If a few Crips get shot by a Blood in a dispute over drug dealing in some bad neighborhood, it’s a tragic loss of human potential (albeit wasted), but it’s also a pretty easily avoidable problem for most people.
Proposals 1, 2, and 3 are band-aids, they can't and won't ever solve the problem but may provide short term benefits. They won't solve the problems but will make people feel like they tried. They are also exponentially easier to implement that Proposals 4, 5, and 6.
Proposals 4, 5, and 6 are potential cures to the school shooting problem and myriad more. However, they require significant changes to society that will require a tremendous effort to effect. Its a herculean task to reverse the course of seventy years of social inertia.
Implementing all 6 of your suggestions would mitigate most of the mayhem these monsters cause. I especially like you pointing out that never are these acts committed against military, police, gun stores, gun ranges or anywhere people are likely to be armed. Study after study has shown that states/cities/towns that have conceal carry laws are generally less likely to have matching or greater murder statistics than those that do not. Chicago, California, Baltimore, Philadelphia? Ha! Their gangs don't care whether guns are illegal or not, and neither does any other homicide-intentioned person.
Restricting access to anyone under the age of 18 to social media like Twitter, TikTok, Snap Chat, Instagram, etc. would at least forestall vulnerable and mentally unstable people from the influence of these cesspools. The pre-frontal cortex of males, even at the age of 18, is not fully formed, but at least they could only immerse themselves in 6 years of influence instead of 16 or more.
I don't engage with any of those social media sites, with the exception of You Tube, whose algorithm has determined I only like conservative content, which is basically all I get. Fine with me. But once in awhile I find a channel that sparks my attention. One of these is Odin's Men, featuring J.T., who looks to be in his late 50's, commenting on stuff posted in the TikTok gutter. He's conservative, but fairly gentle in his comments, considering the utter buffoonery, degraded behavior, horrible purposeful destruction of human bodies, and graphic depictions of the horror of the human condition at its lowest. This is the lowest common denominator in the depths of hell, folks. Not kidding. Like lifting up a rock and finding a bizarre hideous creature underneath - scary but you can't look away. Children and juveniles seeing this stuff can't help but have their souls stripped of everything that might still be human.
Good article, John. I linked it over at billwhittle.com for my fellow members there to read.
I've seen Odin's Men. There's a new word that should be coined for the videos he finds on TikTok. "Pathetisad." I would agree with you. There's NO way kids seeing that kind of stuff can be good for developing minds.
Your new word is quite apt for people who are either so unbelievably lacking in self-awareness or pathologically hungry for attention that no amount of humiliating themselves will deter them. Normal, psychologically well-adjusted people with a high level of compassion do find them pathetic and sad. Pathetisads seem to be proud of themselves, though, so they have that going for them.
J.T. claims he doesn't search these videos out, but I presume the TikTok algorithm is like all the others - what you watch populates what you are offered to watch. I can't claim to know what is generally on offer from TikTok. There is some useful content provided, thinking Libs of TikTok, which exposes the underbelly of our culture, specifically teachers who openly, proudly and defiantly push the trans agenda and LBTQuerty crap on their classroom captives. It is shameful that these oddities are hired in the first place, but if people who care about the minds of the children they are entrusted to teach filled school boards instead of ideological weirdos indoctrinated in schools of education to the point of being brainless, they wouldn't be. If I could wave a wand and abolish just one government department it would be the Department of Education. As the Redneck Intellectual often chides us - do not call our system of education public schools. They are government schools with an agenda that is not good for the public in any way shape or form.
I am sheltered in the real world from the sort of people who make TikTok content, so seeing this bizarro world of internet creatures, some of whom barely seem human, is sickening while at the same time fascinating. Kinda hate to admit that, to be honest.
Regarding number 2, red flag laws: it is a constitutional right to keep and bear. What other constitutional rights, endowed to me by the creator, are you willing to take away without a trial?
This is totally a nonstarter.
Number four: it violate s constitutional right to free speech! While I think social media has a little value, that would also be unconstitutional.
Maybe you want to take away their cell phones, ability to email, and write letters to? Also a nonstarter.
I like the other ideas you have though. Let’s allow the school staff who want to be armed, to be armed starting right now.
Whatever training level they have, which will be different, will have to do for right now.
Have local government pay for all future gun safety training for them, I will vote yes on that text levy.
Yeah, good old "Pete" and "Brox" apparently love the mass killings in Texas, Buffalo, ad infinitum occurring in our once beloved nation before the scourge of guns by the scum of the earth which grew under their crazy White Supremacist "leader" and his henchmen from hell (Donnie, Jr., Ivanka, Jared, Trump cabinet members, McConnell, McCarthy, and rabid wolves like govs Abbott and DeSantis, etc.
