Major law enforcement response after reports of shooting at a school in Texas

[DoggyDaddy]

Well. They found one:

https://abcnews.go.com/US/santa-fe-...vors-discuss-solutions-make/story?id=55443979

For the most part, they are saying the same things we've heard ad nauseum. "Common sense" laws. Mandatory locking up of guns in your home, blah, blah, blah.

This was a new one for me though, and somewhat more disturbing: "mental health evaluations and background checks -- for not only the gun owner but his or her family as well -- should be required when purchasing a gun."

So I guess you would have to drag your whole family with you to the LGS when you go to buy a gun. Kinda makes it tough to sneak one by the wife or significant other when THEY have to undergo a mental health evaluation and background check when YOU want to buy a gun.

 

[actaeon277]

I think part of the problem today is the pent up frustration that those picked on must put up with. It is a far higher pressure than it was many decades ago.

Years ago when a kid got picked on by a bully he was able to, at the appropriate time and place, punch back. To hit the bully. He may have won. He may have lost. But at least he was able to reach out in his frustration and rage and express his displeasure through trying to connect his fist with the bully's face. It was a pressure release.

Today, that is not tolerated AT ALL! Helicopter parents are constantly hovering, giving the youth of today almost no breathing space to develop and grow as individuals. Schools and parents become outraged if a fight occurs and both sides are immediately placed into a bureaucratic process of punishment and "reconciliation." Big Brother begins to drone at them about how fighting is bad, violence is bad, although we are perpetrating massively confining brainwashing violence upon you, it is for the greater good.

So today the bully has to be subtler and sneakier. The bullied kid has this massive pressure build and build and build until he or she feels simply that there are no options. He can't hit back, he can't complain because he doesn't want to be perceived by others as weak or a rat. Eventually he or she finds a way to tolerate the pressure - or he goes BOOM!

I believe our best intentions of cutting down on violence have kindof forced us as a society into two (2) disparate directions. The first is a true reduction in physical violence, which may(?) be a good thing. The other is forcing our children into feeling they have no other choice but to take extreme measures to make the pressure stop. This is what is called unintended consequences.

The sad reality is that there won't be a national debate on this. The truth is that violence in a society is not a good thing, and those who wish to limit it will put on blinders against any disparaging thought that their good intentions are having really bad side effects.

Of course, I could be totally wrong. I wasn't bullied. I was rather wimpy, but stayed to myself with a few close friends. I was able to go out on Saturday morning at a very young age, after cartoons of course, and run around the neighborhood with my friends. I didn't have to be home until late for dinner. My parents didn't put me on a leash. If I wanted to communicate with a friend I met them face to face, not through Facebook or texting or Snapchat or any of a hundred technical tools that allows words (like this here) but removes all facial expressions, body language, and voice tone. These kids today are learning word communication but not true empathy. They can communicate thoughts well but not emotions.

As I think about this I believe those of us over 35 are truly blessed. We had all the advantages of learning to be free and build true bonds with our friends of our youth, and we can enjoy the pleasure that this great technology allows us to come together. However, we can also put that technology in its box. We can utilize it's benefits without suffering too much from its ability to isolate us, for we truly know what it is to have a friend, someone with whom we have a real relationship. The youth of today think of their phone as the only means of making friends, without the building connection of hanging out together on a Saturday to go have fun and avoid getting into trouble. The bonds are building for them as they did for us.

We are the last generation of Americans who could appreciate the freedom of youth.

Regards,

Doug

I think people look for simple causes, and simple solutions. (Not referring to you. Just quoting you because you listed a possible cause).
I think it's multiple causes.
One of them, is what you just stated.

 

[Libertarian01]

I think people look for simple causes, and simple solutions. (Not referring to you. Just quoting you because you listed a possible cause).
I think it's multiple causes.
One of them, is what you just stated.

I agree 100% that there are multiple causes. Whatever the cause, I believe we can identify the problem.

That being that young people today are feeling more isolated and alone, and without any pressure relief are more likely to lash out with in frustration and rage at their situation. They don't have the support that previous generations had before them. The problems are the same but the coping mechanisms that previously existed have been eroded.

Regards,

Doug

 

[dudley0]

So I guess you would have to drag your whole family with you to the LGS when you go to buy a gun. Kinda makes it tough to sneak one by the wife or significant other when THEY have to undergo a mental health evaluation and background check when YOU want to buy a gun.

Simple solution to that... move out. I will be at the gun house if you need me dear.