Dads AR 15 was used for "hunting" in school.

[kpete]

This was not like the Parkland shooting. The FBI did follow up. The shooter and father were interviewed and investigated. The father did acknowledge having guns for "hunting." What do you do when the local but tragically inadequate local laws were followed and Dads AR 15 was used for "hunting" in school. This is why we must pass additional measures to stop known threats and future shootings. VOTE LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT, BECAUSE IT DOES.

Link to tweet

https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/barrow-county/suspect-deadly-apalachee-high-school-shooting-has-made-school-shooting-threats-before-fbi-says/B6QSGMRF4FA2DBQJOJESJ3EUIU/

[Irish_Dem]

1. The father is complicit in this crime.

He needs to go to jail.

[Coexist]

49. I agree

[North Shore Chicago]

76. Heard on Nicole yesterday,

Frank Figliuzzi, former FBI, said Georgia laws prohibit the parents being charged with anything about weapons.

[Irish_Dem]

77. More evidence Americans don't care about the slaughter of school children.

Passing laws making parent accomplices innocent.

[Squaredeal]

101. Georgians, that's for sure.

Oh, well. You reap what you sow.

[getagrip_already]

81. What about federal laws?

There must be something they can charge him with.

[Lovie777]

2. I guess the judge(s) that continuously block bans on guns like these.......................

feel anything?

[3Hotdogs]

22. Dunno about the judges. But the politicians feel the weight of NRA contributions in their wallets.

[atreides1]

36. They feel nothing!

Remember those judges are a protected class. Congress is quick to use our tax dollars to protect judges but won't do the same thing to protect children from NRA sponsored gun violence!!!

[Orrex]

46. Sure they do.

They feel justified in banning guns from their own courtrooms, while ruling that those same guns can be carried in countless other places.

[enigmania]

3. An AR-15 is the

most unsuitable shoulder-fired weapon to be used for hunting. I'm getting tired of hearing this shit.

[Abnredleg]

5. You keep on hearing about it because it is true

It's probably the most popular hunting rifle out there because it is so adaptable.

Yes, we need good laws, but they need to be based on facts.

[doc03]

7. If you need a 30 round magazine to go deer hunting you shouldn't

be given a license to hunt. My father shot dozens of deer with a bolt action rifle that held 3 rounds.
In Ohio we have to use a shotgun with a maximum 3 round capacity to hunt deer. If you need 30 rounds
you aren't a sportsman. Same goes for whatever you are hunting.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

9. People don't use an AR-15 to hunt because of the number of rounds. It's because it's light and easy to modify.

[doc03]

12. So you are in favor of a 10-round limit. nt

[Abnredleg]

15. That would be reasonable /NT

[Happy Hoosier]

26. For a removable magazine? Yep.

Guys with their lever actions can have more, if they like... Might also be okay with a higher capacity 22LR

[sir pball]

54. Absolutely not.

5 at the most, it's what most states mandate for hunting and that's all anybody needs, AR or not.

Better yet, ban any firearm, be it semi-auto, lever-action, pump-action (both of which can be fired just about as fast as a semi if you're actually aiming), bolt-action, break-open, you name it, that can accept a detachable ammunition feeding device. No magazines, of any size at all, for any gun.

Swapping out a mag every 5-10 rounds is more inconvenient than every 30, yes, but ultimately it's still a very quick reload (and frankly a room full of terrified 10 year olds and a teacher isn't going to effectively fight back even if the pauses are 6x more frequent). Much harder to spray out 90 bullets in 2 minutes when you have to half-disassemble the firearm to load it.

[OneGrassRoot]

20. Can you pls explain "easy to modify"?

I’m not familiar with guns in general nor hunting, so I’m just curious what type of modifications hunters like to be able to do with guns. Thank you.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

23. Sure. The parts of an AR are very easy to swap out for different ones, so depending on your shooting style, your build,

what you want to use the gun for, and so on, you can swap out things like the trigger, the barrel, the stock, the grip, and so on until it’s something you’re comfortable with. It’s the same way people mod engines, guitars, that kind of thing.

