My two cents on the subject of mass shootings, and society's response, if any.
First, we are not going to solve, or even reduce by any meaningful level, the problems of periodic mass shootings utilizing, A) monitoring of people; B) limiting the immigration of people of certain nationalities or religious beliefs; C) passing new gun regulations in the form of complete bans, background checks, permits, mental health checks, limits on the size of clips, banning semi-automatic weapons, etc..., or D) arming everyone to the teeth and encouraging them to carry their guns everywhere they go.
The U.S. glorifies violence at the end of a gun. We always have. Whether it's Annie Oakley's and Wild Bill's Wild West shows, Audie Murphy movies, the Lone Ranger, or more modern versions of the same, it permeates our DNA. TV, books, movies, video games, on and on. This makes the problem extremely complicated. No country in the world has our gun violence problem, but no country in the world has the same culture as ours.
You are not going to get rid of guns in this country. Whether it's the 2nd Amendment, the aforementioned culture, or the fact there are somewhere between 250 and 300 million already floating around, anyone who argues for that solution is simply wasting my time, so I will ignore you. You might as well say let's just blink our eyes and hope they disappear.
Similarly, the "regulatory" suggestions are at best mere band aids applied to a severed limb and at worst nothing more than a vehicle for political grandstanding. They do not solve this problem, or even lessen it. Let me ask two questions. 1) Do you think mass shootings have increased or decreased in the last 50 years? 2) Do you think there are more regulations or fewer regulations relating to the purchase, ownership or possession of guns now, or 50 years ago?
The problem with the "monitoring" solution, or the identifying of foreigners, gun owners, religious extremists, etc..., is the signal to noise ratio is so minuscule it is worthless, especially in light of the cost, both human and financial. We're going to assign cops to follow all 50-100 million people who own guns???
So much of what I hear or read on this subject is, "well we must do something."
Realistically, I'm not sure there is a solution, except long term. I don't have a lot of hope for the Ludovico Technique. The silliness of banning video games, movies or certain tv shows goes nowhere. If I were in charge I might start by making it expensive to own guns, from high charges for handgun permits, hunting licenses and the like, to imposing insurance requirements similar to autos, taxes on gun and ammunition sales similar to gas taxes, and other creative methods of making people, on their own, question their need for a gun. They will never listen to us as to why they don't need one. They have to reach that conclusion on their own.
I like the idea of voluntary buy backs, maybe with higher prices paid for handguns and assault style rifles.
That, coupled with education are the only hope, imho. Everything else is a waste of time and money.
