Re: wtf is wrong with american kids
the issue is with a lack of parenting far more than a general cultural issue.
i'd point out that, firstly, they also had KNIVES in preperation of this. second, i would bet that when more info comes out, these kids either a. had home life issues or b. and what i think is very probable, were on medications like ritalin. The new thing is that you fix any problem a kid has with drugs, and i think that there is something very wrong in that. I'm not doing some psycho scientology thing about psychology being fake, but simply trying to use medication to fix a kid's problem doesn't work always. The number of suicide cases caused by anti-depressants alone is rather disturbing, its like a cure for cancer that causes other cancers.
but anyway, my point is, there are problems with these kids that aren't being addressed in the home. often they illegally obtain the guns used in the crimes anyway.
there's a lot of misconceptions, i think, about gun laws in the united states. there are statistics indicating that guns are used to prevent or deter crime more than they are used to commit crimes. most guns used in crimes are stolen, and anyone that has a felony is, by law, prohibited from owning a gun.
also, the reason that guns would reduce crime is that most people will not use a gun in a crime if there's a possibility that they will get shot themselves. why is it people don't rob police? because a police officer has a gun and knows how to use it. several of the school shootings, actually, have been stopped by civilians with guns.
yes, people who shouldn't have guns get a hold of them sometimes. and yes, there some peopel that snap and get hold of a gun and will try to kill people just to kill them, but they are few in number comparitivly.
i think its particularly interesting to see HotShot generalising American culture as a whole even though he seems to have had limited, if any, contact with it