Our new Indie Games subforum is now open for business in G&T. Go and check it out, you might land a code for a free game. If you're developing an indie game and want to post about it,
follow these directions. If you don't, he'll break your legs! Hahaha! Seriously though.
Our rules have been updated and given
their own forum. Go and look at them! They are nice, and there may be new ones that you didn't know about! Hooray for rules! Hooray for The System! Hooray for Conforming!
15 people dead in Germany school shooting
Posts
Still, there's a reason you don't see mass school knifings.
I don't have the stats at the ready, so feel free to dismiss this if you want, but I'm pretty sure that knife crime in Canada actually spiked after the new gun laws went into effect in the 90s.
That said, if you try to use any of these arguments against it:
a) gun control was implemented in x city, surrounded by non-gun control states, and didnt see results
b) knife violence will rise
c) gun control wont stop teenagers flipping out
Then you are probably a fucking idiot.
The thing is, this does kill the argument that there's some sort of illegal gun tree, as everybody knows that guns are more effective than knives.
Honestly, why can't we honor our revolutionary past by keeping muzzle loaders legal?
My only real objection to the outright banning of guns is that it's a feel good measure supported by people who will be unaffected by the law that will have negligible real-world results. Of course people who don't own guns want to ban them - they sacrifice nothing for their warm, fuzzy feeling of accomplishment.
The reason why, at least in Germany, video games get the blame is just ridiculous. It just shows how helpless government, media, people in general are when it comes to this. How do you prevent a psycho from doing that when one cause is that no-one's paying attention to them? I actually asked one of my class fellows that very question (I went to school in Germany), and his answer was "Oh, these guys commit suicide anyway".
I think that's a goddamn horrifying answer.
So, in short, I don't think it's important to restrict access to weapons (that's another topic entirely) or to ban video games or whatnot. I think it's important to provide more background. One thing about the reports that covered the German school shooting was that they were too eager to blame something; nobody knew anything about the guy who did it, as if it wasn't important, now that he's dead. No, it IS important. There's no problem in this world that you can fight by eliminating symptomes.
And BTW: my school got two bomb threats, both fake. Wasn't fun either.
No, my belief is that an item which is BY DESIGN dangerous AND is unnecesary should be banned.
So lets try again.
A BBQ grill, though dangerous, is BY DESIGN used to cook food.
A FISH KNIFE is BY DESIGN used to cut fish, though this has dangerous applications, I don't think it should be banned
A DRILL is BY DESIGN used to drill holes in wood/walls etc. That it is dangerous is simply a byproduct of this design. It is not unneccesary
You've only changed my argument to the point that by my logic sabres and bow/arrows should be banned too, which I am willing to concede
A GUN is by design used to SHOOT THINGS. It has no useful application beyond this.
Shooting at a target range is not the function of a gun. The law exists to regulate something that people just dont need to have. The people who use guns to shoot living things are using them CORRECTLY, if not legally. This is why guns are not the same as other items you keep bringing up.
Also, i'm saying that removing GUNS reduce gun crime. Its not everything, and wont stop all violent crime, but AT VERY LEAST will lessen the death toll.
My god yes, people will use knives and still try to kill people if they dont have guns I totally didn't know that. Why don't we just allow everyone to start blowing shit up with hand grenades as a hobby, then I can
say stupid stuff like:
'TONIGHT AT 6: NATIONWIDE GRENADE BAN
TONIGHT AT 11: GUN VIOLENCE ON THE RISE'
Or tanks! Why can't people own tanks! After all, they helped you win a war, so that kept your freedom, lets justify that too.
Can trade TF2 items or whatever else you're interested in. PM me.
You really want to talk about school violence in germany?
At my school, the "bomb threats" were actually phoned in by the police so that they could take the canine unit through and sniff for drugs.
Can trade TF2 items or whatever else you're interested in. PM me.
That's Nazi talk.
Wha? What kind of arrogance does someone need to say that shooting a target is not the function of a gun. It is by definition the function of a gun. Whether the target is live or not is immaterial. The gun exists to fire a bullet. Anything else is simply empty justification for a narrow point of view.
We could discuss the way bullying isn't taken seriously and seen as a right of passage probably leads to a lot of broken kids. How it differs between somewhere like the school I went to (inner city south London yet had rather little physical bullying) and public schools, which are often worse, meaning it isn't wholly a class thing. I'm sure we could get a lot of mileage there, and cover some vaguely new ground.
And what gun-owners are losing, what huge impact on their life is it going to have?
While I disagree with the first part of that sentence, I agree very much with the second two sentences. This. Very much this.
Surely the parents having 16 weapons at home and the guy just having issues are not to blame.
