Most in depth and analytic write up on guns I have ever read

[nate]

Not sure how much it solves in the debate but contains a ton of information.

 

http://www.skeptic.com/reading_room/the-mass-murder-problem/

[Glen]

Interesting article, and I agree with his conclusion.  It's just figuring out how to implement it, and how to ensure the checks are at least somewhat reliable.  Mental health is different from other physical maladies in that people can hide the symptoms much easier. 

[Jason]

That was a lot. Not sure why people think assault rifle bans would stop anything. Interesting how deaths per incident went up after the '94 ban. I guess explosives are worse but do require more thought and planning. Unfortunately there are a lot of sick people out there that will be ignored and do this in the future.

[Count Orlok]

That was a lot. Not sure why people think assault rifle bans would stop anything. Interesting how deaths per incident went up after the '94 ban. I guess explosives are worse but do require more thought and planning. Unfortunately there are a lot of sick people out there that will be ignored and do this in the future.

Explosives aren't that bad. The bombs in Boston made a mess but the death toll was relatively low. McVeigh did a lot of damage but for every successful bomb there's probably dozens who were too stupid to pull it off. Every time you hear about someone caught by the TSA it's because they were too dumb to make their explosives work.  For someone like James Holmes or Adam Lanza all they really need to do is find an crowded space and remember to turn the safety off.

[floplag]

I think the conclusion regarding gun is logical in the sense that it is simply a tool chosen by a demented person against targets of opportunity, however, how do you actually address prevention mental health?

checking everyone like breast cancer or other screenings?  how could you tell?  psychiatry isnt exactly and exact science so to speak, they cant say with certainty that a person will do something bad even if they have traits of those who do... thats a hell of a stigma to attach to a person.

This isnt exactly something that happens every day in every city.... tragic sure, but in terms of something preventable i would imagine it waaaaay down the line from others things that do happen every day we seem to ignore.

For me i keep coming back to the fact that we are trying to rationally understand or logically explain something that has no basis in rationality or sanity, how does a sane person undertand an insane act? 

I think its over reaction and nonsense to think we can predist or prevent these things.  Put guards in scholl malls become targets, or whatever.

[Blarg]

Relax guys, once Obamacare is instituted all mental health disorders will be taken care of with the quality of care that our veterans receive.

[Jason]

Whew! Thanks Eric, I feel better now.

[arch stanton]

He lost me when he started talking about handing more of my money to insurance companies or the government. He can take that solution and blow it out his analytical blowhole.

 

To me, the bottom line is that most people don't want to accept the fact that an unregulated crowd in a public space is a potential mass killing spot. Whether it's the public school, the movie theater, the mall,, the finish line of a marathon, whatever. Grasping at the idea that preventing people who have never committed a crime in their lives from purchasing a weapon just does't do a thing to protect the crowds from people delusional enough to invent a war with them. Maybe it's time to tackle the problem from a level lower than all out federal fiasco.

[Vegas Halo Fan]

So instead of a sudden “snap,” McVeigh transformed over several years into the man who on April 19, 1995, detonated a truck filled with explosives next to the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people including 19 children in the daycare and injuring 680. Afterward, McVeigh did not appear to feel any remorse for his victims, and instead coldly opined that they were collateral damage in his war with the U.S. government.9 If we accept McVeigh’s premise, then we might agree that the bombing was a normal act of war. However, reasonable people don’t accept that McVeigh was at war with the U.S. government, and instead see his action as a criminal act. McVeigh demonstrates how specific, violent delusions are the defining feature of people who commit mass murder.

 

I worked in a suburban Oklahoma City hospital when this happened. I heard the bomb explode, and a good friend of mine was killed. I helped to treat some of the survivors. This one hits close to home.

 

The chief of psychiatry in my hospital performed the psychiatric evaluation on Timothy McVeigh before his trial. He said that he had never seen a colder, more detached individual in his life, one with less regard for human life. He said that it was almost like talking to a machine.

 

Regarding the article, a very interesting read. The author obviously went into this with an open mind, not setting out to support either side in the gun control debate. His conclusions make sense - that those bent on killing many others will simply move on to something else if you remove their weapon of choice. Just like with medicine - treating the root cause is much more effective over time than treating symptoms.