9 dead in South Carolina Church shooting:

[katie_9918]

I think the current gun control laws should be actually enforced, rather than violent criminals having access to firearms because of all the loopholes and lax enforcement.

Most people who have LEGAL guns prefer not to use them, they simply have them for protection.

If only our current control laws weren't such a laughingstock, to say nothing of true enforcement of what we do have, heinous things like this would not happen.

Let's place the responsibility where it belongs. Not on an inanimate object, but on the sick freak who used that object.

[quartermainefan]

The NRA applaud you for parroting their every talking point. Svengali himself could not have gotten you to say what he wanted any better than the brainwashing the NRA has accomplished on you and everyone who believes this nonsense you spout. Enjoy the semi-annual murder sprees that literally always are committed with a gun.

[DRW50]

I support gun control, but this guy didn't have any type of record or warning signs, did he? Now we hear "I was his friend/I knew him and he'd been planning this for months," but was there a track record that would have stopped him from doing what he did?

Often times I feel like these types would get a gun pretty easily even with stricter laws, especially if they are white and somewhat well off.

[dragonflies]

As long as the NRA has politicians in their back pocket, nothing will change

[AdelaideCate007]

This. People in America who think these don't happen because of your insane gun culture are fools and ignorant. The gun culture in America is part of the reason most of the people I work with dread even hearing anything about having to visit America. Nobody wants to go there because all we ever see or hear about is stuff like this. It seems like nowhere is safe- you can't walk down the street, you can't go to the cinema, you can't go to places of worship, you can't even send 6 year olds to school without having to worry about them getting shot. I see on the news all time about this supposed "gun given right" Americans have to own any sort of gun they can get their hands on but what about everyone else's right to live and not have to worry about getting gunned down the minute they step outside. Yes the mentally ill need help too but call these people that commit these acts what they are. They might be troubled but they're also evil thugs and terrorists who never should have been allowed to be anywhere near a gun in the first place yet because of America's gun culture, they're allowed to commit these acts. Sorry to say it, but if 5 and 6 year old getting gunned down at an elementary school can't change America's sick culture, then I don't know what ever will.

I've lived in Australia off and on my entire life. We get the same the movies, video games, and tv shows you all do and people here don't behave that way. We had a mass shooting 18 years ago and massive gun control laws went into effect. We've had one incident since then. America has one every other month.

Also, his apparent "love" for white supremacy ruled Rhodesia and apartheid era South Africa show exactly what kind of person he was.

[alphanguy74]

And then people who want to kill mass amounts of people will use other means. Like driving a hummer into a crowd of people, like making a bomb out of a pressure cooker, etc. etc. Assault weapons... fine to get rid of. If you want gun violence to slow down, make it so if you commit a CRIME with a gun, you go to jail FOREVER anf you never come back. Even a 17 year old kid holding up a 7-11, life in prison, no chance of parole. I bet that would slow their roll!

[DaytimeFan]

The United States of America is the only advanced country in the world to experience the level of gun violence that it does. It's also the most advanced country in the world to have little to no gun control.

Australia, Canada, the UK...all countries with gun control and plenty of American popular culture. Also countries that experience so little gun violence that when it happens it is a national event. In the United States this is just a bimonthly happening.

PATHETIC!

[alphanguy74]

I think we should make alcohol illegal. Drunk driving would cease if that would happen. And after all, liquor has no nutritional value.

[quartermainefan]

So let them use the other means. How many children do you want to see killed by guns before you say "ok, lets give gun control a chance"? All I ask of every republican and gun rights maniac is just give a number. How many people do you want to see die before you say "ok, it is possible we are wrong and it couldn't hurt to try". Is it a million? Ten million? A hundred? Just give a number so we can start keeping count to that eventual day when your number is reached and then we can try gun control. Why gun advocates are pro murder I'll never understand. Just listen to yourself "If they didn't have a gun they'd use something else. So lets give them guns and make their job easier". I guess in the gun rights world we have to be fair to killers and maximize their options.

[JaneAusten]

Except people in this country realized driving drunk was a hazard and killer which is why over the last 25 years drunk driving laws have become much more strict and the number of deaths caused by drunk drivers is down. So in this world why can't we apply the same logic and incorporate tougher gun laws. For example someone needs to explain to me WHY anyone needs an automatic weapon. For protection really? Those are weapons used for combat not something every Tom Dick and Harry are entitled to own. That's what the man who killed those 26 people at Sandy Hooke had.

I live in Chicago and people always hold up the failure of Chicago's strict gun control laws as a reason they don't work. Well I can also say that law enforcement here had no interest in enforcing those laws because in their mind "let them kill each other". Those are words by the way from a Chicago Police office I know talking about what they see as the "undesirable" element. And the occasional bystander who happens to get killed as a result is just a casualty of that mentality.

It's funny to me how all these so called "patriots" are pro life also believing that something like abortion (which since it's been legalized the rate of abortions is down), don't see guns as a death tool yet feel that legal adults can own a gun no problem but should not have the right to control their own life and bodies and use their own judgment to make sound decisions. As if the millions of people who carry guns do since they don't seem to have to undergo less scrutiny than someone wanting to get a legal abortion.

[DramatistDreamer]

I think its laughable how the gun rights lobby decries liberal policies when apparently they love our liberal (i.e. lax) gun laws. That liberal policy they would fight to the death to sustain.

Anyway,

Right on to John Stewart who put it all so succintly:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjzrvRKv6Ks

[Juliajms]

Some people still believe the day is going to come when militias need to overcome an unjust federal government. It's crazy that these people think they would ever stand a chance against the U.S. military, but there are A LOT of everyday people who believe they have the right to bear arms for this very reason. Ingrained belief in militias and vigilante justice are a big part of American culture. It's way more of an issue than any video games will ever be.

[All My Shadows]

+1, and it's insane. I read an article the other day about a father walking in on a daycare worker inappropriately touching his daughter. Commenters were bashing the father for not killing the man right then and there.

[Juliajms]

Yeah, I get it though. I feel the vigilante impulse at times.

[Mathewson]

Senseless. My heart breaks for the victims and their families. Just wish the world could be at peace. I wonder if he'll do everyone a favor by taking the easy way out.