America..why won't you just ban the fucking gun?

[Chris_H_2]

I forgot, but have we tried limiting or prohibiting sales of certain ammunition instead of guns?

[dimejinky99]

May be about to
http://www.salon.com/2015/12/07/supreme ... apons_ban/

[Green Habit]

I forgot, but have we tried limiting or prohibiting sales of certain ammunition instead of guns?

Go ask Chris Rock, he's the expert on the subject.

[Stickman]

[BurtReynolds]

Does it matter that many of the non muslim mass shootings are actually committed by the mentally ill (and idiot children)? Again, in situations where these shootings aren't committed by the mentally ill, they are not generally reported as such regardless of background.

[simple schoolboy]

I forgot, but have we tried limiting or prohibiting sales of certain ammunition instead of guns?

California has. Banned .50 BMG. Manufacturers came out with a similar round with a different caliber. The kicker is, I don't think there's ever been a recorded instance of a .50 BMG weapon used in a crime in CA. So California banned something in response to a problem that doesn't exist outside of Mexico.

Some countries ban civilian ownership of ammunition in calibers used by the military . For pistols, this usually results in the production of ballistically similar but not interchangeable pistol rounds.

I don't know what could be accomplished with an ammunition ban, other than making ammunition more expensive. Ammunition has a lifespan measured in decades, and many folks are set up to reload. There are billions of rounds currently in possession of civilians. It'll take quite some time for those to be depleted, and it doesn't take a whole lot of rounds for a spree shooting.

Ammunition prices just recently returned to normal levels. I haven't checked, but I don't imagine that's the case any more. I have enough ammo for now, but I don't have the money to panic buy 5.56.

[BurtReynolds]

Its pretty easy to make your own ammo, too.

[verb_to_trust]

Does it matter that many of the non muslim mass shootings are actually committed by the mentally ill (and idiot children)? Again, in situations where these shootings aren't committed by the mentally ill, they are not generally reported as such regardless of background.

All shootings are committed by the mentally ill. To shoot someone you have to be....mentally ill.

[LetMeSleep]

Does it matter that many of the non muslim mass shootings are actually committed by the mentally ill (and idiot children)? Again, in situations where these shootings aren't committed by the mentally ill, they are not generally reported as such regardless of background.

All shootings are committed by the mentally ill. To shoot someone you have to be....mentally ill.

Spot on.

[Birds in Hell]

Does it matter that many of the non muslim mass shootings are actually committed by the mentally ill (and idiot children)? Again, in situations where these shootings aren't committed by the mentally ill, they are not generally reported as such regardless of background.

All shootings are committed by the mentally ill. To shoot someone you have to be....mentally ill.

Spot on.

I couldn't disagree more. For one thing, classifying all violent murderers as being mentally ill undermines culpability for their actions.

I'd also argue that that kind of arguments strikes me as trying to adhere to a narrative in which violence and murder are not inherently part of human nature, the desire for which exists within everybody to a greater or lesser extent, and instead are aberrations or distortions created or imposed by capitalist and unequal society, etc.

[LoathedVermin72]

I think Spenno just threatened all of us

[LetMeSleep]

To clarify, I was thinking of mass shootings. A solitary murder could be very rational.

And also, I wasn't, and I don't think verb was, actually meaning mentally ill in the accepted meaning. But if you commit a mass shooting you can't be all there.

[verb_to_trust]

On some level you have something wrong with you if you kill. Especially in the case of a mass shooting. Its a big part of why if you do it you spend most of your life in prison.

[Birds in Hell]

What I'm saying, and I think we may be talking past each other here, is that I think what's wrong mass shooters can be their misplaced anger and frustration and/or attachment to warped and dangerous ideas, not necessarily their rationality or mental competence.

[Norah]

team spenno

[LetMeSleep]

I think I agree with you and stand by what I've written.

[verb_to_trust]

Don't those things go hand in hand? Keeping in mind 'mental illness' is pretty broad terminology.

[Peeps]

well most broads do have a form of mental illness so....

[Green Habit]

team spenno

[McParadigm]

Don't those things go hand in hand? Keeping in mind 'mental illness' is pretty broad terminology.

Too broad.

All of the following fall under 'mental disorders,' aka 'mental illness': depression, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, eating disorders, addictive behaviors, etc.

And while each of those, as well as many other conditions, do belong on such a list...the vastness of the resulting scope makes the term 'mental illness' nigh on useless as a tool for understanding violent behavior. Saying someone is 'mentally ill' is like saying someone has autism....autism is a tremendously open set of behaviors and conditions, and in fact you don't 'have' autism....you fall somewhere on the spectrum of associated conditions.

So the thing is, even if this were measurably true...

Does it matter that many of the non muslim mass shootings are actually committed by the mentally ill (and idiot children)?

...it would be hard to evaluate for any form of cause/effect.