If I’m not mistaken, in the UK, Thomas Hamilton (Dunblane) Michael Ryan (Hungerford) and Derrick Bird (Cumbria) all held firearms certificates, and therefore were legally in possession of firearms.
In addition, Thomas Hamilton had some history, locally, which brought into question his character, and suitability around children.
Derrick Bird had some sort of psychological change following an assault. Something for which he’d actually, superficially at least, sought some help, for.
Ryan was in possession of, legally, several firearms, including semi-automatic rifles and pistols.

You can have as many rules as you wish, and society and the workplace is awash with rules. Sometimes to the point of near paralysis. But if there’s feck all common sense applied, or rules are poorly thought out or open to abuse, then you’ve lost.

In the wake of Dunblane and Hungerford, regulations changed in the UK a lot.
The population on the whole has had to jump through many hoops to justify the ownership and possession of weapons. I stopped shooting in the UK about 30years ago, as it simply wasn’t practical anymore. My local range shutdown. I’d enjoyed it, but for the most part the average barn probably still felt relatively safe. Since then, the only shooting I’ve engaged in has been at ranges in Texas and a few in Asia.
In a moment of flippancy, I might suggest that only two groups of people in th UK that are able to easily possess firearms are specific elements of the police and civilian* based security services; and criminals. In the former, it has largely been so in the UK for a long time. In the latter, they’re criminals!

Were the existing rules fundamentally inappropriate, or was the policing of them at fault?




*as distinct from military

Some study regarding the effectiveness, or lack thereof, of gun control laws. Placing it without comment as I have not finished reading it yet.

https://academic.oup.com/epirev/article ... c10060cb8b

You are not taking my guns away, I need them for the upcoming battle against the government. I've been practicing shooting cans in the backyard with my pellet gun, can't wait to knock some fighter jets from the sky once the great war begins. In protest of the government, I also started throwing my coffee pods into the local lake seeing they did something similar in Boston with Tea leaves back in the day.

Nobody is taking anyones guns away from them. This is nothing but a crying point by the far-right and the NRA to get people to go out and buy more guns and ammo to line their own pockets.

Can I suggest amalgamating all the weekly mass American killing threads into one. We need a one stop shop for their lack of humanity and pseudo Christianity and fake God fearing values.

Cowshed Cowboy wrote: ↑Wed May 25, 2022 11:56 pm Can I suggest amalgamating all the weekly mass American killing threads into one. We need a one stop shop for their lack of humanity and pseudo Christianity and fake God fearing values.

Too many for one thread ?

It's insane that you can buy a gun in some US states, "but you can't buy a beer".
Seriously, there should be more background check ups on people who buy guns and an age limit. If you are too irresponsible to drink beer, then you are definitely not mature enough to be in possession of a firearm. Ditto if you have a record of violent behavior.

But anyway, don't listen to reason, carry on regardless.

What policies have been proposed to address mass shootings?

Gun control advocates have outlined an extensive and specific plan to lower the number of deaths caused by firearms in the US. Those policies include mandating background checks for all gun purchases, including those overseen by unlicensed sellers online or at gun shows, and enforcing a waiting period after someone buys a firearm.

Advocates have also called for expanding the restrictions on people who can legally acquire guns. They say abusive dating partners, those convicted of hate crimes and people with mental illness who pose a safety risk, among others, should be barred from buying firearms. Some have proposed prohibiting gun purchases by people under 21, which may have prevented the 18-year-old shooter in Uvalde from acquiring his weapons.

It’s easier and takes less time to get a gun legally than it takes to get a drivers license.

UPDATE:this is the person now believed to have carried out the horrific shooting.