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Texas school shooting

I read recently about a high school in the Salt Lake Valley. It just had its 6th student suicide for the school year. This is an astounding number since you could literally combine the rest of the districts in the entire valley and not reach that number. So for one school to have so many suicides is incredible.

One of my friends attended one of the several community meetings they've had over the past few weeks to raise awareness about suicide. The first thing that Michael Staley, Utah's state medical examiner instructed parents to do was to, "secure your guns." He explained that it wasn't a gun rights issue but just a common sense measure that they're finding that parents woefully neglect. If students are contemplating suicide, having easy access to a gun will be an easy temptation.

Again, the issue is guns.

I think as a nation, we need to not only reinstate the assault weapons ban of 1994, and create a national gun registry (and subsequent universal background checks), but enact stricter laws concerning the securing of guns. Just this past week a West High School student brought his daddy's gun to school. Standard practice for this offense is a 10-day suspension plus a district hearing (which depending on the case, could result in a student's expulsion from school). Parents merely face a class B misdemeanor (fine of up to $1000 or six months in jail although jail time is rarely given). Parents who neglect to lock up their guns should be faced with stiffer penalties and prison time. I'd even favor higher taxes to pay for a police force to routinely inspect people's guns to make sure they're properly secured (they do this in Japan).

As a nation we have become far too lax with lethal weapons. And it shows. The US has 5x the population of the UK yet has 423x as many gun murders. I get that culture plays a factor into things. But gun laws (or the lack thereof) matter.
 
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idestroyedthetoilet said:
It always has, and should. I'm pointing out the practicality of a core reason behind our mindsets against those who think westerners, mid-westerners, and plenty of th South are just dumb rednecks because you mentioned red states. It's probably the main reason US politics are (is?) so divisive. People don't care to try understanding the other and can't relate.
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Gotcha.

I do understand. I really do. And I respect that fact and even love many things about it.

I think the culture simply needs to adapt in an intelligent manner, embracing their core values while integrating changes (ie, basic gun reform laws like those just mentioned by dude a few posts up) that seem fundamental in moving toward a better society.
 
Likewise, the North would do itself some good to take a page from the South (not sure about Midwest or Utahrn region) and become less corporate go go go and more family oriented.
 
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idestroyedthetoilet said:
It always has, and should. I'm pointing out the practicality of a core reason behind our mindsets against those who think westerners, mid-westerners, and plenty of th South are just dumb rednecks because you mentioned red states. It's probably the main reason US politics are (is?) so divisive. People don't care to try understanding the other and can't relate.
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It's a fact. I get that people living in red states generally prefer alt facts. They're suspicious of experts, calling them coastal elitists. But instead of reacting defensively and blaming "the other side" of "failing to understand red states" as if gun violence rates are qualitative data like disagreeing on the best brand of chocolate, read the verifiable data. Red states generally have liberal gun laws allowing greater and easier access to guns. There absolutely is a strong relationship between lax gun laws and greater and easier access to them and gun violence rates. This is quantifiable. It's been proved. It's a fact that cannot be disputed.

This is one of the main reasons why I hate Trump. He didn't invent this. But he certainly has had the largest role in disqualifying verifiable facts to a large part of the population. People think whatever nonsense he tweets is a fact while the facts reported by empirical data and years of research by experts is nonsense. It's driving me and other researchers just bat **** crazy.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...nce-see-where-your-state-stacks-up/359395002/
 
idestroyedthetoilet said:
If you want to have a dialogue with people then don't open with a statement that is utter ******** that has been made up by a couple newspaper articles and stating it as fact.

By your logic, having police patrol the highways and neighborhoods increases violence. Do you see why someone with an IQ above 1 would write you off as a dumbass?

There aren't any studies proving what you beli eve to be fact. I've looked foir them.
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Welcome to my ignore list bucko.
 
Wes Mantooth said:
I think it less than coincidence that virtually every state in the top 20 with the highest gun deaths per capita is a red state.

I think that speaks volumes about guns and the mindset of those who own them.
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If only the problem was that simple. Take a look at the 20 highest cities. Lots of blue in there.
 
Wes Mantooth said:
Gotcha.

I do understand. I really do. And I respect that fact and even love many things about it.

I think the culture simply needs to adapt in an intelligent manner, embracing their core values while integrating changes (ie, basic gun reform laws like those just mentioned by dude a few posts up) that seem fundamental in moving toward a better society.
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It applies both ways and this school problem definitely has some of the more rural type-ish concerned. Something has to give. I'd accept a ton of more regulations that I wouldn't have even given consideration to 15 years ago, slippery slope and all. I also know plenty of people who would tell me to kiss their *** so we have a way to go still. For me, it's plainly not appropriate for us gun owners to ignore the body count that keeps stacking up and write off everything by the 2nd Ammendment alone. GF had a good idea about militias that I disagreed with but at least it was an alternative proppsal.
 
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