[Z]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

Kids aren't allowed guns, it's 18 for rifles and shotguns and 21 for handguns (most commonly used in these sorts of shootings because they can be hidden)...

For that reason, a change in the law would make very little difference. The guns are "out there" and obtainable (most criminals who own guns are not licensed to own them in the first place, making it illegal would make zero difference) and the incidents of high school shootings are a cultural phemomenon... in the sense that "it happened, so it will continue to happen". Essentially, some messed up kid did it and it got a huge amount of media attention, so now any messed up / angry kid with a death wish who wants to go out in a "blaze of glory" in the US has that image culturally imprinted in his mind.

I'm not saying that I agree with the fairly easy availability of firearms in the US, per se... the number of accidental deaths with them makes a good case for stronger restrictions... just that I don't think it would alter the "high school shooting" situation at all. If someone wanted to get hold of one, it would still be easy enough (it's not THAT hard in the UK, if you have the cash and know who to ask) and let's face it... someone who's planning to shoot up their school and then turn the gun on themselves isn't going to suddenly stop and say "Oh no, it would be illegal for me to have a gun! Back to the drawing board..."

I actually disagree, I think most of these kids are often bullied or feel left out in some way and often lack the social skills to integrate with their fellow students which is usually what leads to them taking their anger out on the school/college. If they can't readily buy a gun from a store, they're not gonna have the balls to try get one illegally, nine times out of ten I'd reckon.

I think if they outlawed guns in every state in the USA, and all police forces were told that their number one objective is to confiscate weapons, I think it would eradicate gun ownership down to the levels that they exist in most other Western countries. Of course some people will have them but it is just sheer stupidity to continue to allow anyone of the age of consent to just buy one. People buy them to kill other people; so people buy them to defend themselves. It's a never ending cycle that can only be ended if they just get rid of them. I get through my day perfectly fine without owning a gun, future generations of Americans won't miss something they never had but I'm sure plenty of gun toting egomaniacs would protest it until the day they died if the US government ever took that long awaited action to write it out of the constitution.