Another School Shooting

[duckluck]

The media disinterest in good news is probably, as you both indicate, the reason for the lack of exposure. Teachers who succeed i preventing a massacre are as heroic as the ones who are killed.

There has to be something wrong at home when kids, specially ones known to have mental or emotional issues, can get hold of a family member's gun.

I disagree. From the time I was born, my father's service rifle was ALWAYS where my younger brother and I could reach it and we both knew it. I also knew where his Marine sword was at in my grandmother's house. We were taught not to touch unless it was with adult supervision and we were taught to listen to what we were told. The only exception was with the sword, I was told I could grab it and use it if someone broke into the house. My father taught me to shoot skeet and I was pretty good at it, and none of it means anything to anybody else...unless they want to shoot clay pigeons with me.

My husband owned guns as a child and used to shoot rats because there was a bounty on them where he lived in the city. Kids did it all the time and no one made anything of it. I feel that, just like in the Prohibition Era, now that everyone is making this into a big deal it is becoming one.

 

[thaiturkey]

IMO, a gun safe is a good idea, ESPECIALLY if somebody has mentally ill/emotionally troubled kids. When we can afford one, my family is getting a safe simply for robbery prevention. It's a simple precaution that'd go a long way to preventing another Newtown.

I agree.

In the UK, a gun safe is an essential requirement for guns. Here, we have no such requirement but the handgun is locked in the domestic safe when there's no-one at home. When we get a shotgun or .22, we shall buy a suitable gun safe as a matter of course. There are no young people living in our home but I don't want to lose weapons to intruders.

 

[NCReb]

I agree.

In the UK, a gun safe is an essential requirement for guns. Here, we have no such requirement but the handgun is locked in the domestic safe when there's no-one at home. When we get a shotgun or .22, we shall buy a suitable gun safe as a matter of course. There are no young people living in our home but I don't want to lose weapons to intruders.

My philosophy is that, unless the gun needs to be accessible (for defense, or dealing with animals in the country), it should probably be locked up, and definitely when nobody's at home. Certainly if there's an unstable person in the house, a gun safe should be a very high priority - we make do right now by taking ours apart and hiding the pieces or taking them with us if we're travelling, but nobody in our home has any issues.

 

[thaiturkey]

That seems like a reasonable compromise, NCReb.

It's difficult to find the right balance between keeping a gun safe and unloaded and having it ready for use in an emergency. We keep our revolver handy but out of sight with a quick-load cartridge ready filled. On the assumption that a burglar wouldn't have a gun but a knife, I would hope to buy time with other things such as a pepper spray and so on. I would much rather an intruder turned tail than have to blast him with a .38. I'm not into over the top cowboy or special forces games - just want to be safe against intruders should one ever get on the property.

I'm still trying to get to grips with the gun laws here. Most expats. believe that they cannot have a licence but can use their wife's gun to protect her at home. I now find that we can have a licence subject to some deep scrutiny as to the reason for it. There are also some permitted reasons for carrying a gun without a carry licence, such as going to the gun club or taking it to a dealer to sell or for repair. I have yet to find an English translation of the law online. Perhaps a call to our lawyer is needed!

What strikes me about the suggestion that armed guards are needed at schools in the US is that it can't stop at that. Next would be metal detectors to make sure that no student is carrying a weapon and, now that we have advanced plastics, even that is not enough for some weapons so body searches would be suggested. Do parents really want the children to grown up in an environment where they see guns and metal detectors every day and even have to endure body searches? Surely, a better way is to develop an environment where irresponsible people cannot get rapid fire weapons.

It will take time to change attitudes and laws but recent events in the US suggest that some action along those lines is necessary. President Obama's proposals seem reasonable to me as a first step but gun security at home isn't mentioned as afar as I can see. If kids can't get their hands on mother's or brother's guns as has happened recently, then there is much less chance of 5 year olds being killed with 90 rounds per minute.

 

[thaiturkey]

I disagree. From the time I was born, my father's service rifle was ALWAYS where my younger brother and I could reach it and we both knew it. I also knew where his Marine sword was at in my grandmother's house. We were taught not to touch unless it was with adult supervision and we were taught to listen to what we were told. The only exception was with the sword, I was told I could grab it and use it if someone broke into the house. My father taught me to shoot skeet and I was pretty good at it, and none of it means anything to anybody else...unless they want to shoot clay pigeons with me.

My husband owned guns as a child and used to shoot rats because there was a bounty on them where he lived in the city. Kids did it all the time and no one made anything of it. I feel that, just like in the Prohibition Era, now that everyone is making this into a big deal it is becoming one.

That worked for you but we can see that it's not working universally these days. I think that now the US is seeing copycat attempts to kill as many people as possible and so leaving guns around ready for use is no longer safe. Some time ago, two brothers found their father's hand gun. It was loaded and one brother accidentally shot and killed the other.

In any case, a basic rule of gun safety is that guns are kept locked away, unloaded and separate from ammunition. That, clearly, is not happening in the US and the carry licence encourages breach of that rule. Perhaps I'm fortunate in never having lived where I was in imminent danger of being attacked, especially at home.