Again with the ad hominem attacks, which says you care more about vilifying people you may disagree with, than having a real discussion. It's no different than flippantly saying "okay, boomer" or "she's a Karen." By applying an unsavory label to those you disagree with, you seek to nullify any opinion they might have. (Although I might agree with you on McConnell and McCarthy... two swamp dwelling uniparty examples if there ever were.) The scourge is not now, nor has it ever been guns. The scourge is a society that is devoid of any morality, ethics, accountability, that looks to excuse offense on the one hand because of "social factors," that values human lives only as something to be used (be it for political points, or earthly pleasure, or financial gain) and of no ultimate value. Oh, and please note that while my personal politics are nobody's business but my own, I freely share the following: I did not vote for Trump, as I feel he tried to run the country on a business model, and trusted far too many disreputable people. Samm Tittle or Charles Kraut would have been far better options, but stood no chance as a third party. By the way, you do realize also, that a great amount of mass shooters (perhaps a majority, if you count mass gangland shootings) identify with left leaning principles?
John, while I agree on the importance of a 2 parent household and the benefits of religious belief, there are more easily implemented things to be done that would work RIGHT NOW. First, schools should be at least as well guarded as courthouses, police/armed staff, single point of entry etc. Second, actually enforce firearms laws, rather than write new ones.Third, mandatory gun safety classes for kids in school, to teach safety and ethical use. The first lesson I learned was "it is a tool, not a toy.
- A tool that doesn't care how sorry you feel after you pull that trigger." Even if you hate guns, you should know safe handling protocols and what to do if you come into contact with one. Fourth, maximum sentence for violent crimes (including armed robbery, burglary while in possession of a firearm). Fifth, mandatory counseling and access to the same for any child victimized by bullying.
Red flag laws are inherently dangerous, as they rely on the arbitrary judgement of a single assessor, and are easily abused by disgruntled individuals and corrupt government officials. If someone was fully adjudicated mentally incompetent is the only constitutionally viable option.
I think an armed security guard and/or armed teachers is enough because school shootings are actually very rare. If people want to take the security up from there, I think that's fine though. Enforcing existing gun laws would have stopped a few attacks that have slipped through the cracks in the past. I don't know that gun safety classes are a solution, but there presumption there is that people want to be safe and they don't know how. I'm not sure heavier sentences for mass murderers would discourage them because the presumption is already going to be that if they live, they will spend the rest of their lives in prison. I don't know about "mandatory" counseling. Most people don't need it. Most victims of bullying are probably unknown to teachers and a lot of people aren't going to want it. Mandatory Muay Thai or BJJ classes would probably do them more good than counseling.
I agree with you on red flag laws. Same goes for involuntary commitment. They're both inherently dangerous. We just have to make a decision as a society if the juice is worth the squeeze. If anything, I think involuntary commitment is probably much more valuable than red flag laws in cases like this, although red flag laws might be more useful in stopping suicides.
Thanks for the reply, John. It's good to actually have a thoughtful conversation about things that might actually make a difference.
First, I'd have to dig up the statistic, but most acts of violence involve people who should never have had a firearm in the first place. Not even considering mass attacks, which, as you note, are a comparatively rare occurrence. The enforcement of the law is where the largest cracks exist, as agencies are notorious for either not communicating, or not doing their due diligence in the first place. (The idiot in El Paso comes to mind, courtesy of the USAF.)
For the safety class aspect, the point is that teaching firearms safety instills (or ought to, when done correctly) a certain mindset, that of responsibility and accountability. As to your point of people (children) not knowing how to be safe, this is anecdotal: (therefore tainted by my confirmation bias), I have seen far too many kids who would make you cringe with how ignorantly they view/treat weapons. We teach kids safety, not because they want to be and don't know how, but because how shall they know unless they are taught? (See Ezekiel 33:2-9.) The (often) non existent or equally ignorant parents and guardians have been encouraged by the government to abdicate their responsibility in numerous areas for decades resulting in generational ignorance in many areas, including firearms.
The mandatory harsh sentences for violent or gun related offenders is for ALL of them, not strictly speaking the mass murderer, since as you noted, they already are doomed to death or life in lockup. That particular idea was aimed more at ghetto thugs, or redneck tweakers, or homies from the barrio breaking into a house for drug money, or carjacking, or shooting at another member of societal effluent.