[OneGrassRoot]

24. Got it! Thx very much. n/t

[sarisataka]

57. I appreciate when someone puts forth facts

rather than spouting hyperbole

Thank you

[Doodley]

45. What is sportsman-like about killing a deer?

[MotownPgh]

63. I know!!!! What a laugh. If it is not to feed

their families, these deer hunters have to be really proud to kill defenseless animals. They lure them with corn and other things, use heat seeking junk, radar. Macho men all of you. I don't care which party you belong to, you are ridiculous

[Doodley]

70. Toxic masculinity on full display (by the way, I'm a guy). First "sport" that has zero skill. But they love killing.

[MotownPgh]

105. Maybe satsifies some ancient caveman

survival thing. Or blood lust. Something satisfying for them in any case. Can't imagine.

[Kaleva]

83. You can use 5 round magazines on a AR-15 style gun

It seems you mainly have an issue with magazine capacity and not the gun itself.

[Lonestarblue]

8. I'm curious. What can you hunt with an AR-15 that won't be pulverized and useless unless your purpose is just to kill?

[WhiskeyGrinder]

11. A deer, with one or two shots.

[Lonestarblue]

13. I know people here in Texas who hunt deer every year during open season and freeze the meat.

But they use plain old hunting rifles. There are alternatives and the only real benefit I can think of for an assault weapon is to more easily kill a bear or other very large animal ready to attack you. The majority of people simply don’t need that firepower.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

17. "Plain old hunting rifles" can have much greater "firepower" than an AR.

[Walleye]

78. Maybe they should outlaw hunting with a rifle. Like it is in Delaware. Bullets travel too far for our small state.

Shotguns are much safer for innocent bystanders

[Happy Hoosier]

27. What cartridge do they use?

Because THAT is what matters for hunting. There are soft-nosed bullets for 5.56 that are good for larger game, though some actually consider it a bit too weak for very large game. The most popular deer-hunting cartridge is .308 Winchester (roughly the same as 7.62 NATO), which is a more powerful cartridge.

And you might be interested to know that the army is replacing the 5.56 round with one that is bigger and bit more powerful.

[WalkerinSC]

53. They switching to the Creedmore?

I haven't kept up with the changes lately.

[Happy Hoosier]

60. It's a SIG designed cartridge....

a 6.8x51 round.

They picked it for better cover and armor penetration.

A civilian version of it will be available too, as if we needed that.

[WalkerinSC]

50. I wouldn't want to be the guy hoping to stop a bear with a AR-15

using 5.56mm. Might be just as effective to use a sledgehammer.

[sarisataka]

66. Tell me you don't know about hunting

without saying you don't know about hunting...

[Dock_Yard]

72. and here we go, gun lover devolves to a snarky insult re: his "world of knowledge"

[sarisataka]

80. Hey, Welcome to DU

How are you enjoying your first months here?

Now speaking of snark- how do you determine I am a "gun lover"?
Did you consider I may have twenty years of military experience and see guns as tools. In that time, I may have acquired a bit of knowledge such as a 5.56mm round would only piss off a bear and be completely unless against large game (barring the ridiculously lucky shot, like a BB gun killing a polar bear)

I'll ask politely- what is your world of knowledge of firearms?

[Abnredleg]

14. The power of the AR15 is not that great

Yes, it will easily kill a person, but the stories of the round just ripping limbs off is an urban myth. In fact, the USAF designed the weapon to replace low power carbines and pistols, and thus the round is "just powerful enough." In some states you can't hunt deer with .223 rounds because they're not powerful enough for a reliable kill. Hunters in those states typical just buy a AR upper in an appropriate caliber.

[onecaliberal]

52. Tell that to the mother of the child to had to be IDd by her green tennis shoes.

[Happy Hoosier]

58. I'll disagree with you a little bit there....

Where the 5.56 mm cartridge becomes so destructive is it's tendence yo become unstable in flesh..... when it is going fast enough, it will tend to tumble in flesh and the internal streses on the bullet get so great that it catastrophically disnintegrates. It's like a little explosion. It doesn't ALWAYS happen, but when it is doese, it causes MASSIVE trauma. And since ARMY engineers isolated this effect in the early 2K's, they figured out how to make bullets that do this more reliably. Fist, these bullets were issued to special units, but now, that bullet is also available on the market. But even plain ole ordinary 5.56 will do it frequently enough to be pretty scary.

