Another mass shooting...

[GodHatesBengals]

(10-02-2015, 06:24 PM)CKwi88 Wrote: Brazil. The rep is overblown, but it's still a far cry from the picture of safety and security. I first lived there in 2004 after their big reform in 2003, and witnessed other movements in 2008 (call for registering) and 2011 (Gun Buyback.) The movements in themselves were somewhat effective (something like a 10% decrease in deaths between 2003 and 2005) and an estimated 160k people not killed. 

But like many have said here, legislation is not the end all in these situations. It's mostly a culture thing. Brazil is still up there in gun violence. And that's actually what surprised me the most about the events in Brasil, they realize that and still act. Nobody thought that it would be a quick fix, and the country continued to to combat other factors rather than just trying to pass gun reform and leave it alone. 

In my mind, the people have to be open to changing the laws and culture, something I doubt the USA is ready for. It's gotta come from the ground up.



For any curious, here's a rough translation of their 2003 reform to own a gun in Brazil:

25 years or older. 
Have a job and place of residence. 
Background check
Display technical and mental capacity as tested by certified federal police agents. 
Written petition describing the necessity for a firearm
R$60 bucks.

Edit: I'm in no way advocating for Brazil's system. They have an entirely different legal system and different constitutional rights. The second amendment really makes the US tricky, for better or for worse.

I dunno. I am tempted by this attitude, and have held it in the past. I don't know what causes Americans to be more on the violent side. Cormac McCarthy's novels seem to imply that "it", whatever "it" is, was here long before America was America. Fiction, of course, and mystical, but the implication seems to be that he, too, sees no real answers.

But I do know beyond a shadow of a doubt that America has a serious, institutional problem when it comes to dealing with mental illness and keeping guns out of those people's hands.