Criminal Deeds

[Taem]

EDIT: And my heart, mind, and soul whole-heartily goes out to the families of the Connecticut shooting. I actually teared up listening to the news this morning. Such sick people. I really wish that mother f-er didn't kill himself! What a chicken-shit way to go! He should face his crimes in a court of law. God, I can't even think about it, getting so upset!

I understand your anger, but this guy was clearly insane. Do you seriously think that someone who would kill 20 children would be scared off by a prison sentence? I think you really have a very simplified view on things.

Punishment is not the issue here, it is changing your society in such a way (and this requires investments so higher taxes) that mentally very unstable people are treated and helped before they do such a thing. The same thing happened in Holland a year ago where a scrizofrenic guy for some reason had a licence to own a few guns.

Someone like this should not be allowed near guns. So if social services see a person like this it means that his mother is also not allowed to have guns in her house.

Your right, I am mad. I feel that inhumane bastard deserves to be tried in a court of law, so he could see the damage he's done, and feel responsible and the remorse involved. He took the easy way out and that is what upsets me so much! I'd rather he was killed by police even than shot himself in the head.

As to the rest, of course what you say has merit, but what if the boy/man didn't even live with his mother so she owned the guns without any issue and he just went over her house, killed her, and took the guns? You're essentially making the same argument as Nomad here for pro-gun, but without a real argument. Nomad came up with some good points for pro-gun in the second part.

And how do you feel people should be "treated"? Who is to judge who needs help and who does not? In recent years, they [officials] will check your facebook page to see if you've made threatening comments lately, but if you aren't displaying any outward signs of being mentally unfit, how'd anyone know who really needs help or not? As was the case in Columbine, those two boys weren't insane by any definable clinical standards (at least, not until they pulled the trigger), but rather mad at their peers. Emotional, hormonal boys who needed guidance, but who would have known? And even if physicians do see someone in time, they do make mistake too:

Martha Mitchell Effect

I don't know how reliable this source is, but if it's too be believed, then is seems political dissidents are sometimes institutionalized even today, implying that if the state or feds had more power to institutionalize people, they would undoubtedly abuse this power:

governments-indefinitely-detaining-citizens-in-psychiatric-wards-without-due-process-of-law

Case and point, I do agree that we as a society could do more to help people with morality, I've been saying this for years on these boards, but I don't know the correct way to do it, and I feel putting the power into the states or feds hands could and would lead to political abuse of the system.