Guns...

[tenacious]

First let me state my hesitation in starting this thread is that it's too soon. So let me qualify it with being upfront that if folks are upset I'll delete it. Now, that said here goes...

Guns is one of those issues to me (that outside what I read in the news) that I just don't see why people get so worked up about it. Yes there are hundreds killed every year. But in the big picture it just strikes me that there are more pressing issue facing us. Like say diabetes, or what the heck we're going to do about Rocket Man across the ocean? I'm open to evolving on the issue, just no matter how scary it feels, the numbers always seem to be closer to pool deaths then to auto fatalities.
Also, I think the financial side of this is important. Just like I'm not into paying to deport 11 million illegal workers with my tax dollars, I'm not down with throwing billions more on Uncle Sam's credit card to fund house to house searches to round up all the guns. Frankly because a strait up shit-show would come of that. So I think it's important to note in any honest conversation about guns, that this is a problem that our government is going to really "fix" for us.

NOW ALL OF THAT SAID, I also think that is plain to see that we need to come up with a better way. As, I simply refuse to entertain the idea that aside from the nuts, that anybody wants to see another Gilroy or Thousand Oaks nightclub style attack. So what the heck do we do. Better background checks, bigger fines for not registering weapons or having illegal weapons. Also I think there need to be more "red flag" type warning and measures we can take to head these type of attacks off before. I'd be open to a ban on assault riffles and a buyback program. Really I'm open to any solution that isn't wildly expensive or ineffective. We've got to start there and move forward.

 

[Hüsker Dü]

We need to try to do something when it comes to all preventable deaths.
On the mental health issue that is a slippery slope. Do we deny military vets their rights due to a perception of PTSD?

 

[tenacious]

We need to try to do something when it comes to all preventable deaths.
On the mental health issue that is a slippery slope. Do we deny military vets their rights due to a perception of PTSD?

Ugh... preventable deaths are terrible. And if I read a reputable study saying like maybe we should take soldiers guns away for a few months as the return from the front lines into regular life I could see doing it. And I could also see it lasting longer if there was some sort of system in place for people to report strange behavior. I.e. I assume the military helps vets find jobs when they return home, and the government paid chain of people, who work with lots of vets on things like finding work (and "get it") are seeing red flags- that it should be taken very seriously.

Also I do think it's worth point out that I doubt there is much political appetite, to make blanket restrictions on the freedoms of the young men and women who just went to war to fight for our nations freedoms.

 

[Hüsker Dü]

Ugh... preventable deaths are terrible. And if I read a reputable study saying like maybe we should take soldiers guns away for a few months as the return from the front lines into regular life I could see doing it. And I could also see it lasting longer if there was some sort of system in place for people to report strange behavior. I.e. I assume the military helps vets find jobs when they return home, and the government paid chain of people, who work with lots of vets on things like finding work (and "get it") are seeing red flags- that it should be taken very seriously.

Also I do think it's worth point out that I doubt there is much political appetite, to make blanket restrictions on the freedoms of the young men and women who just went to war to fight for our nations freedoms.

Just pointing out one potential snafu in assessing mental health and the consequences thereof . . . and no, unfortunately, there is no all encompassing outreach for those returning home from service and re-entering society.

 

[Hüsker Dü]

*

 

[tenacious]

Just pointing out one potential snafu in assessing mental health and the consequences thereof . . . and no, unfortunately, there is no all encompassing outreach for those returning home from service and re-entering society.

Yeah... I think you're making a very valid point. We are not going to find a perfect solution to this problem.

 

[espola]

Yeah... I think you're making a very valid point. We are not going to find a perfect solution to this problem.

The gun-nuttiest person I ever met did his national service time in the Air Force but never got near any fighting. In return, the Air Force gave him the electronics technical training that started him on his career path. He has retired from everything now (his last job was as a fireman) and lives in a large house with a view of lakes and mountains in Montana. He had a Canadian wife whom he had met in an internet chat room focused on Randall knives. They both collected Randalls and eventually wrote a book together about them --

https://www.amazon.com/Randall-Knives-Reference-Sheldon-Wickersham/dp/0974047414

Anyway, my first impression when I met him was that he was "one of those gun nuts". However, after we got over the fact that he told a little white lie to get an interview for the engineering R&D technician job I was offering by demonstrating that he was one of the best techs who ever worked for me, he used to taunt me by acting gun-nutty (and/or knife-nutty) with the other technicians just for a laugh. Despite all that showing off for appearances, he is genuinely one of the nicest persons I have ever met - he lived with his mother in Clairemont until she died (only later did we find out that she needed his daily care to stay alive) and then went through the same thing while his wife was dying of cancer. I have been tempted to take him up on his offer to go visit him in Montana without telling him I plan to just never leave.