[Kaleva]

99. Most civilians use the .223 Remington in their AR-15 rifle

[Happy Hoosier]

100. Right...

.... but plenty of folks buy and use 5.56 spec ammo.

[Kaleva]

120. Yes. It depends on the person

The 5.56 is more powerful then the .223 and a rifle chambered for the 5.56mm can fire the. 223 but a gun chambered for the. 223 should not be used to fire the 5.56mm.

Personally, I wouldn't use either cartridge to hunt deer with but they'd be excellent for small game.

[doc03]

16. I am against the AR-15 myself but this thing that they are some super caliber is

just bullshit. The .223 has been around for decades and there are many calibers that are far more powerful.
I don't think it helps our cause by exaggeration, it is easily debunked and makes us look foolish.

[WalkerinSC]

47. Not to turn this into Gun Humping post

but the question was asked and I will try to answer:

The AR system is based on an easy to assemble and modify modular framework. It is highly adaptable to the environment use and be customized depending on the game. Contrary to popular belief, the 5.54 does not 'pulverize' impacted areas. The lethality of that round is the depth of penetration and ballistics 'tumble' as it bounces inside a body and fragments creating multiple bleed points internally putting the target into shock. It is effective for deer, coyote, and thin hide game. I don't use the 5.54 or .308 AR I own for hunting any longer (just lost the heart for hunting, stupid squirrels got too entertaining). I preferred larger/slower rounds that didn't over penetrate, like .44 Magnum or 10mm. I don't think 20-30 round magazines are necessary. I used a 4 round in my Mini14 Ruger .44 Bush gun and it was easily enough for any situation. There is not even a solid home defense case scenario (not many running gun battles inside a standard home and over penetration is a problem). The only need I could ever see is hunting large predator game (essentially bears) or hogs who tend to run in groups and by all accounts are difficult to kill.

[sarisataka]

61. Literally any game

between javalina to small deer

[cab67]

69. It can be used for pest control.

I'm serious about this.

I can't speak to the points about AR-type rifles being adaptable and light, as I've never used one. However, I know some landowners in the South who have real problems with feral hogs. They're highly destructive. Rifles with high-capacity magazines are much more efficient at taking down large groups of them.

They sometimes hunt them for food, but usually, they just bury the carcasses.

The people I know were trained in their use, keep them locked up, and keep the ammo locked in a separate locker. They're fully aware of what these rifles can do in the wrong hands.

Most of them would also favor more stringent limitations to acquiring them. Their legitimate use is rather limited, and they know it.

[Kaleva]

85. Deer

[AllyCat]

29. I don't hunt, but live in Wisconsin where deer season is

A rite of passage. Not ONE deer hunter I know uses this type of weapon to “hunt deer”.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

30. I live in Minnesota and know several people who have used it to hunt deer.

[AllyCat]

33. Just because we can, doesn't mean we should

If there are other acceptable options to use for hunting, one that is “modifiable” to kill dozens of people should be illegal.

[Trueblue Texan]

40. What the hell do you hunt with an AR-15? nt

[DinahMoeHum]

43. People

n/t

[Trueblue Texan]

44. Tragically, true. nt

[Kaleva]

86. Deer

[sarisataka]

91. I don't have an AR-15

but I use a bolt action rifle that fires the same round. It is a very effective varmint caliber.
There is literally no reason I could not switch to an AR for the same purpose.

[Silent Type]

55. Gunners like them because it bolsters their ego. One can hunt just about anything with a bolt action rifle. Not as good

for killing people, but fine for hunting.

Heck, keep the damn things but limit them to 5 rounds.