I agree that self defense classes are more beneficial to bullied kids than counselling, but considering how schools practice "brainless" zero tolerance (i.e. it doesn't matter if you were defending yourself, you were involved and must be punished), starting with counselling might be a decent first step. (This gets into the whole secular humanist government school culture, which is a bit too off topic, perhaps.)
As an aside: Something that I have been wondering about, how does an 18 year old, high school dropout, with no real friends, living with his grandma afford two tricked out AR's, a vehicle, body armor, etc? I could barely afford a .22 for my 18th birthday, and my dad was lower middle class... (Who abetted this punk? is what I am wondering.) Also, if the news is accurate, some cops need to lose their badges permanently for standing around for 40 minutes. (Did their spokesperson REALLY say they didn't go in "because they didn't want to get shot?" If so, that's another thing that needs to change: Police training.)
There's a much simpler solution. Ban assault rifles they belong in the military. You don't want any Yahoo being able to get these. It seems to be the mass murders favorite toy now you have to take his toy away that's the only way to ensure no more dead kids. And that's right everyone who's already got one have a massive gun by back
You do know that Assault weapons have been illegal/heavily restricted since 1986, right? (the NFA requires anyone owning a fully automatic weapon to have a class 3 tax stamp.)But then, you probably think an assault weapon is a "military style" semi automatic. Far better we should implement mandatory gun safety classes in schools to hammer in the gravity of picking up a gun, and make prominent examples of people who commit crimes with a gun. If you are going to argue "need" then the Press doesn't need round the clock news coverage, or internet, or television since the founding fathers never would've dreamed about such a thing. (Think about all of the lives we could save by having a mandatory waiting time before a story could be published! Richard Jewel would've appreciated that.) And if I, someone who has never had so much as a speeding ticket, shouldn't have access to semiautomatic weapons with a high capacity magazine, why should the police and feds (who have a long history of infractions and abuses) have access? By the way, look up the battle of Athens, just after World War II. American vets rose up against organized governmental corruption to protect free and fair elections.
What a dangerous set of MAGA ideas for further gun violence! Might as well admit this trashy comment was paid for by the NRA. John whoever must have only been "educated" at Trump "University." before it was shut down and "Dr. Don-Don" had to pay $25 million because of its fraudulent "education."
Proposals 1, 2, and 3 are band-aids, they can't and won't ever solve the problem but may provide short term benefits. They won't solve the problems but will make people feel like they tried. They are also exponentially easier to implement that Proposals 4, 5, and 6.
Proposals 4, 5, and 6 are potential cures to the school shooting problem and myriad more. However, they require significant changes to society that will require a tremendous effort to effect. Its a herculean task to reverse the course of seventy years of social inertia.
Implementing all 6 of your suggestions would mitigate most of the mayhem these monsters cause. I especially like you pointing out that never are these acts committed against military, police, gun stores, gun ranges or anywhere people are likely to be armed. Study after study has shown that states/cities/towns that have conceal carry laws are generally less likely to have matching or greater murder statistics than those that do not. Chicago, California, Baltimore, Philadelphia? Ha! Their gangs don't care whether guns are illegal or not, and neither does any other homicide-intentioned person.
Restricting access to anyone under the age of 18 to social media like Twitter, TikTok, Snap Chat, Instagram, etc. would at least forestall vulnerable and mentally unstable people from the influence of these cesspools. The pre-frontal cortex of males, even at the age of 18, is not fully formed, but at least they could only immerse themselves in 6 years of influence instead of 16 or more.
I don't engage with any of those social media sites, with the exception of You Tube, whose algorithm has determined I only like conservative content, which is basically all I get. Fine with me. But once in awhile I find a channel that sparks my attention. One of these is Odin's Men, featuring J.T., who looks to be in his late 50's, commenting on stuff posted in the TikTok gutter. He's conservative, but fairly gentle in his comments, considering the utter buffoonery, degraded behavior, horrible purposeful destruction of human bodies, and graphic depictions of the horror of the human condition at its lowest. This is the lowest common denominator in the depths of hell, folks. Not kidding. Like lifting up a rock and finding a bizarre hideous creature underneath - scary but you can't look away. Children and juveniles seeing this stuff can't help but have their souls stripped of everything that might still be human.
Good article, John. I linked it over at billwhittle.com for my fellow members there to read.
I've seen Odin's Men. There's a new word that should be coined for the videos he finds on TikTok. "Pathetisad." I would agree with you. There's NO way kids seeing that kind of stuff can be good for developing minds.
Your new word is quite apt for people who are either so unbelievably lacking in self-awareness or pathologically hungry for attention that no amount of humiliating themselves will deter them. Normal, psychologically well-adjusted people with a high level of compassion do find them pathetic and sad. Pathetisads seem to be proud of themselves, though, so they have that going for them.
