Unless you go door to door and collect all guns, you cannot stop a nut job from shooting people!

[Daemonaquila]

75. Wrong question, wrong solution.

I'm really tired of people yelling "guns, guns, more guns!" and others yelling "no guns, no guns, nevermore guns!" when guns aren't the issue. The media makes a killing polarizing the debate, not to mention the NRA assholes and all the other gun and anti-gun asshole lobby groups.

Here is some actual food for thought - a rundown of all the different kinds of rampage killings, split up by area of the world and context (school, workplace, domestic violence, etc.). You'll see some interesting things emerging.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rampage_killers

The U.S. is by no means the king of mass killing. We are, however, the king of mass killings in educational settings (by a variety of means). In the incidents listed, there are tons from countries where guns are banned, and yet... and yet... the motivated psychos are getting the job done with "excellent" efficiency. Once again, U.S. "exceptionalism" is a myth - we only believe "we're number one" in mass killings because our news media doesn't report on much of anything outside our borders. The conversation is being manipulated based on a false premise.

The questions, I would suggest, are "What is going on with rampage killing worldwide, using whatever means is available in that part of the world?" and "Why are U.S. psychos so keen on targeting schools in particular?"

The latter is the truly chilling question. WHY are schools so tempting, whether among adults or little kids?

I don't have a full solution yet, but I do know that whatever it is, it won't be based on guns/no guns. Explosives, fires, you name it - those have some of the highest death tolls on the list. It's the automatic American thing to pick the most knee-jerk, polarizing false solution, without defining the problem accurately, and claim victory...

But I will say one thing that will make a difference. It's to STOP LYING. Make the media STOP LYING. When we see false information in social media, call people out about LYING. Truth is much more important than anyone's political or philosophical agenda. Why are people so angry, hateful, and prone to violence? It's because LYING sells better, now, than sex. It's also because the tyrants and would-be tyrants of the world understand that LYING is the best way to keep people from discussing things with each other. Prevent people from even using the same language, keep it all politically coded, inject insults into the common terminology until each side is so riled at the other that they'll slug someone on the other side of a debate sooner than they'd say hello.

The other part of the solution I am very sure of, is restoring a culture that builds empathy. In the civil rights era, why was it so important to keep people segregated? It was to ensure that no white would commit the cardinal sin of believing a black person was an actual human being. Our culture of lies and insularity increases the number of kids in home schooling, ensuring they're well-indoctrinated in an echo chamber. Our partially-misguided (or at least mishandled) growing culture of claiming insult, offense, alleging "microaggression," etc., that was started in good faith as a solution to racist/sexist/etc. bullying, has been perverted into students refusing to study ideas which are at odds with their world view. Kids don't hang out at the mall any more - they sit in their basements playing video games with friends around the country or the world, with minimal real conversation, or sit on the Internet on a variety of social media, often with people with whom they have little real-life interaction, if any. We've got a problem, and it isn't the weapon, it's us.