General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Why was the reaction to the Navy Yard shootings more muted than that of Sandy Hook? [View all]The Straight Story
(48,121 posts)Up until he sawed off the shotgun to make it more portable (the law against doing that does not seem to matter to someone who is going to the use gun in other criminal endeavors).
Not sure what new laws would have prevented him from doing what he did, so not really sure what there is to debate. He had back ground checks, etc, so we can't blame laws or guns for what he did (and apparently we can't blame him either).
I am not even sure what is up to debate anymore - background checks by the states, most everyone is ok by that (vs the fed). Don't sell guns to people? Not going to happen. Why he went off when most people in the US don't and killed a bunch of folks? No one really cares why if it doesn't help promote their agenda.
We agree what he did was terrible, some are sure the cause was the very existence of guns, some that he had mental issues, video games, whatever.
He had a shot gun, which he illegally modified and used in an illegal way - so now new laws would have stopped him from doing what he was planning on (murder is already against the law) - he acted in a manner different than any of us have done or desire to do, and using him to demonize another group (gamers, islam, guns, mental health patients, etc) falls flat since the overwhelming majority of people in those groups don't do such things.
What is there to debate other than emotional attachment to an issue? He was bad, did a bad thing, is dead.