A few thoughts

Posted on: February 15, 2018 at 09:27:20 CT

Yes, there are things we can do to make a difference and yes, limiting access to weapons can have a positive effect on gun violence.

However, from a rational perspective, that is not really a solution. It's a band-aid on a symptom, not a cure for the disease. I wouldn't necessarily have a problem with treating that symptom for some period of time so long as we in parallel make a real attempt to treat the underlying cause. And, like it or not, we run the risk of infringing on constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens. That's not just a red-herring, it's a reality.

From a purely problem-solving point of view, going around sticking your fingers in all the holes in the dam is ludicrous and short-sighted if the damn is crumbling.

We need to be putting significant research behind the causes of these types of crimes and putting programs and significant funding in place to try and address those underlying causes. We can speculate on what those are (poverty, wealth gap, mental health, education, social isolation, etc.) but whatever the causes are, it needs to be addressed in a long-term systematic way.

There isn't a quick fix that you can fit into a soundbite and that's why not much has been done. We don't have the attention span, as a country, to address these kinds of issues over the long-term.

In addition, this issue has to be included in and prioritized amongst all of the other issues that face a nation (healthcare, defense, education, infrastructure, etc.). There is a finite amount of resources to apply to all of these issues, so we have to make hard decisions on where and how to apply those resources.

Personally, I think the amount of money spent on "defense" is insane, especially given the technological advantages we have. A good portion of that could be spent on healthcare (mental and physical), infrastructure and education and we'd see tangible benefits.

Edited by TigerNuts at 09:30:20 on 02/15/18