was a place with law, open carry without an obvious purpose was a breach of peace.
  
  Ehhhh maybe it's my American showing, but I've known lots of hobbyist clay shooters that are responsible, great people. Not to mention that hunting is more than a hobby to many; it's a way of life. I don't think we should police hobbies to that degree. Much moreso, we should have initial and updated background checks on gun owners.
- He should have been in a cage.

I mean, a law doesn't have to stop every criminal to be useful, if gun control causes any significant reduction in shooting deaths, it will have saved lives, even if some shootings still occur.

Well, might as well allow everyone to drive cars unrestrictedly since some crazy fucks every once in a while decide to DUI or drive without a license. Nothing can go wrong, right?
- Sure they are. Look at the car-jacking numbers in countries with gun control. They literally just lock the doors and drive away.
  Sorry if that's not bloodthirsty enough for you but we're not obligated to tolerate monthly mass shootings just because you get a hard on thinking about your "get out of murder free" card.
  Did you really think people were going to line up to suck you off for protecting yourself from the gun violence you've enabled?
- What a shit take. -E. I miss read the comment. My apologies.
  
  Found the gun nut.

If gun control won’t do anything then we need gun bans. No more controlling them, take them all away.
- If the US wasn't so hung up on the Constitution guns would have already been banned. They give basically anyone extreme executive power, none should have that.
  In countries where gun control laws do exist even military personnel are not allowed weapons outside of assigned duties. Partially because anyone can go mad, like this, but mostly because administratively it's easier to just say no one should have a gun then to try and work out who has a legitimate exception.
  
  I'd really prefer we stay hung up on the Constitution. Lotta good stuff in there about not trampling your citizens and such...
  
  It's not that America is hung up on guns per se. It's that the corporations are allowed to dictate the conversation by pouring money into loudmouths and social media farms, and ultimately the laws themselves by -corrupting- lobbying lawmakers.
  Funnily enough, foreign power also found that they can play that same game and funnel money to create chaos. Just look at the other thread that points to russian money funding the new speaker's 2018 campaign...
- Oh no, that just didn't work in....er....the other....wait
- Mask off.
  
  Mask off, I want to live. Mask off, I think people should be able to be in public without being randomly murdered by some one having a bad day. Mask off, I think that is a more important right than the right to keep and bear arms.

Gun control arguments almost always include things like mental health care and annual health reviews to prevent things like this
Edit: had a bit of a stroke in the middle of that sentence
- You're hinting at universal healthcare, and that's socialism, boy!
- Gun control arguments almost never include topics like this. It would be great if they did but you are kidding yourself if you think gun control proponents push for stuff like this on the regular.

Why is weapons grade plutonium restricted when the president can still go crazy?
- While I agree that gun control is a good thing I strongly doubt it will eliminate the issue as it's only addressing the symptom, not the cause. Free healthcare, fair education and equal rights to achieve something in life are far more important triggers. Of course those require much deeper adjustments to the system and society as a whole.

What I’m getting from this post is that the only way for gun control to work is a complete gun ban. I don’t think that’s what the user was wanting
- Lol. Lmao even.

Ridiculously dumb take
- I'm taking a shit what do you think about that
  
  It's more insightful than OPs take

This guy was previously admitted by a mental hospital and was up for mental evaluation. Proper gun control would mean he wouldn't have been able to buy that rifle.
- Honestly, proper gun control would mean that someone with that diagnosis completely loses access to guns - and yes, that means that his own guns should have been confiscated.
  However, we get this after every mass shooting: people say that it's not guns, it's a mental health issue. But as soon as concrete measures are suggested that would keep guns out of the hands of someone who's mentally unstable, those same people will yell at you "SHaLl NoT bE InFRinGeD!!1!1!!"

It's no gun control (read=the absence of gun control), it's mental health, it's poverty. It's not taking care of your citizens.
- The states is fucked, but if you think other countries dont have problems with mental health and poverty, but maybe 1 mass shooting in the last 50 years, then I dont know what to tell you
  
  I never said that ?
- But that's the American dream isn't it.
  Become hyper wealthy and then abuse everyone underneath you. No one in power wants there to be a social ladder, because if there was a social ladder people might try and climb it.
- It's not poverty. Most mass shooters are not in poverty. Not well off, sure, but not destitute.
  Assault style weapons are expensive.
  
  Assault style weapons are expensive.
  Brand new AR-15s are available for $400 all day long. It's not even a week's rent most places. Poverty isn't keeping people from arming themselves.
  It's not poverty.
  But you're right. Technically.
  There are plenty of people in this country living well above the poverty line without the means to care for themselves, due to the extreme cost of healthcare, shelter and food. Nobody in this country should have to struggle for any of these basic human necessities.
  And yet here we are, arguing about the price of guns in a country that invented school lunch debt.
  
  Ah, didn't think of this. You're probably right
- (self removed)
  
  What ? no, I agree it's the lack of gun control AND all those other things. Perhaps my wording, sorry.

What was he doing with a usable bolt in that weapon? We typically had to sign them out for the one day a week we needed them on-base. And there's No Way a reservist would have something like that.

Exactly why we need to address the issues that are driving people to the edge instead of just banning stuff like that'll work.
- Banning stuff.. like guns? Like every other developed nation has done? Which works?
  
  Many countries have not banned guns but instead have proper mental health.
  
  "Hey America, I know you guys are having a domestic terrorism issue: so why don't we make the people that contribute to society in a positive way less able to defend themselves?"
  It's like you guys willfully ignore that there are literal fascists in this country that will not give up their guns.
  
  You got a loicense for that knife bruv?
- I'm 52. Guess what we had and didn't have when I was a kid.
  Plenty of guns, and even laxer laws (excepting conceal carry!).
  No mass shootings.
  To be fair, I should include the mental health thing. I remember watching MTv as a teen in the late 80's and they made a big thing of homelessness. I figured it had always been an issue but people ignored it and, as a kid, I was just then finding out.
  Yeah, turns out we shut down our mental health centers. Probably a correlation there.
  
  Let's not forget crushing the middle and lower classes, taking away things for them to live for. That doesn't cause you to hear voices but it certainly can't help.
  
  you could have said less mass shootings
  No mass shootings though, that's not true at all

Doesn’t really matter when uncertified people are killing others with guns every week.