J.T. claims he doesn't search these videos out, but I presume the TikTok algorithm is like all the others - what you watch populates what you are offered to watch. I can't claim to know what is generally on offer from TikTok. There is some useful content provided, thinking Libs of TikTok, which exposes the underbelly of our culture, specifically teachers who openly, proudly and defiantly push the trans agenda and LBTQuerty crap on their classroom captives. It is shameful that these oddities are hired in the first place, but if people who care about the minds of the children they are entrusted to teach filled school boards instead of ideological weirdos indoctrinated in schools of education to the point of being brainless, they wouldn't be. If I could wave a wand and abolish just one government department it would be the Department of Education. As the Redneck Intellectual often chides us - do not call our system of education public schools. They are government schools with an agenda that is not good for the public in any way shape or form.
I am sheltered in the real world from the sort of people who make TikTok content, so seeing this bizarro world of internet creatures, some of whom barely seem human, is sickening while at the same time fascinating. Kinda hate to admit that, to be honest.
Regarding number 2, red flag laws: it is a constitutional right to keep and bear. What other constitutional rights, endowed to me by the creator, are you willing to take away without a trial?
This is totally a nonstarter.
Number four: it violate s constitutional right to free speech! While I think social media has a little value, that would also be unconstitutional.
Maybe you want to take away their cell phones, ability to email, and write letters to? Also a nonstarter.
I like the other ideas you have though. Let’s allow the school staff who want to be armed, to be armed starting right now.
Whatever training level they have, which will be different, will have to do for right now.
Have local government pay for all future gun safety training for them, I will vote yes on that text levy.
Yeah, good old "Pete" and "Brox" apparently love the mass killings in Texas, Buffalo, ad infinitum occurring in our once beloved nation before the scourge of guns by the scum of the earth which grew under their crazy White Supremacist "leader" and his henchmen from hell (Donnie, Jr., Ivanka, Jared, Trump cabinet members, McConnell, McCarthy, and rabid wolves like govs Abbott and DeSantis, etc.
Again with the ad hominem attacks, which says you care more about vilifying people you may disagree with, than having a real discussion. It's no different than flippantly saying "okay, boomer" or "she's a Karen." By applying an unsavory label to those you disagree with, you seek to nullify any opinion they might have. (Although I might agree with you on McConnell and McCarthy... two swamp dwelling uniparty examples if there ever were.) The scourge is not now, nor has it ever been guns. The scourge is a society that is devoid of any morality, ethics, accountability, that looks to excuse offense on the one hand because of "social factors," that values human lives only as something to be used (be it for political points, or earthly pleasure, or financial gain) and of no ultimate value. Oh, and please note that while my personal politics are nobody's business but my own, I freely share the following: I did not vote for Trump, as I feel he tried to run the country on a business model, and trusted far too many disreputable people. Samm Tittle or Charles Kraut would have been far better options, but stood no chance as a third party. By the way, you do realize also, that a great amount of mass shooters (perhaps a majority, if you count mass gangland shootings) identify with left leaning principles?
John, while I agree on the importance of a 2 parent household and the benefits of religious belief, there are more easily implemented things to be done that would work RIGHT NOW. First, schools should be at least as well guarded as courthouses, police/armed staff, single point of entry etc. Second, actually enforce firearms laws, rather than write new ones.Third, mandatory gun safety classes for kids in school, to teach safety and ethical use. The first lesson I learned was "it is a tool, not a toy.
- A tool that doesn't care how sorry you feel after you pull that trigger." Even if you hate guns, you should know safe handling protocols and what to do if you come into contact with one. Fourth, maximum sentence for violent crimes (including armed robbery, burglary while in possession of a firearm). Fifth, mandatory counseling and access to the same for any child victimized by bullying.
Red flag laws are inherently dangerous, as they rely on the arbitrary judgement of a single assessor, and are easily abused by disgruntled individuals and corrupt government officials. If someone was fully adjudicated mentally incompetent is the only constitutionally viable option.
I think an armed security guard and/or armed teachers is enough because school shootings are actually very rare. If people want to take the security up from there, I think that's fine though. Enforcing existing gun laws would have stopped a few attacks that have slipped through the cracks in the past. I don't know that gun safety classes are a solution, but there presumption there is that people want to be safe and they don't know how. I'm not sure heavier sentences for mass murderers would discourage them because the presumption is already going to be that if they live, they will spend the rest of their lives in prison. I don't know about "mandatory" counseling. Most people don't need it. Most victims of bullying are probably unknown to teachers and a lot of people aren't going to want it. Mandatory Muay Thai or BJJ classes would probably do them more good than counseling.
