@Paulos_the_fog We let people who do that rot in jail. That doesn't seem so "little" to me.
@LouisIngenthron @Paulos_the_fog
His point is that punishing people after the fact doesn't bring the kids back. That is to say, if we wanted kids to not be killed, rather than to punish people who kill kids despite the fact they know they will be punished, changes need to be made of some sort.
The question is, what changes are those?
Does this mean preventing certain people from purchasing guns? Does it mean forcing guns to have GPS in them that can alert schools or other premises that ban their presence of their approach/entry? Does it mean better security and police presence? Better designed schools with in-class security measures? An outright gun ban?
Personally, as someone who owns a firearm for self-defense, and is always incredibly careful when practicing, cleaning, and so-forth, I would prefer to keep my gun in the event some psycho decides to victimize me/my family. If they have a gun, and I don't I'm screwed. If we both have them, at least I have a chance, and if I'm the only one with one, it makes it much easier for me to control the situation and prevent harm.
If we could guarantee nobody had guns, that may be preferable; however, there are people who require them to defend their property from wild boars, coyotes, etc, and there are people who can fabricate them if they wanted to (e.g the GhostGun cnc project).
I think there is a solution here, but I don't think it's a simple one such as "banning" guns or "cracking down" even more on mass murderers (especially since consecutive life sentences are really worthless and don't actually increase the penalty if you think about it). The problem is that we refuse to think rationally about how to actually solve the problem and deal with it in an effective manner.
Violence and murders still happen even in places that ostensibly don't have guns, and guns still find their way into those countries anyway. Unless we can deal with motives, mental illness, and outright malice, we won't be able to stop the senseless violence against defenseless children regardless of banning guns (though it may make the types of mass causalities and targets on schools less prevalent).
In most western societies most people don't have a license to own firearms. In those countries that allow citizens to keep firearms in their homes, most require that the firearms are kept unloaded and locked in a secure gun-safe; with the ammunition locked separately in a different secure location. The idea that people would keep an accessible loaded weapon in their homes is absolutely alien to just about every civilized country on earth EXCEPT the USA.
@Paulos_the_fog @johnabs As for keeping firearms securely locked when not in use, I agree with you, as would most law-abiding gun owners who keep them locked in safes already.
The problem is that even if you make that rule a law, it's also the kind of thing that typically only gets enforced after-the-fact.