[Happy Hoosier]

25. How so?

Look, I'm all for seriously regulating the things, but statements like that irritate me. The AR-15 isn't operationally any different from pretty much any other magazine fed semi-automatic rifle. AR-15's come in a huge variety of configrations, many of which are very suitable for hunting. 5.56 mm isn't grreat for deer, though with the right ammo, it can work fine for that, too. And the AR-15 platform can be cinfigured to use a huge variety of calibers, some explicitly developed for hunting. There is even a .308 Winchester version (called the AR-10, actually), and .308 is probably the most popular deer-hunting cartridge in the world.

And obviously, it is EXTREMELY effective for thos evil fucks who hunt humans.

In my view, we have to attack this from an ammo capacity angle....

[AllyCat]

31. Interesting perspective.

What I don’t get is that if we have other guns that are effective for hunting animals for food, we can use those. Hunters are not without options to bring home food for their families.

These type of weapons that are the preferred “human hunting” weapons should be banned.

And I do agree a component of this issue is ammo capacity.

[Happy Hoosier]

42. Why I think you still have the wrong end of the stick....

... AR-15's are super-popular for 2 reasons:

1) They are extremely modular, so they can can be configured in a wide variety of ways for the user's need. The legal "gun" part is the lowere receiver. That's the bit the ATF considers the "firearm." But you can attach a huge variety of bits to that lower reciever to make the rifle suitable for a variety of purposes.... hunting, target shooting, "home defense," dick measuring at the range (a SUPER popular one). This makes the Gravy SEALs get all excited, since they can pretend they are super high-speed, low-drag, "Special Operators."

2) Colt's patent on the AR-15 expired some years ago, meaning that this successful and reliable platform can be made by any gun manufacturer that wants to. And they can make the gun however they like.... and believe me, they make the most fucking ridiculous and versions of it you can possibly imagine.

That second bit is why it is so hugely popular. There are thousands of versions of the AR-15 on the market. Short of banning magazine-fed semi-auto rifles, Pandora's box is opened. You can no long just "ban AR-15's." Some nubbin will just slightly modify the design and call it an all-new gun.

We need to address specific technologies. Since the thing that makes "assault rifles" so dangerous is the ability to to fire so many rounds in such a short time, that's where we have to address the issue IMO. There are two choices:

1) Eliminate semi-automatic center-fire rifles. This isn't completely undoable... many countries do it. There are ways to require manual trigger resets, or to cycle the action (just disconnect the gastube!), but in a country where we can't even fucking ban bump stocks, I can't see that happeneing.
2) Limit magazine capacity and/or the ability to rapidly change magazines. Limiting mag capacity to 10 is a good start, though there are probably MILLIONS of "high-cap" mags in the wild. But we have to start somehwere. I'd gladly turn in all my "high caps" if I got some compensation for them. The other approach is for magazines to be retained in a way to requires some actual effort to change them. Not that BS "bullet button" tool some implemented in California complaint rifles.

It goes without saying that to do ANY of this, we need control of Congress, and we need to shift the SCotUS. In the meantime, we will just be up to our hips in the blood of children.

[onetexan]

35. All ARs need to be banned

[calimary]

88. This.

[sarisataka]

56. Not disputing your statement here

but what is your experience to make such a statement?

[Kaleva]

82. Why?

The AR-15 style gun can be chambered to fire a variety of rounds. Even shotgun shells

[lapfog_1]

4. someone on Morning Joe

this morning suggested that you might need an AR-15 to hunt "feral pigs".

I turned Morning Blow off.

[Abnredleg]

6. AR15s are the rifle of choice for feral pigs

as well as game animals. It's widely used for hunting.

[dwayneb]

18. In other words an effective weapon of mass lethality

Any weapon good for the mass slaughter of feral pigs is equally capable of the mass slaughter of human beings.

Our gun laws should be structured in terms of potential lethality. Regulate the rate-of-fire; number of rounds in a magazine; each weapon/system should have a lethality quotient assigned to it.

It's amazing that a supposedly civilized society like ours allows weapons like the AR-15 to be legal.