I agree with you on red flag laws. Same goes for involuntary commitment. They're both inherently dangerous. We just have to make a decision as a society if the juice is worth the squeeze. If anything, I think involuntary commitment is probably much more valuable than red flag laws in cases like this, although red flag laws might be more useful in stopping suicides.
Thanks for the reply, John. It's good to actually have a thoughtful conversation about things that might actually make a difference.
First, I'd have to dig up the statistic, but most acts of violence involve people who should never have had a firearm in the first place. Not even considering mass attacks, which, as you note, are a comparatively rare occurrence. The enforcement of the law is where the largest cracks exist, as agencies are notorious for either not communicating, or not doing their due diligence in the first place. (The idiot in El Paso comes to mind, courtesy of the USAF.)
For the safety class aspect, the point is that teaching firearms safety instills (or ought to, when done correctly) a certain mindset, that of responsibility and accountability. As to your point of people (children) not knowing how to be safe, this is anecdotal: (therefore tainted by my confirmation bias), I have seen far too many kids who would make you cringe with how ignorantly they view/treat weapons. We teach kids safety, not because they want to be and don't know how, but because how shall they know unless they are taught? (See Ezekiel 33:2-9.) The (often) non existent or equally ignorant parents and guardians have been encouraged by the government to abdicate their responsibility in numerous areas for decades resulting in generational ignorance in many areas, including firearms.
The mandatory harsh sentences for violent or gun related offenders is for ALL of them, not strictly speaking the mass murderer, since as you noted, they already are doomed to death or life in lockup. That particular idea was aimed more at ghetto thugs, or redneck tweakers, or homies from the barrio breaking into a house for drug money, or carjacking, or shooting at another member of societal effluent.
I agree that self defense classes are more beneficial to bullied kids than counselling, but considering how schools practice "brainless" zero tolerance (i.e. it doesn't matter if you were defending yourself, you were involved and must be punished), starting with counselling might be a decent first step. (This gets into the whole secular humanist government school culture, which is a bit too off topic, perhaps.)
As an aside: Something that I have been wondering about, how does an 18 year old, high school dropout, with no real friends, living with his grandma afford two tricked out AR's, a vehicle, body armor, etc? I could barely afford a .22 for my 18th birthday, and my dad was lower middle class... (Who abetted this punk? is what I am wondering.) Also, if the news is accurate, some cops need to lose their badges permanently for standing around for 40 minutes. (Did their spokesperson REALLY say they didn't go in "because they didn't want to get shot?" If so, that's another thing that needs to change: Police training.)
Cheers.
There's a much simpler solution. Ban assault rifles they belong in the military. You don't want any Yahoo being able to get these. It seems to be the mass murders favorite toy now you have to take his toy away that's the only way to ensure no more dead kids. And that's right everyone who's already got one have a massive gun by back
Breakdown of weapons used to kill people in 2019....
Handguns: 6,365
Knives and other pointy objects: 1476
Hands, feet, etc: 600
Rifles: 364
Shotguns: 200
https://www.criminalattorneycolumbus.com/which-weapons-are-most-commonly-used-for-homicides/
You do know that Assault weapons have been illegal/heavily restricted since 1986, right? (the NFA requires anyone owning a fully automatic weapon to have a class 3 tax stamp.)But then, you probably think an assault weapon is a "military style" semi automatic. Far better we should implement mandatory gun safety classes in schools to hammer in the gravity of picking up a gun, and make prominent examples of people who commit crimes with a gun. If you are going to argue "need" then the Press doesn't need round the clock news coverage, or internet, or television since the founding fathers never would've dreamed about such a thing. (Think about all of the lives we could save by having a mandatory waiting time before a story could be published! Richard Jewel would've appreciated that.) And if I, someone who has never had so much as a speeding ticket, shouldn't have access to semiautomatic weapons with a high capacity magazine, why should the police and feds (who have a long history of infractions and abuses) have access? By the way, look up the battle of Athens, just after World War II. American vets rose up against organized governmental corruption to protect free and fair elections.
What a dangerous set of MAGA ideas for further gun violence! Might as well admit this trashy comment was paid for by the NRA. John whoever must have only been "educated" at Trump "University." before it was shut down and "Dr. Don-Don" had to pay $25 million because of its fraudulent "education."
You attack, but do not refute, indicating you are either a troll, or someone who fails at critical thinking.
For a supposed Dr., you speak like a real dumbass. I bet you aren't an MD, but a PHD. Piled high and deeper!