some real gun control

[che-Rabbi]

As most of you may already know, school shootings have been coming up all over the United States of America.This raises a very important question, why do Americans shoot each other? And how do children , from ages 6 and up obtain guns?

Some may say its all the marlyn manson music
some say its all the violent video games
some say its all the unemployement and poverty that make the U.S so hooked on violence.

Well Germany is the official capital for goths, most of the violent video games come from Japan and Canada has the greatest unemployment rate... so what is it about the U.S of A? What drives a man to just kill, or a child? Any thoughts?

[praxis1966]

Your heart's in the right place, but your paranoia about school violence is unfounded. The fact is, that throughout the entirity of the decade of the 90's, juvenile crime was on a steady decline. The last statistics I saw, which came out the same year as the tragedy at Columbine, said that of the 350+ school age children who died only 17 died as a result of violent crime at the hands of their classmates. The largest problem facing school kids is not violence by any stretch of the imagination.

In this instance, I believe that all the hysteria about violence in schools is caused by media hype and not an actual increase in any kind of juvenile crime. If you want to effect some good, try addressing problems that actually affect children en masse. Last I heard, the top three causes of death among school age kids were suicide, drug overdose, and alcohol related car accidents.

[Umoja]

Outlaw handguns, decrease the laws on hunting-style rifles.

[noland]

I was going to use a quote from myself, but I went for the less self-centered approach. take a look at this thread
gun ban thread (http://www.che-lives.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=26348)

[life beyond life]

praxis, on the decline? not in my neighborhood.

most of the citywide homicides took place on campuses or in the vicinity of a high school campus. and when i did my own "homework" on the matter, a friend of mine told me that kids can buy guns at those same high schools for $20. i like comedian chris rock's idea about $5,000 bullets, that will make a trigger happy fool think twice.

as i understand it, things change, drastically, from the suburbs to the urban dwellings. and i can attest to this because i grew up in quiet suburban and moved to the fast paced inner city area. it was amazing to see how violence is associated with survival. a culture shock for me? maybe so, but no doubt, these kids need an alternative. and some of this comes from economic disparities in this community. sadly, money talks. and there isn't any here, not for the social programs when need these kids involved in.

also, even if you change the child and their direction seems more positive and empowering, it doesn't mean that the parent (s) won't be there to tear them down. sometimes family can be a demotivating factor.

and to think, the Panthers had a plan for my neighborhood and after COINTELPRO, they went under. the feds didn't do us any favors...

[praxis1966]

I hate to tell you this, but you're wrong. If we're talking about murder in general, juveniles comitted steadily fewer throughout the decade of the 1990s. In fact, if you want to use age as the sole demographic, 25-49 year olds commit far and away more homicides than any other age group. This includes 4-17 year olds, which people here, and everywhere else for that matter, seem to be worked up about. My question is, why isn't anyone asking the question "Why do 25-49 year olds commit so many murders?" I suppose it's the same reason that people 16-25 have higher car insurance rates than anyone else, even though the 65+ demographic has statistically more accidents. That is to say, because nobody seems to pay any attention to the reality of the situation, they instead prefer to be spoonfed by the media (and in some cases misleading assertions from people they know, Life Beyond Life).

I wasn't able to find any hard numbers on juvenile gun offences in general, but I did find this site which claims that gun related crime among juveniles has been on a steady decline. The fact is, that people's fears are unfounded, period. You won't convince me that juvenile gun crime is as much of a problem as people seem to think since the numbers clearly point to the contrary.

Homicide statistics: http://ojjdp.ncjrs.org/ojstatbb/ezashr/asp/profile.asp

General gun crime: http://www.safeyouth.org/scripts/teens/firearm.asp

[cubist]

surely there is a psycological thing that allows you to kill, i can't do it i couldn't shoot someone to death i doubt i could shoot someone,

surely theres some tests that can be done to identify the possibility of criminal psycosis or even say its more likely than say a nomral non killer type

[Guerrilla22]

Praxis, you shouldn't use the FBI's crime statistics as a source, because these statistics are skewed, meaning the statistics the FBI puts out are only those submitted to them by police departments. Most departments don't submitt anything to them.

[Hate Is Art]

Gun Control Means Using Both Hands.

And old 'un but a good 'un!

[Kobbot 401]

You cant do anything about people with guns, and expesialy (i cant spell that can i get some help on that word) with the youth. Teens and young kids are getting involved in gangs everyday, and everyone knows if you in a gang you got to be packen your self a big gun.

And for the kids who arent in gangs but get ahold of guns, they dont buy them. They get them from home, from there parents gun box. Blame the partens if you want, blame the goverment for being so leanent on gun controll, blame whoever you want to, its not going to do anything unless you take actions and do something about it, what i dont know.

[praxis1966]

I don't know what other statistics you propose I use, Guerrilla. Those same statistics are used both by opponents and proponents of gun control, as they are the most comprehensive on the subject. This whole discussion is really immaterial, as gun control doesn't work. I just saw another statistic the other day that said some 80% of guns used in a crime were purchased illegally, as opposed to 12% at gun shows and 8% from stores. The fact is, that if someone is going to commit a crime, they probably won't use a legally registered gun in the first place because it's entirely too traceable.

If people really want to start doing something about gun crime, then they need to figure out a way to enforce laws already on the books. I'm no law enforcement expert, so I wouldn't begin to know how to do that however.