[Columbine] Long Story Short: They were Sociopaths!

[Oskuro]

That causes a substantial portion of the population to react negatively to any proposed harsh crackdown on such driving, and any ideas directed at the issue fizzle politically for that reason.

Argh, don't get me started on that issue. I might end up losing friends due to my tendency to say several things as they are, like stating that smoking is an act of stupidity, or that reckless driving is akin to a murderous attitude. Can't really stand those social double-standards imposed by the holy power of appeals to popularity (that is, because "everyone does it").

But back on track, I fully agree (and was my point) that interception gives the initiative to the loony, and it is already too late. In fact, the same could be said of reckless driving, the solution is not so much to crack down on reckless drivers, but to educate future generations and thus prevent said behaviour (same with smoking, drinking, marital abuse, racism, religion... you know the drill). My personal take on this is to stigmatize said behaviours in the hope that people who do them, to the very least, don't feel my lack of objection is an encouragement.

[The Yosemite Bear]

I hate the light dusting of snow here more for the fact that tourists (tourons) can't drive in the snow. I don't like walking, much less driving around folks who lack basic vehicle skills.

[General Zod]

Ok, I know this might not be the right crowd for this, and I will be accused of knee-jerking, but fuck it. Why obsess about defense, when you can put your effort in prevention? Namely the prevention that involves making sure those kids do not get their hands on guns.

Are you going to magically make all the guns in the country disappear? If not the chances of this happening are zilch simply due to societal attitude towards them and their prevalence.

And before someone strawmans me to death, I'm not saying that lack of gun control is to blame exclusively for the massacre, I'm just pointing that prevention does a lot more than setting up increasingly draconic defenses, or outright implying that teachers should be asked to shoot kids down. Or did you mean something else with this?

Stricter gun laws are no deterrent for a sufficiently motivated sociopath. All they have to do is find someone they know who owns weapons and steal them.

[Rogue 9]

The Columbine shooters acquiring weapons was already against all sorts of gun laws; making it more illegal wouldn't have stopped them.

[mingo]

A follow-up.

link

Between July 1, 1992, and June 30, 1999, no consistent pattern of increase or decrease was observed in the number of homicides at school (figure 1.2 and table 1.1). During this period, between 28 and 34 homicides of school-age youth occurred at school in each school year.

Assuming all of those deaths were by bombing (they weren't), and assuming trained dogs could stop all bombings (they couldn't), we're talking in the neighborhood of one billion (again, with a B) dollars to stop each killing.

I dunno, maybe it's just me. That seems kind of like a lot when there are eight million kids in the US without health insurance. It's certainly not something I'd classify as "basic security".

And assuming that health care provided for those uninsured children included mental health care, perhaps THAT might really do some good.