The bottom line is banning guns is a quick fix...sooner or later you'll be hearing about school bombings instead of school shootings. There is a little more planning and technical competence involved in that, but I doubt they will ever succeed in banning diesel and fertilizer.
And in fact we have already had school bombings. It's a bigger thing in Europe, where "homeland" terrorism has been "normal" for decades. And of course it's a favorite all over the world in former war zones when the superpower
du jour threatens their homeland.
Every different weapon is just a derivative of the same common cause.
I think the root of the problem is the way people look at mental illness in this country...
Obviously that's a huge factor, since just about every rampage killer turns out having some form of mental illness. (Since most kill themselves, it's hard to get real statistics though.
)
One big problem here is that conditions that are considered perfectly normal chemical imbalances when they occur outside the brain are "mental illness" with all the stigma and limitations that the label brings. I'm all for reform of the legal
and medical systems. Reform that prohibits both parties profiting from the suffering of people, and maybe even
helping these people. I'm also for protections that don't automatically disqualify people who aren't an actual threat to public safety. People with sleeping disorders shouldn't be lumped together with Charles Manson.
I have not seen any mainstream news articles addressing that. People would rather tear down or erode constitutional rights than actually address a problem that would cost a LOT more but would pay off in the long run.
It's the coward's way: pick on something that can't talk back or defend itself in any way.
The "war on drugs" is another example. After living through the horrible consequences of politicians attacking inanimate objects as a way to control people, I'm saying "no more!"