[cab67]

71. I commented on this above.

I know people who use rifles with high-capacity magazines to control feral hogs. All of them agree that their use beyond such things is limited and would agree that they should be much harder to get than the average deer rifle or shotgun.

[samnsara]

10. time for the parents of ALL..even if their son ( its always gonna be someones son)..

....dies in the incident.

[leftyladyfrommo]

19. There are some really weird parents out

there. Dad's a gun nut with his own violent streak. Sons are a chaotic mess.

[twodogsbarking]

21. At least we don't have cap guns any more.

[Arne]

59. Great observation.

They will get you for pointing a finger like a gun.
Pew Pew,
Blam blam.

[gab13by13]

28. I quit hunting a long time ago.

A good deer hunter only needs a rifle and 3 shells in Pennsylvania.

Last I checked it was illegal to hunt deer in Pa. with an AR-15. I haven't checked lately but I believe you are allowed to hunt coyotes with them.

[yagotme]

124. Coyote, yes, small game, depends on area, lacking info on deer hunting.

https://keystoneshootingcenter.com/blog/what-guns-can-you-hunt-with-in-pa

Redirects AR question to another page, that doesn't cover question.

[lindysalsagal]

32. I doubt all this hair-splitting matters to the loved ones of the dead.

Gun lovers are playing the odds. "It won't be my kid who dies."

[Doodley]

48. Agreed. It's a culture of toxic masculinity.

[gab13by13]

34. As I said, I quit hunting long ago.

I will say this, if people are using an AR-15 to hunt deer I'm not going into the woods. I believe in Pa. they are illegal for deer hunting.

If I saw a truck parked with Ohio plates on it, I wouldn't go in the woods. Just kidding the Ohio deer hunters who come to Pa.

[Botany]

38. A Remington 870 20 gauge pump with a slug tube works just fine for deer and regular tub for small game

Last edited Thu Sep 5, 2024, 10:38 AM - Edit history (1)

Nobody needs an assault rifle for anything outside of the military or law enforcement.
I hope they charge the father with something.

Btw Sandy Hook has pretty much stopped my hunting.

[boyedav1969]

37. I'm eager to see what measures the owner of the gun was taking....

...to keep it out of the hands of potential criminals, like his son. I'd be happy to see more of these enablers being sent to prison for their complicity in supplying the assailants with weapons. Part of being a responsible gun owner means making sure it's not easily accessible to others. If people want to be trusted with personal responsibility of gun ownership, then fine. Let's just match that with a commensurate amount of accountability.

[Trueblue Texan]

41. I keep thinking how 14 year old males brains are not yet fully developed...

...they are literally still children and easily influenced, notorious for impulsivity and having poor judgement. The parents are also criminals for not protecting their child from himself. A tragedy all around.

[jimfields33]

93. We really need to redefine adulthood to 25.

I think our society would be better for it.

[dpibel]

123. I think 38 is the right number

Prove me wrong!

[doc03]

39. After reading all these posts even among Democrats there is noting that can be done.

It is open season for kids to murdered at school and all we can do is offer thoughts and prayers.
I guess we would rather have everyone armed with a weapon of war than do God damn thing.

[Doodley]

51. Agreed. Too much gun-worshipping and shooting deer for sport. Makes me sick!

[Arne]

64. People don't just have a weapon of war.

They have a collection, a small armory.
No need to worry it's in the closet, hidden behind the camo.

[doc03]

74. Even here on DU the moment anyone metions

gun laws the gun worshipers reliably come out of the closet.

[Arne]

89. You can't have Camo, that's ours.

[Kaleva]

92. One also sees that many don't even know the basics about funs

Pretty hard to come up with sensible gun control measures when one doesn't even have a basic knowledge about the subject

[sarisataka]

94. Correct me if I am wrong

but aren't guns the only subject here people are ridiculed for having knowledge? It is the one case ignorance is valued.

It does lead to your point that the lack of knowledge has led to poor and ineffective laws. Just because a law is deemed "sensible" doesn't mean it will do an iota to reduce gun violence.

[doc03]

102. Well just how do we prevent kids from taking

an AR15 and murdering other kids without changing gun laws?

