San Bernardino

Here's the most recent polling. Interesting stuff. Gun ownership is pretty steady. Just the same people buying more guns. By my guess the average gun owner has at least four guns.
Guns

 

But those people had it coming because ... because ... because the neighbor who was suspicious would have been called a bigot for profiling if she had reported her suspicions. Thanks, liberals!!!!!

 

Sneering contempt would be a massive upgrade over the way major portions of the country have treated him.

 

Speaking of sneering contempt that has actually been earned ...

 

Glad to see we're making progress here.
Hard to argue with any of this, but I'm sure we can find plenty of ways, starting with my favorite ... "it won't do any good!!!!":

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/03/opinion/on-guns-were-not-even-trying.html?smid=tw-share&_r=1

Democrats, including President Obama, emphasize the need to address America’s problems with guns. Republicans talk about the need to address mental health. Both are right.
First, guns, the central issue: We need a new public health approach based not on eliminating guns (that simply won’t happen in a land awash with 300 million guns) but on reducing the carnage they cause.
We routinely construct policies that reduce the toll of deadly products around us. That’s what we do with cars (driver’s licenses, seatbelts, guardrails). It’s what we do with swimming pools (fences, childproof gates, pool covers). It’s what we do with toy guns (orange tips).
...
While Republicans in Congress resist the most basic steps to curb gun access by violent offenders, the public is much more reasonable. Even among gun owners, 85 percent approve of universal background checks, according to a poll this year.
Likewise, an overwhelming share of gun owners support cracking down on firearms dealers who are careless or lose track of guns. Majorities of gun owners also favor banning people under 21 from having a handgun and requiring that guns be locked up at home.
...
It’s not clear what policy, if any, could have prevented the killings in San Bernardino. Not every shooting is preventable. But we’re not even trying.

 

This is not ideological. My wife used to work for the local affiliate that airs it, so she had the channel on the kitchen TV (I cooked, so she cleans up, that's how we alternate) turned to Entertainment Tonight. The lead sentence, I kid you not, was "Hollywood's famed landmarks are closed tonight." Were cops rounding up the hidden terrorists dressed as Darth Vader? Were "credible threats" directed against Grauman's or Musso and Frank's? Or is the need to put showbiz into the center of everything the most important thing on earth?
Shot of Amy Schumer advocating gun control. My last sentence is now an answered rhetorical question.

 

Ok, how do you fix it?

 

Not an easy question AQB, but a fair and important one. To start with, we could renew the ban on assault type weapons such as the AR-15 enacted in 1994 that expired in 2004. No, it's not a panacea, But it's a relatively easy first step.

 

ET's rundown is determined by two things: social media, and publicists. Doesn't matter the subject, they'll try and shoehorn whatever entertainment angle they can find to what is trending. "The stars react to" is about as deep as that show gets. Trump, Paris, the local TV crew getting shot, the Pope - whatever it takes.

 

As noted in the column linked above, there IS no way to get back the guns that are in circulation. But we need to start by closing loopholes and doing strict background checks. I have no reason to want to deny people the right to own rifles or firearms for protection/hunting/sport, but the idea that just about anyone can freely buy tactical gear, multiple magazines, high-capacity magazines and unnecessary assault rifles is more than a little disturbing. Just start SOMEWHERE. And if someone is buying thousands of rounds of ammunition, there should be a record of it and they should have to tell the ATF why.

 

Will criminals/terrorists still manage to get guns of any type if they are determined? Of course. But we could at least make them work for it.

 

Ok. But how do you stop criminals from breaking those laws?