Other countries have the same movies, video games, music videos, music lyrics and often much more "adult" content on TV that kids can and do watch. Yet none has the kind of recurring massacre problems the US has. That strongly suggests these features of today's world that kids have access to aren't the problem.

When Father Knows Best was on TV, automatic weapons weren't available for personal ownership and guns in general weren't nearly as ubiquitous and easy to obtain as they are today. When people with mental illness problems or short tempers back in those days wanted to harm others, they had to throw rocks or use knives, axes and hammers. Much more difficult and harder to hurt more than a few people before being restrained by bystanders.

I grew up playing a lot of video games (still do!) and I've never once felt the urge to kill someone.

I agree with Elmer. The media is global, but the school shootings are not. People want to blame the media, parenting, society, anything but the guns! It's baffling to me that it's even up for debate, though it does perfectly illustrate the problem.

Many different factors contribute, but again, these incidents are not occurring in other countries. One needs to think about the difference between immediate and remote causes, and also major and contributory. The guns are instrumental in causing these murders; are they the major or contributory causes?

No...they are the handy...easy to access...tool

Just to clarify a point-automatic weapons are NOT available to the general public for purchase in a gun shop. SEMI-automatic weapons are. (Automatic means you hold down the trigger and it spews out rounds until you let up or run out. Semi-automatic weapons require you to pull the trigger for each bullet, it’s much slower.) To own an automatic weapon (and they are extremely expensive, like $10,000+, you have to fill out special forms (12 page application) and pay a $200 tax, get fingerprinted, photographed, and wait 9-12 months to see if you possibly got approved by BATFE.

So many people don’t seem to know the difference between an automatic and a semi-automatic. Even authors make this mistake in their books. And then there is the assault weapon label.…

Remember Lizzie Borden? She killed her mother with an ax.....so scary. WOW! That was a BIG crime remade into a movie. If only the last shooter who shot & murdered 17 had used an ax they would have had a chance. Guns are a weapon of mass destruction in these cases. I understand how there will always be mentally ill people, but do we want them to have access to guns?

I think the point is still the same. Who needs a semi-automatic rifle? It shoots much faster and holds a lot more ammunition than a regular gun. Combined that results in a lot more bullets in the same amount of time.

Real simple: The kid bought the gun legally. If he had no access to guns, especially a semi--automatic, then he might have hurt, maybe even killed, a couple of people, but not killed 17 students and teachers.

How simple is that?

Most hunting rifles are semi-automatics. Here’s an illustration. I’m sure that anyone who is determined to get ahold of a gun, legally or not, can.

As for mass killings, I thought we saw how box cutters could kill thousands, back in 2001. Evil can always find a way. Fertilizer. Cars or trucks. Pipe bombs.

This bipartisan discussion is very enlightening. Thank you! I think the Kitchen Table should run the country.

Ha, that would be funny. Now I'm thinking about all the posters that would make up the leaders! I anticipate lots of federal holidays dedicated to cooking and crafts, sounds good to me!

Back in the day we had mental hospitals for the crazy people. Most of them are closed now.

And the Virginia Tech shooter used revolvers. True, it doesn't happen often in other countries....but Norway, in 2011, 77 people killed. I was on another forum and there was someone who was from the US but living in Norway, said, following one of the school shootings, "this would never happen in Norway." I had to remind her of Anders Breivik, who killed so many children.. Also, almost in every case....I don't know about this one....the shooter has been on drugs for depression or psychosis, which can be very dangerous if not closely monitored. I don't see anyone calling for banning SSRIs. Maybe people need to take a look at other factors.

I think the consensus was that Breivik was not psychotic during the attacks. His ideology was fascist, but it is unclear if something involving his belief system was specifically motivating him. But an incident like that in Norway remains an anomaly there, unlike here.

"As for mass killings, I thought we saw how box cutters could kill
thousands, back in 2001. Evil can always find a way. Fertilizer. Cars or
trucks. Pipe bombs."