[sarisataka]

103. Where did I say we shouldn't change gun laws

I am stating ignorance results in bad laws. I maintain that is true whether we are talking legislating guns, pharmaceuticals, aircraft, building codes....

[doc03]

104. What would you call a good law to help stop

mass murders in our schools.

[sarisataka]

106. I have been a proponent of red flag laws long before they became popular

Also safe storage laws and more thorough background checks. More money for school psychology resources and a sea change about how school deal with bullying I think would also be very helpful

I want it examined what exactly happened in the FBI visit a year ago. I would think follow up and possible review for psychological review should have been considered. Maybe it was but clearly the "see something, say something" failed.

[doc03]

107. The NRA opposes all of them relating to

guns. So it is the same old bullshit about mental health not guns. Kids were bullied 60 years ago when I was a teenager, there weren't mass murders in schools. What has changed?

[sarisataka]

108. What the NRA says?

I support those laws so why are you conflating me with that organization?

[doc03]

109. Kids were bullied 60 years ago when I was

a teenager, what has changed?

[sarisataka]

110. I think 60 years of bullying is enough

and it is time to end it. Even if it doesn't affect school shootings.

But since the shooters having been bullied is a fairly common denominator, I am willing to target that as well to see if it helps.

[doc03]

111. We can blame social media, TV, movies and video

games. Then we ignore the fact that there weren't tens of millions of weapons meant for one thing only "killing people" readily available 60 years ago.

[sarisataka]

112. There were plenty of guns available sixty years ago

Millions in facr, and many of them were weapons of war from World War Two and Korea. They were more available since background checks were not a thing.

Yet despite all we have added our homicide rate is half what it was then. But school shootings have increased (Yes they happened 60 years ago as well)

I look at multifaceted solutions because complex problems most often do not have a simple solution.

[doc03]

115. There were WWII weapons available but they

were basically the same as the hunting rifle at the time. In 1865 there were weapons from the Civil War available but neither one were capable of carrying a 100 round magazine that could be emptied in 30 seconds. The crazy arms race started in 2008 when we elected a black man president and you know it.

[sarisataka]

116. Data does not support that claim

The first driving factor was the original AWB causing sales to spike in the 90s. There was then a steady increase until Obama's second term approached and the possibility of more gun control legislation accelerated the rate.

After a brief pause, the "Trump effect" came into play and the Covid pandemic driving sales like never before.

Note- this is all firearms. I couldn't locate reliable data for ARs so those may match your theory of a black President spiking sales.

[doc03]

117. I see the same chart and it shows the arms race increasing in 2008 and a great increase

towards the middle of his first term. Then it exploded with the arrival of Trump in politics.

[sarisataka]

118. I see some of that

it started to climb 06-07 during Obama's campaign, then steady until that midterm point.

Trump then pushed it to ridiculous height as he Made America Hate Again (or at least made it acceptable to openly hate)

[doc03]

121. I will give you that the arms race picked up some under Obama but didn't really

explode until Trump entered the picture.

[sarisataka]

122. The really troubling thing is the numbers are cumulative

so just because a year shows a decline, that doesn't mean there are less guns than the year prior. Firearms are so durable I would expect the number removed from the total each year is about .1%, maybe less. If we could figure out how to get the demand down to {only} a few million a year, we would call that progress.

[Kaleva]

119. It's like being yelled at by flat earthers and climate change deniers

[demmiblue]

67. The gun nuts are going to gun nut.

[Happy Hoosier]

75. Unless we control the White House, Congress, and tip the balance of SCotUS, you are correct.

Politically, we do not have the power to do pretty much anything. Not even ban fucking bump stocks.

Just plain ole reality.

[cab67]

79. There's banning, and there's tightly regulating.

Firearm ownership should be subject to strict permitting rules, mandatory liability insurance, mandatory training, and limits on magazine capacity. We should also do away with these stupid "castle doctrine" laws and open-carry.

