Actually the government did more to keep crazys off planes than they do to keep them from owning guns (which is nothing).
So 1 airplane incident and now we have to go through checkpoints, cavity searches, no liquids, do not fly lists...... But after multitudes of mass murders by assualt rifle weilding crackpots.... Nothing !
I like guns but dont feel the need to own an AR15. I also like to blow things up but its against the law...
The no liquids was brought about by a seperate incident than 9/11, the searches and x-rays and security lines existed prior to 9/11 due to other terrorist BS, and nutcases have been hijacking planes since at least the 1950's.
So can I own a Howitzer ?
I am not proposing we ban guns. Even if they did there are already so many in circulation it would be pointless.
I dont know if there is a solution... But flooding society with assault rifles just makes it easier for unstable people to get them. Hell its a popularity thing now.
What do you think happens to all those guns when the owners die or just get tired of owning them? How many people check or even care if the next guy is a crackpot?
I am just doing some open critical thinking here.
I tend to view it like chicken pox. If it's not here, keep it off my island, but if it is here, expose everybody, take the risks into account, and be proactive about it. Sadly, I see no alternative to guns except more guns.
Why? Because even Otzi the Ice Man has an arrow in his back.
Better training with youth, exposing people to the consequences of poor firearms use, and public awareness are part of the solution. Look at Switzerland. Tons of guns,
everybody shoots, very few injuries, gun crimes, or death. (and yes, they have restrictions on certain things but their system is modeled on ours)
Deranged individuals will always go on destruction sprees and kill other people...and there isn't a damned thing that can be done if they suddenly snap or hide their mental illness.
Want to blame guns? Want to say it was easy access to them that caused the disaster?
No, they were used because they were one of a dozen choices to create mayhem. Not having access to them wouldn't have prevented it. The dude had the makings of fertilizer bombs in his house.
Imagine if the guns weren't available and he decided instead to use homemade fertilizer pipe bombs filled with nails and ball bearings. Launch a few dozen of those into a crowd of 20,000 from the 32nd floor and its hundreds dead...not dozens. Add in some Molotov cocktails and it's a massacre behond comprehension.m
The point is that the problem isn't the weapons chosen...it's the sick mind that decides to use them against innocent people with the intent to kill and destroy.
This. Where there's a deranged will, there's a deranged way.