Guns and shootings.. what has changed

[We Never Know]

When I was younger I could walk into a Walmart, Bass Pro, Cabela's, a pawn shops etc. and buy a gun and walk out as soon as it was rang up.

Today if I go to Walmart, Bass Pro, Cabela's, a pawn shops etc. and buy a gun I have to have my drivers license, fill out forms including SS#, criminal and mental history and then its all sent off to the feds with generally a day waiting period to see if I'm clear to purchase a gun.
And there are more laws

Its obvious guns aren't as easy to purchase now as they used to be but shooting are up.


What's changed besides the people/generations?

 

[lewisnotmiller]

Its obvious guns aren't as easy to purchase now as they used to be but shooting are up.

Well...depends what your timeframe is, I guess. 1973-74 was the highest rate of firearm deaths and firearm murders.
Recent numbers are trending the wrong way, but unless you are gen Z it's unlikely this is the peak period of your life for gun deaths and murders on a per capita basis.

I'm talking about the US as a whole here.

 

[F1fan]

When I was younger I could walk into a Walmart, Bass Pro, Cabela's, a pawn shops etc. and buy a gun and walk out as soon as it was rang up.

Today if I go to Walmart, Bass Pro, Cabela's, a pawn shops etc. and buy a gun I have to have my drivers license, fill out forms including SS#, criminal and mental history and then its all sent off to the feds with generally a day waiting period to see if I'm clear to purchase a gun.
And there are more laws

Its obvious guns aren't as easy to purchase now as they used to be but shooting are up.


What's changed besides the people/generations?

There are pretty lax screenings of who buys guns. Only people with felonies are exempt, so if a guy has a history of abuse or other trouble with the law they can likely still get a gun.

And don't forget that in many states it's not illegal to sell your legally purchased gun to anyone, regardless whether they could pass a background check. Many laws only kick in once a crime has been committed, like a shooting.

 

[Shaul]

Mostly these are the effects of the explosion of information technology. The technological infrastructure could not previously support much of current firearm tracking. Technological advance has increased the ability of the government for monitoring (and intrusion if you prefer) of firearms and a shrinking level of privacy. This is not unique to firearms. Similar syndromes can be seen in other spheres such as fiscal affairs, taxes, education, legal systems, etcetera. Privacy is an endangered thing.

 

[Heyo]

When I was younger I could walk into a Walmart, Bass Pro, Cabela's, a pawn shops etc. and buy a gun and walk out as soon as it was rang up.

Today if I go to Walmart, Bass Pro, Cabela's, a pawn shops etc. and buy a gun I have to have my drivers license, fill out forms including SS#, criminal and mental history and then its all sent off to the feds with generally a day waiting period to see if I'm clear to purchase a gun.
And there are more laws

Its obvious guns aren't as easy to purchase now as they used to be but shooting are up.


What's changed besides the people/generations?

Good question. It should also include the question why this is so almost exclusively in the US.

 

[sayak83]

When I was younger I could walk into a Walmart, Bass Pro, Cabela's, a pawn shops etc. and buy a gun and walk out as soon as it was rang up.

Today if I go to Walmart, Bass Pro, Cabela's, a pawn shops etc. and buy a gun I have to have my drivers license, fill out forms including SS#, criminal and mental history and then its all sent off to the feds with generally a day waiting period to see if I'm clear to purchase a gun.
And there are more laws

Its obvious guns aren't as easy to purchase now as they used to be but shooting are up.


What's changed besides the people/generations?

The rise in mass shootings by deranged people is what has changed.
Like the use of planes for terrorism has caused airport screenings to go up.

 

[PureX]

When I was younger I could walk into a Walmart, Bass Pro, Cabela's, a pawn shops etc. and buy a gun and walk out as soon as it was rang up.

Today if I go to Walmart, Bass Pro, Cabela's, a pawn shops etc. and buy a gun I have to have my drivers license, fill out forms including SS#, criminal and mental history and then its all sent off to the feds with generally a day waiting period to see if I'm clear to purchase a gun.
And there are more laws

Its obvious guns aren't as easy to purchase now as they used to be but shooting are up.


What's changed besides the people/generations?

The numbers. There are millions upon millions of guns out there among the people, now. Many of them are not being properly locked up, and are being given away or sold to others with no record of the change of hands or background checks at all. Also, the guns are now mostly very fast repeaters that can carry a lot of rounds in a clip.

