Another school shooting. When will it end?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7082795.stm

At the bottom of the article it says:


To be honest, there is no way he has just gone out alone and tried to wipe out all of humanity. That would be just insane. I think there must've been so many reasons for an 18 year old kid to be somehow influenced to commit gun crimes, especially against his own classmates. There are so many school shootings nowadays, I sometimes wonder how I haven't heard of any in the UK for a while.

Back to the discussion I'm trying to make. What are your opinions on school shootings and teenagers being let loose with weapons? Do you think it is wrong to let them loose with guns and knives? Or do you think the person is solely to blame? To be honest, I think it has something to do with influence. If you saw someone playing a really good game, you're urged to try it out yourself aren't you? So I think these type of people are just thinking about it at the time, but obviously take it one step further. This may be the case of a dare or being pushed into it, or perhaps the person was challenged, mentally or physically, leading him to despair trying to make his mind up of what to do.

Alright, personally i think allowing the public to have guns 'for protection' is a silly idea. It's okay if only one person has the gun, because then they can protect themselves, but when two people with a gun come face to face and try to protect themselves, it's gets violent.

Okay so America might like to have guns, I'm not really in a position to say that freedom should be taken away from them completely, but limited to the following;

- A person of 21 years age or older, who has shown no signs of mental disability, anger management issues or a criminal record should be allowed to purchase, and carry a gun for protective reasons.

See, the problem is not with people having guns. The problem is the fact that guns are falling into the hands of the mentally deranged or irresponsible, or the fact that most gun owners think having a gun makes them 'a big man'.

Say an armed robber, comes into your house at night, wakes you up during the process of stealing your 42-inch widescreen TV, and you're staring at the barrel of a gun 10 minutes later - what do you do? Pull out your own gun and say "This town ain't big enough for the both of us?" ... or let him take the TV and avoid any unnecessary violence?

Obviously the second is the more sensible thing to do, but it seems a lot of people with guns don't 'get' that.

The guy was warped. Social Darwinism is a complete load of bull. What these messed up and angsty teens believe is just so pathetic. It's not even on apar with evolution in social terms. It's little more than "The world is unworthy, natural selection has failed!, I must cleanse the world!".

Evolution doesn't dictate moral standards, just who dies, and who lives.

...

Slimppu is a he, and he was posting yesterday on a thread in the sandbox about the shootings.

I SHALL TAKE THAT AS AN INSULT

Oh yeah and Creepy, most of the guns belong to Finnish army, and barely no-one owns a gun in public. Also keep in mind that that was the first school shooting EVER in Finland.

for guns, i think that people should undergo tests before they can purchase a gun..of course, they need to be 21 or older, they need to pass a background check (a speeding ticket means no gun), they need to be tested for their mental status (all sent to c a phsychiatrist or something) and if all goes well, then follow the person for a while...

see thats why I made that thread asking what gender everyone was so that people wouldn't get insulted

There are simply too many privately owned firearms in the US. 4 time more then in a next country from the list. So such incidents are bound to happen again and again. Other types of crimes are less though.

Here are some official numbers:

"In the US, about one in four adults owns at least one firearm. Although some other developed countries have similar rates of personal firearm ownership, what is unique in the US is the number of firearms privately owned. Researchers have estimated about 25 guns per 100 people in countries such as Canada, New Zealand, Germany, France and Sweden. On the basis of current estimates from our survey, the US has 93 guns per 100 people."

I agree with MQ. Seriously if your gonna let one lunatic out of the bag with a gun, why should sensible and responsible people be banned from firearms when all they are going to do is protect what they live for. Its either that or firearms should become illegal unless used for sports or in the military.