I was in Australia this past April, and spent part of my time in Alice Springs. Alice Springs has had problems with gang violence in recent years, though it's not as bad now. But what struck me, when I read about it, was the complete absence of gun-related deaths as the gang violence increased. One can buy a gun in Australia, but access is tightly limited. It's far harder to get one there than here. So yes, I can see why tighter regulation of gun ownership is a good thing.

[Kaleva]

87. Considering how few donate regularly to gun control organizations

you are probably correct

[poozwah]

62. same old same old

their thoughts and PREYERS are always with us.
funny how the pro life crowd is okay with these extremely late term abortions.

[BeneteauBum]

65. We as a society must change

School shootings will continue unless we as a society change. As of now, we have too many complacent people who response to these horrors is ‘hopes and prayers’. There needs to be an overwhelming groundswell rejecting ownership of weapons with the sole purpose of killing people.
I grew up hunting and learned to respect the proper safeguards. I still own a rifle that is now over eighty years old…an heirloom from my dad. For the life of me, I can’t understand the need to own a weapon of war designed to inflict maximum damage in a very short period of time….Perhaps owners of these types of weapons have a self esteem issue or just are totally paranoid that someone is out to get them. Violence is not an option.
Peace ☮️

[Doodley]

73. Great post. Glad to have you here! I value your opinion.

[calimary]

90. Sadly enough, peace doesn't seem to be an option here either.

[BeneteauBum]

97. Peace through education

I hold out hope that peace is always an option. However, as long as we have prominent people advocating violence, denigrating others bases on color, religion, and sexual orientation, there will be a faction that lashes out.
Each of us have the responsibility to educate our children on civic responsibility; that we are all human beings who deserve dignity and respect. Take those two rights away from children and society will continue to produce a population of ignorant, repressed adults who feel they have a right to inflict pain whether mental or physical.
It is incumbent on each of us to take action and perhaps one day these heinous occurrences will abate. In the meantime, we need to consider the effects that rapid climate change will have on our populace as the reduction of resources loom in the not to distant future.
Peace ☮️

[demmiblue]

68. AGNAB/FTGN. n/t

[tornado34jh]

84. First off, why the heck was the gun not locked away safely? I mean, the parents have to take responsibility as well.

To be bluntly honest, that's why we can't have nice things. Just like with a car, with a gun, that takes a lot of responsibility. Really it's not just this, it's anytime parents leave guns unsecured and then wonder why their kids could injure/kill themselves or others. They say the same things with laundry detergent, medications, etc. Unless supervised, keep away from children. The fact that we keep having this and we haven't learned anything is staggering. What's ironic is that that we have people who want voter ID, citizenship proof, etc., but we are too cowardly to do background checks for people who want to buy guns? To paraphrase Ferris from Ferris Bueller's Day off: People with priorities so far out of whack doesn't deserve such fine (i.e. powerful) guns. For those who aren't familiar with it, it's from the Ferrari scene in which Ferris (Matthew Broderick) says "A man with priorities so far out of whack doesn't deserve such a fine automobile." Then again, we have people who think of guns as if it is a god and should have no regulations whatsoever. That's why they doesn't deserve things like that because their priorities are so far out of whack.

[Lonestarblue]

95. Thanks to everyone who responded to my question about why the AR-15 is used for hunting.

I don’t own a gun and have never hunted, and I was genuinely curious about its popularity. I’ve read so many news stories about the damage that its bullets do to the human body that I assumed it would also reduce most game to being unusable.

Sorry if I started a controversy as that was not my intent.

[gab13by13]

98. It is illegal to use for hunting in Pennsylvania.

Why do Pa' residents buy AR-15's?

[moondust]

96. Quite a few hunters out there.

[robertpaulsen]

113. Nothing will change until the NRA is prosecuted, convicted and DISSOLVED.

They are terror profiteers and Russian agents. I'm not a lawyer, so I don't know if you could apply the RICO statute and prosecute them for domestic terror. If not, laws need to change so that the NRA ceases to exist. They are the reason we can't pass common sense gun legislation to protect our schools.

[BannonsLiver]

114. This subject always brings out the nut jobs