But most of all they are now a fetish. They represent self-reliance and self-determination and strength to a lot of people that have had these taken away from them by an economic system that's rigged against them, and rigged to enslave and control them. The more they feel their autonomy slipping away from them in this culture of systematized greed, the more they desire some way to gain that sense of autonomy back. And guns are our culture's most notorious symbol of that self-reliance and autonomy. So now millions of Americans are obsessed with them. With having them and showing everyone else that they have them. And especially with thinking that having them makes them powerful and respected, again. Men, again.

 

[Twilight Hue]

When I was younger I could walk into a Walmart, Bass Pro, Cabela's, a pawn shops etc. and buy a gun and walk out as soon as it was rang up.

Today if I go to Walmart, Bass Pro, Cabela's, a pawn shops etc. and buy a gun I have to have my drivers license, fill out forms including SS#, criminal and mental history and then its all sent off to the feds with generally a day waiting period to see if I'm clear to purchase a gun.
And there are more laws

Its obvious guns aren't as easy to purchase now as they used to be but shooting are up.


What's changed besides the people/generations?

I remember carrying weapons into the airport. You weren't allowed to bring it on the plane , but you went to check in and they placed a red tag on it that said firearms.

At the end of the trip, you picked it up and walked out of the airport with it.

No SWAT team, no people panicking, no being tackled to the floor.

I'd say it's the way people get raised up.

As I see it...

People obviously are more paranoid and distrustful than those in the past.

I think the cause is mass media and social communications.

We were not as cloistered and protected from the reality of the world as it was in the insular past.

I think people are suffering from information overload and are essentially suffering from shell shock collectively as raw footage and accounts pour into media now. Family hour, regimented programming, sign off, etc are all gone.

Some go mad with the overload now.

 

[We Never Know]

There are pretty lax screenings of who buys guns. Only people with felonies are exempt, so if a guy has a history of abuse or other trouble with the law they can likely still get a gun.

And don't forget that in many states it's not illegal to sell your legally purchased gun to anyone, regardless whether they could pass a background check. Many laws only kick in once a crime has been committed, like a shooting.

My time is short today so you get the reply.

Abuse is domestic violence. With a domestic violence conviction you can't own guns.
I've stated before IMO the back ground checks need to go into mental health records and minor records.

And don't forget that in many states it's not illegal to sell your legally purchased gun to anyone, regardless whether they could pass a background check. Many laws only kick in once a crime has been committed, like a shooting.

I've also stated before that private guns sales should be regulated to prevent guns from being sold to people who shouldn't have them.

 

[F1fan]

My time is short today so you get the reply.

Abuse is domestic violence. With a domestic violence conviction you can't own guns.

Right, a conviction. Not a track record of reporting of abuse where a wife or girlfriend is too scared to go on the record.

I've stated before IMO the back ground checks need to go into mental health records and minor records.

Need to, but these policies get shut down by the right.

I've also stated before that private guns sales should be regulated to prevent guns from being sold to people who shouldn't have them.

Another thing that the right won’t support. Democrats are trying but they can’t do it themselves. When they try they are vilified for taking away gun rights.

 

[Windwalker]

I think people are suffering from information overload and are essentially suffering from shell shock collectively as raw footage and accounts pour into media now. Family hour, regimented programming, sign off, etc.

Some go mad with the overload now.

And then they take their guns and express their madness by shooting up crowded places.

I don't think taking measures to protect ourselves against the madness in society that finds expression behind mass shootings, is the cause of the increase in shootings.

If anything, I think we may eventually just become numb to it. "Did you hear that 50 people were shot to death by a crazy man with a gun at Walmart the other day?" "Oh wow, that's terrible. So what are you doing this weekend? Want to come over for a BBQ?"

 

[Shadow Wolf]

When I was younger I could walk into a Walmart, Bass Pro, Cabela's, a pawn shops etc. and buy a gun and walk out as soon as it was rang up.

Today if I go to Walmart, Bass Pro, Cabela's, a pawn shops etc. and buy a gun I have to have my drivers license, fill out forms including SS#, criminal and mental history and then its all sent off to the feds with generally a day waiting period to see if I'm clear to purchase a gun.
And there are more laws

Its obvious guns aren't as easy to purchase now as they used to be but shooting are up.


What's changed besides the people/generations?

