<p>Right in this particular case. I think that gave an indication of how psychopathic he was.
But what about in the Boston and other bombings?</p>
<p>Seven people have been shot to death in Chicago since this rampage occurred. How many of those killers do you think were actually legal gun owners? Criminals don’t care about your feel good gun laws. Why should I be relegated to victim-hood because of a few deranged lunatics? </p>
<p>We should have commonsense gun laws. Background checks? Of course. Barring the mentally ill from ever owning guns? Well, then you risk pushing them underground so they never seek help, as well as the host of privacy/‘Big Brother’ issues that come into play. </p>
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Ah, that will knock a good chunk out. ;)</p>
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<p>…looking at the facts instead of the emotion…</p>
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<p>Shouldn’t we start by banning swimming pools? That would save more people and we don’t have to worry about any Constitutional issues?</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.smartparentshealthykids.com/blog/?p=11”>http://www.smartparentshealthykids.com/blog/?p=11</a></p>
<p>BTW, the Saab analogy was about a person who purposely killed 3 people in Santa Barbara by running them down. Those deaths would have happened anyway, whether he had a BMW or a toaster.</p>
<p>I agree that enforcing the laws on the books wont make a big difference.
We need to reduce numbers of guns to reduce availability.</p>
<p>How would you do that?
Ask the criminals to turn in their guns?</p>
<p>We’d need cooperation from the Mexican border. </p>
<p>This is proving to be more difficult than I had imagined.</p>
<p>Not sure what that means.
But the justice department did send a bunch of guns to the drug cartels, so maybe that lowered violence in the US since we have fewer guns.</p>
<p>By the way, since 2005, violent crime in the US is down by 2/3rds. </p>
<p>Of course, little of this has anything to do with this thread, so back to our normally scheduled programming.</p>
<p>Sorry if this is a thread hijack, but this falls in the “Are you kidding me??” category. And is related to the gun control discussion and to UCSB.</p>
<p>A UCSB student was arrested for discharging a firearm in Isla Vista. He owns seven firearms, per the article. He accidently shot a round through his neighbor’s wall. He also owns 1000 rounds of ammo. </p>
<p>Scary. Stupid. And I’m suspicious enough to wonder what his intentions were with all those guns.</p>
<p>And I feel sorry for those poor traumatized IV students.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.vcstar.com/news/2014/may/28/ucsb-student-arrested-for-firing-bullet-in-isla”>http://www.vcstar.com/news/2014/may/28/ucsb-student-arrested-for-firing-bullet-in-isla</a></p>
<p>Here’s a couple of articles which discuss how focusing on mental illness as the main or sole cause of this or other mass murders is not only oversimplifying a violent phenomenon with multiple causal factors, but also stigmatizing the mentally ill…especially considering the vast majority aren’t likely to be inclined or even be capable of committing such heinous acts. </p>
<p>The first one is written by someone who was himself, a sufferer of mental illness and is now a mental health advocate:</p>
<p><a href=“I Am Not Elliot Rodger: A Crazy Person's View on Mass Shootings | HuffPost Latest News”>HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News | HuffPost;
<p><a href=“http://www.salon.com/2014/05/28/elliot_rodger_and_americas_ongoing_masculinity_crisis_partner/”>http://www.salon.com/2014/05/28/elliot_rodger_and_americas_ongoing_masculinity_crisis_partner/</a></p>
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<p>As with the IV mass murderer’s 400+ rounds, first question which comes up, “What the heck is with all that stockpiling? Is [the individual concerned] trying to start up a war or something?!!”</p>
<p>Incidentally, both those individuals possessed far more ammo than each of the soldiers in my father’s rifle infantry platoon was ever issued during each active live-fire military exercises while he was doing his 2 years of mandatory military service in the ROC(Taiwan). </p>
<p>@cobrat, the first article is an excellent explanation of why we should view Elliot Rodger as a murderer rather than as someone mentally ill. Great article. Thank you.</p>
<p>Please excuse me while I go read the second article now…</p>
<p>“Take away guns from schizophrenic men”.</p>
<p>Some say when benefits were taken away from “mentally ■■■■■■■■” kids, the number of kids with Autism rose.</p>
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<p>You aren’t supposed to link to blogs here.
This is a example why.
A personal account has nothing to do with analysis.
I would bet that Elliot would post something similar if he was still alive.</p>
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<p>Uhhh, no.
You can easily go through 100+ rounds at an afternoon on the shooting range.
So that may be 2 weekends worth.
You buy in bulk (500-1000 rounds) to get discounts and breaks in shipping.</p>
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<p>In some jurisdictions, especially well-built up suburban and urban areas, ordering that much ammo would definitely raise red flags and concerns not only for the orderer’s intentions, but also because storage of such large amounts of ammo may violate local firearms laws and fire safety codes. </p>
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<p>Strawman.
No one say it is the sole cause.</p>
<p>The article you linked does point out: “A majority were mentally troubled and showed signs beforehand.”</p>
<p>So that sounds “main” to me. </p>
<p>The classifications he uses are amusing since the Fort Hood Shooting was also classified as “workplace violence”.</p>
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<p>Really?
Do you have any citations for that? Which cities in California? Never heard that one before.
Do you know how much room 1,000 rounds takes up (size of two laptops stacked on top of each other) and that people buy ammo safes?</p>
<p>“Some say when benefits were taken away from “mentally ■■■■■■■■” kids, the number of kids with Autism rose”</p>
<p>I don’t understand what this means. Are you saying that they would be misdiagnosed purposefully to qualify for benefits so they would be misdiagnosed purposefully to obtain weapons? I may be misunderstanding the point. Also, while we’re at it the numbers of kids on meds is rising dramatically. What’s going on there? It’s almost at the point where it’s unusual for a ten year old to be drug free. That can’t be good. imho.</p>
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<p>You understand that each of those rounds contain modern smokeless powder which is itself a powerful explosive substance in small amounts. </p>
<p>Not terrible good to have in bulk in a house/apartment when one’s faced with situations like a fire, gas leak/explosion, or the like…especially in densely populated suburban or urban areas. </p>
<p>And considering how careless many gun owners can be…including that idiot who carelessly handled his firearm to the point he fired a round in an apartment block which could have potentially harmed his neighbor and other residents in that building…I wouldn’t be surprised if he was just as responsible about how he stored all that ammunition.</p>
<p>^ Yes. I know that. Bullets have gunpower. Whoa.
A powerful explosive in small amounts? Really?
Do you know how a gun works and why a bullet has the velocity it does?
Do you know how dangerous a bullet is if you set it on fire?
"Generally, the way commercial ammunition is packaged, it doesn’t pose a threat,” said Wolf, a pyrotechnics expert, who has experience setting fire to bullets. “It wouldn’t really be worse than going into a room filled with firecrackers.” A burning box of ammunition will pop and spark. It can send small pieces of brass flying a few feet. "</p>
<p>That’s your “powerful explosive” LOL.</p>
<p>But you didn’t answer my question. Which cities in California don’t let you have more than 1000 rounds of ammo?</p>
<p>“Many” gun owners are careless? How many? As I linked earlier, your kid is 100 times safer going to a house with a gun than a house with a pool. Ban the pool!</p>