"Guns don't kill people, it's the person who does that." A friend's solution is that we should eliminate mass-murder video games. He said my solution of common sense gun regulation was "a trivial nonsolution."
Murders can be analyzed by means/motive/opportunity.
Opportunity: We need to increase the security of schools. Does Hawaii have lockdown drills? Teachers at Sandy Hook knew what to do when the attack happened. Lock the door, pull down the shades, get all the children into the safest location available and stay totally quiet. This technique kept the carnage to 26 when it could have been hundreds. The shooter had hundreds of bullets he didn't get to use.
Motive: We need to increase the ability of parents and associates to deal with mental health problems so people filled with rage don't take it out on the innocent. Yes, and we also need to prevent the proliferation of mass-murder video games and the violence in movies and television and on the Internet.
Means: Without the incredible increase of guns in our country, someone intending a mass murder would lack the means. Just hours before Sandy Hook, a disturbed Chinese man, armed with a kitchen knife, walked into an elementary school and began attacking students. Although police say he was able to injure 23 children and an elderly villager, none of the injuries were severe and he was subdued a short time later by police and teachers.
We need common sense gun regulation.
Sally Raisbeck
Wailuku