More people have guns. The Second wasn't interpretated by the Supreme Court to omit the militia part. Assault rifles were banned.
Social attitudes have also changed. Such as before modern times in America you did not open carry and you didn't bring your gun with you into town.
Ultimately what happened is America went from a place to where even RWers and Conservatives and Republicans signed gun restrictions into law into a land that morphed into something that reflects the fantasy world of the Wild West, a place where people forgot Red Dawn is just a movie.

 

[Twilight Hue]

And then they take their guns and express their madness by shooting up crowded places.

I don't think taking measures to protect ourselves against the madness in society that finds expression behind mass shootings, is the cause of the increase in shootings.

If anything, I think we may eventually just become numb to it. "Did you hear that 50 people were shot to death by a crazy man with a gun at Walmart the other day?" "Oh wow, that's terrible. So what are you doing this weekend? Want to come over for a BBQ?"

Been that way in cities for decades. Desensitized people.

Your pretty much right. People can and do adjust to things like this.

 

[Mock Turtle]

When I was younger I could walk into a Walmart, Bass Pro, Cabela's, a pawn shops etc. and buy a gun and walk out as soon as it was rang up.

Today if I go to Walmart, Bass Pro, Cabela's, a pawn shops etc. and buy a gun I have to have my drivers license, fill out forms including SS#, criminal and mental history and then its all sent off to the feds with generally a day waiting period to see if I'm clear to purchase a gun.
And there are more laws

Its obvious guns aren't as easy to purchase now as they used to be but shooting are up.


What's changed besides the people/generations?

Perhaps people are feeling more insecure? What, with all those other people with guns.

 

[Brickjectivity]

When I was younger I could walk into a Walmart, Bass Pro, Cabela's, a pawn shops etc. and buy a gun and walk out as soon as it was rang up.

Today if I go to Walmart, Bass Pro, Cabela's, a pawn shops etc. and buy a gun I have to have my drivers license, fill out forms including SS#, criminal and mental history and then its all sent off to the feds with generally a day waiting period to see if I'm clear to purchase a gun.
And there are more laws

Its obvious guns aren't as easy to purchase now as they used to be but shooting are up.


What's changed besides the people/generations?

People trust USA's government more than ever, so our citizens don't need to carry firearms. There's no chance that our over sized tax monster nuclear armed government might run amok and start doing bad things. If anything bad happened we could just carry protest signs in the capital.

 

[Windwalker]

People trust USA's government more than ever, so our citizens don't need to carry firearms. There's no chance that our over sized tax monster nuclear armed government might run amok and start doing bad things. If anything bad happened we could just carry protest signs in the capital.

That's true. So we should match what the military can throw against us in the case Trump takes over and turns this country into a Police state.

We demand our constitutional right to own flamethrowers, hand grenades, tanks, rocket launchers, fighter jets, heat-seeking missiles, fully automatic machine guns, and even nuclear weapons, just in case....

Protest signs are not enough! Give us matching military hardware! We need to be a well-armed militia, damn it! God, Guns, and Nukes for all, I say! We need to feel safe in our homes!

 

[Father Heathen]

People trust USA's government more than ever, so our citizens don't need to carry firearms. There's no chance that our over sized tax monster nuclear armed government might run amok and start doing bad things. If anything bad happened we could just carry protest signs in the capital.

Do you think a shotgun toting backwater brigade would thwart the government (ultimately the police and military) if it went Cobra Commander?

 

[Windwalker]

Do you think a shotgun toting backwater brigade would thwart the government (ultimately the police and military) if it went Cobra Commander?

I've seen what happened in Deliverance, so I wouldn't bet against them. They may look harmless with their bangos and whatnot, but they be downright ruthless.

 

[metis]

What's changed besides the people/generations?

We now have an average of 120 guns per 100 Americans according to a recent FBI estimate, so the proliferation of guns is part of the problem. We should always remember that so many homicides relate to disputes whereas someone loses his/her temper and also with suicides. Our son would be dead if I kept a loaded gun in our house as he suffers from bipolar disorder and cut his wrists twice when in his mid-teen years, and he said he would have used a gun on himself if he could have found one. Now he is 50 and owns his own business.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

People trust USA's government more than ever, so our citizens don't need to carry firearms. There's no chance that our over sized tax monster nuclear armed government might run amok and start doing bad things. If anything bad happened we could just carry protest signs in the capital.

That's why I say people forget Red Dawn is just a movie.