OK, waiting to see a box cutter-wielding crazy kill 58 people like in Las Vegas, not using an airplane. Yes, McVie used a truck bomb in OK City. Hope no school kid gets the idea to try that at his high school. Bet there will be more mass shootings before that happens.

Every time Amtrak hits a truck on the tracks or is going too fast or whatever and derails, my husband wonders about who left it there or was driving. I used to think he was kind of out there, thinking like that, but then again, he worked for the government and has knowledge about things that I’ll never be privy to.

No need to diverge into gun tech talk or how one individual in another nation once got a gun and engaged in a mass killing. (What, no mention of how a screwdriver *can* be a weapon?)

It is a fact that gun control cannot be piecemeal; laws in one city cannot stop the easy access to guns ten miles away in a lax-law location.

Criminals will always be able to find some weapons. And so? Why not make it harder for them? It is ridiculous to reject the workable in pursuit of the perfect.

These are *distractions* from facing and doing something about the horror. Gun control *works* in societies nearly identical to ours. Why aren't we drafting similar laws to save lives in America?

Whether he was "crazy" or not....killing 77 people is pretty "crazy". Oh, just heard the FBI dropped the ball again. Not only did they not find out anything when Cruz posted on youtube that he was going to be a professional school shooter....this one....a tipster outlined it all. What did they do? Not a damned thing. Let's just blame the guns. Yeah. That.

FBI

I should like to put forth an argumentum ad absurdum . If, whenever there is a a tragic crime, the weapon should be banned, then the Boeing 767-200 should have been banned 17 years ago.

I've no idea what the solution is but I suspect it is rather complicated. Up-thread, or nearby, someone suggested the question as to where did the perp come up with the idea to do this in he first place?

My son has listened to violent music and plays violent computer games. He has never wanted to murder an real human. It has nothing to do with that. It has everything to do with easy access to weapons nobody needs by people with mental issues who are not screened. My other son owns many guns. He shoots at beer bottles and paper targets. He hates violent movies and video games. He was screened before he was able to get his firearms licence n

Sure the FBI could do better at following up leads ... all they need is more agents. How many do you want to pay for?

albert -- Absurd is the word. Airplanes are purpose-built to transport people by air. Guns are purpose-built to fire projectiles that kill and maim. Automatic weapons are purpose-built to do it faster.

I truly believe we have to many parents that aren't parents! Such as, not teaching their kids respect, and whats right and whats wrong.

Moni

chisue, where did the perp learn that "Guns are purpose-built to fire projectiles that kill and maim. [and that] Automatic weapons are purpose-built to do it faster."?

M sure there are many many kids/people with easy access to guns that don't go out killing or even thinking about it....easy access to guns should be stoppe d at least make it harder to get them....but its the person pulling the trigger...something inside certain people's heads. None of us will ever understand it because we don't have that flaw in our brains.

An answer to my question may be here: Shooting suspect was on school rifle team that got NRA grant

As has been mentioned, AUTOMATIC weapons are banned without a special license. SEMI-automatic is a term used for a weapon that cocks itself and makes ready for a trigger pull to send the next round. With that definition, the "six shooter" of the old west was almost a semi-automatic. The difference was that it had to be cocked between each shot. Still a practiced shooter with a "single action" six shooter can send bullets downrange so fast it sound like one shot. Many modern six shooters are double action meaning they cock themselves after each shot. As such they could be considered to be a semi-automatic weapon. These can be fired very quickly, too.

It sounds like the only gun the OP would be satisfied is a muzzle loader.

Nickel, I think the tip that came in on January 5th that named him, and his plans and his violent tendencies should have been followed up on. Now the director of the FBI is apologizing. That it hard to swallow, I would think, for all the parents and loved ones of the lost and injured.

The fact that the rifle team got a NRA grant, I don't see how that has anything to do with it.

