[Paul F]

This is another pointless thread similar to the one about climate change. Everyone touts their position with nothing being accomplished in the way of convincing the other side of anything.

Perception and facts are often far apart. I'm guessing most people think the US is a more violent country in this last decade than perhaps in the 60's and 70's. It's not even close. Murders are half of what they were decades ago. I won't quote statistics because someone will debate them. But if you do your own research about violent crime rates by year, make your own conclusions.

No, I don't have an opinion about gun control because there is no way to evaluate cause and effect. It's simply not possible to state one way or the other how effective control would be. A countrie's culture and mindset are much more important than laws. We can see how effective drug laws are. No amount of laws will stop an addict. Society has said that using drugs are an acceptable form of behavior. It is commonly joked about on TV.

Like lemmings, people react to stimulation with a known response. If the current way to respond to your rage is a mass murder (for those with some emotional or mental issues), then that will be the response. If the current way to respond to your rage was to hang yourself, then that would be the response. This is true for all stimulation. When male friends used to meet, they shook hands. Now they hug. Really? Men hugging? 20 years ago you would have never imagined it.

So now we have this problem. Certain people now will respond to certain stimulants by deciding to do a mass murder. How does one counteract that? If guns were banned, then if someone did a mass murder by using a bomb (which are so easy to build) then what? Eliminating the current means of execution is unlikely a solution. There needs to be some other cultural change to make the response to rage/depression/or other mental issues something less than killing.