Charleston church shooting: Without gun control, racism will keep killing black people

[sarisataka]

61. Good question

I will reply with a question- are people trying to gather support for anti-white laws?

Racism is an issue and probably a greater one than guns. He could have chained the doors and lit the church on fir; I believe that has been done before.

Racism cannot be fixed with laws, only hindered. A racist will be racist until they die or learn to overcome their bigotry. The current discussion of racism is a continuation of the ongoing discussion albeit at a higher profile.

Guns can be controlled to a large extent but like the gasoline and match cannot act without the human element. Yet if fire was the weapon of choice would there be accusations of everyone who uses either having "blood on their hands", "promoting this culture" or "being ok with these deaths"? Never would it happen.

Following such an incident the gun control discussion swings wide, casting a a net of collective guilt and shame. It not only diminishes the dead but strengthens those who are already not predisposed to supporting gun control. It also poisons the well when the legislation is brought forth. Gun owners tend to be politically aware and have long memories. Any urge to compromise will be lessened upon recalling than the person proposing the legislation had previously conflated them with a mass murderer.

So how to talk gun control after such a tragedy?

First keep perspective. Despite the hyperbole and coverage this is the rare event. That is why it gets the coverage. Keep in mind that better background checks, safe storage laws and keeping guns out of the hands of those with violent histories including domestic abusers will have the greatest effect overall.

Second, though rare we should not simply dismiss mass shootings. To create any policy to reduce them, we do need information. The history of the shooter, mental state, how the weapons were acquired and so on. That information may be used to make adjustments to the previous policies by pointing out possible warning flags of someone trying to obtain a gun but the root causes will often lie outside of guns. They will also be much more difficult to address but it is necessary if we don't want to simply change the cause of mass murder from guns to fire or bombs.