I think a lot of people who don't own guns don't even know what an automatic or semi automatic gun is. My .22 is a semi automatic. I can pull the trigger 10 times and it will fire ten rounds. My revolver would be considered semi automatic too. There are very few automatic weapons. You pull the trigger each time it fires.

I agree, there is way too much violence shown to kids. It does get in their minds. This world isn't going to change anytime soon so we just have to live with it the way it is and hope for the best.

Marilyn, thank you for the calm, easy to understand information. I'm not into guns so my terminology inclines to the sloppy. As to the FBI's not following up on this particular tip, hindsight is 20-20. They've got a hard job. I'm glad they do as well as they do. With more trained agents, they could do more.

"My son has listened to violent music and plays violent computer games. He has never wanted to murder an real human. It has nothing to do with that. It has everything to do with easy access to weapons nobody needs by people with mental issues who are not screened. My other son owns many guns. He shoots at beer bottles and paper targets."

Some stellar parenting skills there. You think this shooter went to his parents, or anyone, and said, "I want to kill 'an' real human?" After being immersed in violent music and interactive video games?

You've got another one with "many guns" who shoots at beer bottles? Where do the bottles come from? Where do the guns come from? A drunk with guns ... winner, winner ... *smh*

>>Oh, just heard the FBI dropped the ball again.>>

I'd say the Broward County sheriff and the state department of Social Services dropped the ball way before the FBI did. Let's not forget the FBI probably receives thousands of tips every day, and last I heard (I may be incorrect; I didn't see any follow-up) they were not able to conclusively identify the poster of the threat as coming from Cruz.

The Dept. of Social Services deemed Cruz "low risk" even after watching Cruz slice himself up on Snapchat, carry a backpack with Nazi insignia and were told that law enforcement had been to his home forty times: http://uproxx.com/news/florida-school-shooter-cutting-buy-gun/

The county sheriff's department received calls on Cruz twenty times within the last few years alone: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/parkland/florida-school-shooting/fl-florida-school-shooting-case-update-20180216-story.html.

I heard on the news this morning that Trump want all teacher to carry guns to the classrooms.. imagine the possibilities.

No, no, no. Trump did not say ALL teachers should carry guns!!!!!! He said perhaps some teachers should be trained and carry a concealed weapon so kids aren't sitting ducks.

"albert -- Absurd is the word. Airplanes are purpose-guilt to transport
people by air. Guns are purpose-built to fire projectiles that kill and
maim. Automatic weapons are purpose-built to do it faster."

Not only that but after your analogy occurred, the government put in place a system aimed at preventing it from being able to happen again. Those measures have seemingly been effective, since no further airplane-based mass murders have occurred, I say seemingly since we've not been made aware of any attempts that those measures have thwarted, and the one near attack (shoe-bomber) that slipped through was stopped by other means.

These measures have inconvenienced every air traveler since then, not just those who who are planning a terrorist attack, and we put up with it, for the (perception at least of) increased safety.

Whereas the entirety of action taken after dozens of mass shootings has been for Officials to offer "thoughts and prayers" perhaps by the ziploc bag full. Congress will then stand for a moment of silence, to "honor" those killed, and then they sit back down on their fat asses and continue to do absolutely nothing (except continue to rake in largess from their paymasters, the NRA) The only answer they give to any question involving guns, is "More Guns!

I'm so sick of hearing people complaining about possibly being inconvenienced when they next go to buy ever more guns, or whinging about a "slippery slope" where any measure to stop these mass shootings will inevitably and inexorably lead to all guns being banned and jack-booted government agents kicking down your door to seize your pwecious, pwecious guns.

People are dying, and you think only of yourselves.

I'm with you, Bob.

Totally agree, Bob.

Could we stop dancing around this? I'm waiting to hear what, other than easy access to guns, makes America unique from every other first world nation that HAS gun control and does NOT HAVE this slaughter of innocent people. Tell me about that.