Sometimes I really hate this country
They're losing their hobby. You may think that doesn't matter, but I do since it also means I'll be out thousands of dollars when my guns are confiscated AND it'll be for naught since it'll accomplish nothing. You really do support the oppression of this minority for no good reason, I see.
A distinct lack of venison.
Can trade TF2 items or whatever else you're interested in. PM me.
In what fantasy world do you think this would ever happen?
Chill the fuck out and stop being so paranoid.
On the death tolls getting bigger, I think it's just you. More will killed at VTech, about the same were killed at Columbine. As for frequency, I'd have to check...but I'd not be surprised if that was just you as well.
Wait....I thought Germany had strict gun control laws, and you (along with wikipedia) seem to verify this. So how did this even happen?
Let me guess: he got them at a gun show down in Switzerland.
? It's what he's advocating. I guess I could always just ignore him, then.
One thing I'd bet has increased? Media coverage of these shootings.
(Note - I'm not blaming anyone here, I'm just stating that there's more coverage of them now. They're hot-button, sexy, look-at-the-ratings issues.)
Can trade TF2 items or whatever else you're interested in. PM me.
It was also a science and technology focused school, we had no sports teams (though some people played sports for their regular local public school), no music program, etc. We had a robotics team. I mean, there were still 'jocks' and 'nerds' but there was a much larger percentage of nerds than average for a school. There also was a GPA requirement to get into the school when I went, but, I think that has since been dropped and the school has steadily degraded in quality since.
Because 9% think it's too high, and shouldn't be cut! 9% of respondents could not fully
get their arms around the question. There should be another box you can check for, "I
have utterly no idea what you're talking about. Please, God, don't ask for my input."
He lives in Canada. It's a realistic scenario for him.
Oh, 17 if you count the gunman who was killed by police.
o_O
Lacroix put forth a hypothetical, and Nova responded.
So I guess the answer is "Lacroix's."
I said living things. Okay yes, it technically functions to shoot a bullet (as the gun itself has no intent), not neccesarily at a target it could be air. But the original design? Despite the mass implementation of guns in war and other areas, are you legitimately trying to tell me that the gun was origionally created for the intent of shooting a can/wall/board instead of living things?
The purpose for which the gun was first created is relevant to the function of the gun.
I think it doesnt matter IN COMPARISON to an environment where stupid people (not you) have easy, legal access to guns yeah.
And as for opression: You own the gun, and as I understand it from this thread America is so fond of them because it helped free them from opression, so its not like you have the unfair advantage when they come to confiscate it.
and as for it having no impact:
By and large, it is the difference between 5 and 15 dead.
Heh.
1) Guns make it a lot easier to kill people. Kids will use knives (hello U.K.) or bludgeons if they have to, but guns make the damage worse.
2) These agressors go out an kill people, and then kill themselves, and they become bigger than life in the aftermath. I'm convinced some copycat mechanism is involved. I'm looking at you here media.
In fact, let me expound on that. To make succesful media you have to simplify people's lives and make them 'bigger than life'.
So from watchin too much tv or movies people get the idea that:
-their lives are lacking in identifiable ways
-simple actions can improve their lives.
this is true for police series, advertisements, medical series, news, even documentaries. The messages range from becoming a better mom by buying sugar frosted chocolate flakes, to becoming more manly by buying a glock, and of course voting for the Party With the Solution.
Despite global warming, rampant obesity and general idiocy I don't think it's too bad a system as long as you keep your front door firmly locked. Who am I kidding? It's disastrous- but that's not what we're discussing here.
Relevant to the situation is that I believe most if not all of these guys watch these tragedies blown up in the media and learn that:
-losers like them can get famous
-by picking up a gun and killing innocents
It's not the sole cause but, hombre, you will need some high-fallutin' analysing to convince me that it's not a significant cause. And that therefore less media attention would REDUCE the problem.
I didn't think most school shooters were as likely to be bullying victims (although it definitely plays a part in some instances) as kids who seem to have a sociopathic streak in the first place. So, the ones who are obsessed with death, war crimes/Nazis, extremist ideologies, genocide - stuff like that. I could be wrong, though.
As horribly, horribly, I almost hate to say it because it's so horribly, cliche as the phrase is, in countries where guns have been banned, the only people left with guns are criminals.
And farmers.
And farmers' mums.
Pretty sure he was bullied in middle school and high school...he just waited until college to finally snap.
Do 13 people stabbed at a day care center by one guy count as 'mass'?
Steam ID X360: JohnnyChopsocky PSN:Stud_Beefpile
I'd never considered the fame aspect of it. Maybe I just have a bad head for names though, but they dont really get famous... unless 'that asian guy from Vtech' is a memorable legacy that they want to achieve. Its not like many will know their names or remember their faces after maybe a week.
Actually if you go to a good prehistoric museum you'll find spears and daggers next to swords. Swords made out of bone and flint, but obviously meant to fight people.