Opinion
Utah – -(AmmoLand.com)- The gun control crowd is again exploiting recent mass murders to promote their agenda to gut your Second Amendment rights. There are proposals to mandate universal background checks which can only be enforced with universal gun registration. This despite the fact that even anti-gun news organization CNN admitted that such laws would not have stopped the killings in Dayton and El Paso.
There are also proposals for so-called “Red Flag Laws,” which allow the government to confiscate your guns without a trial, based upon someone declaring that you are a threat. While a carefully crafted, extreme risk protective order law may have some benefit, all of the current bills and proposals are written very broadly, to help make it easy for government authorities to confiscate your firearms.
Not only are the gun banners going after your guns, but many of them, such as Senator Elizabeth Warren, are exploiting these tragedies to raise money.
Rather than trying to increase their war chest or go after your guns, we believe that politicians should focus on ideas that will help prevent mass murders. Below are some ideas that we feel are worth considering. These are not all-inclusive, and we are sure there are a lot of smart people in the mental health and criminal justice fields that have great ideas.
Increased Access to Inpatient Psychiatric Care. Congress needs to consider legislation that would help states increase access to inpatient psychiatric care.
Early Intervention. The Department of Health and Human Services should start working with local mental health providers or social service organizations, to address the social and emotional challenges our students face. From suicide prevention to the effects of the substance abuse crisis – these services are meant to help address issues that impact teachers’ ability to teach and students’ ability to learn. The earlier we can intervene in kids’ lives, and make a positive difference, the better.
Pass federal legislation to remove impediments against carrying firearms for self-protection. Mass murderers usually stop when a good guy with a gun shows up on the scene, be it law enforcement or private individuals. Congress needs to pass a Second Amendment Civil Rights bill to stop draconian state laws that prevent law-abiding citizens from carrying firearms.
Access to Behavioral Health Services. More money needs to be directed toward mental health services for children, teens, and adults.
Risk Factor and Resource Identification. The Department of Health and Human Services needs to look at funding local community efforts to increase knowledge of risk factors, and help parents and family members to identify when someone is showing warning signs of a mental illness. The Department of Health and Human Services should share screening tools with clinicians, help connect community-based services to link parents, families, and schools with proven supports and strategies to manage a person’s wellness over a lifetime.
School Tip Line. The Department of Education should investigate the effectiveness of various school safety tip lines or instant messaging apps. Such communication channels can be used to call or text anonymously with tips about potential school violence. Best practices should be communicated to local school districts.
Community Safety. The Department of Homeland Security should be disseminating information to help harden soft targets like non-profits and religious organizations to make their facilities more secure.
School Safety and Intervention Programs. The Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Education should help states implement “Know the Signs” safety programs to educate schools, government institutions and the private sector on how to identify potential threats of violent action and take steps to intervene.
About Utah Shooting Sports Council:
The Utah Shooting Sports Council represents the citizens of Utah who safely and legally own and use firearms, exercising rights guaranteed under both the United States and Utah constitutions. Visit: https://utahshootingsportscouncil.org/
Isn’t that how it use to work? someone yells witch and its followed by a trial with pre selected results. We are regressing into our past ignorant behavior.
my point is all of those people had plenty of time to get out their cell phones and video the horrific event with many videos lasting over a minute… if they were packing a gun instead then…
If the citizens are unarmed then the government can move anyway they want and without serious resistance. Would you be comfortable with people like Pig-Losi, schumer, AOC, hillary determining your everyday movements???
Perhaps, but we have been conditioned to believe that we are not law abiding if we don’t follow the law, and thus the millions who hand in their guns will look sideways at any who did not. Besides, with all the Pistol Permits, hunting licenses, and the FFL forms filled out, do you think the government doesn’t already have you on file as gun owners? Gun control is about one thing: CONTROL! Now, you’re gonna say they can’t even cross reference school shooters, but you are forgetting that the government does what it wants. It could cross reference, but to… Read more »
As unpleasant as this thought is to many people, the best defense against mass shootings is to allow people to carry and defend themselves, and not a system where authorities only come in to clean up a mess. Not everyone has to carry, definitely. But this constant idea that the sheep dogs are the bad guys, and only disarmed sheep are good in the presence of wolves, speaks for itself for anyone who can add two plus two. Also, we as a nation need to stop drinking the leftist Kool-Aid, where we are anti-God, anti-American, perpetually entitled and victimized when… Read more »
@Bill, Benjamin Spock convinced parents not to spank, and unlinked punishment from bad behavior. Madeline Murray O’Hare and Hugo Black freed everyone from the burdens of Christianity. Legions of greedy lawyers disassembled the in loco parentus doctrine. The Jazz movement spread drug use. Woodrow Wilson, FDR, and LBJ openly attacked the Constitution.
So did Lincoln (habeus corpus, 1rst amendment violations, declaration of war on dissenter states), Madison (else, no Marbury v Madison), Nixon (gold standard), Carter (gave away the treaty ratified Panama Canal, tried to nationalize the oil companies), let’s not even get started on Obama (Soetoro).
You’re assuming government wants to stop the mass shootings. They do not. It doesn’t fit the agenda of more progressive gun control until total disarmament is called for by the majority. This is exactly why our founders gave us a republic (representative government), and not a democracy (majority rules).
I’m not smart enough to have discerned this on my own, but I’ve heard it said that ERPO’s aren’t just a bout GUN control. As we always admonish the Anti’s, it’s not the TOOL, it’s the person. This is about TOTAL control. ERPO’s are the new Stassi. the new Secret Police. Disagree with the wrong people or in the wrong way, and poof “someone” calls in a caution and request for an ERPO. Even if you don’t have guns, you get a knock on the door in the early hours and your house ransacked. How easy would it be to… Read more »
@jukkOu George Orwell, in the book 1984 called it vaporizing people that didn’t follow the orders of Big Brother. Same thing but vaporizing is a more pleasant sounding word. You know, if you are into everything being politically correct and nice.
OH MY! STOP BEING LOGICAL! COMPLY, OR DIE!
Unfortunately, the one, line item, that would actually save lives immediately, is never mentioned; eliminate all Gun Free Zones, period! In all most every incident, a mass shooting takes place in a “gun free zone” and as soon as police or an armed response appears (too late to save far too many lives) the murderer either commits suicide, is killed or surrenders immediately. If an armed response was IMMEDIATELY available many more lives would be saved and, theoretically, there would be fewer mass shootings as these people appear to seek out easy targets.
Just my two thoughts…..
@ Vanns40 I totally agree with you. They conveniently ignore this because it doesn’t fit in with their plans of a gun free America.
George Washington, our first president, said:
“From the hour the Pilgrims landed, to the present day, events, occurrences, and tendencies prove that to insure peace, security and happiness, the rifle and pistol are equally indispensable . . . the very atmosphere of firearms everywhere restrains evil interference – they deserve a place of honor with all that is good.”
You say you are against “Red Flag” laws. As Am I.
but then you go on to say:
School Tip Line. call or text anonymously with tips about potential school violence
School Safety and Intervention Programs. identify potential threats of violent action and take steps to intervene.
So, maybe sometimes, you advocate a Pre-Crime mentality.
Instead of a long list of impotent bullshit solutions, the easiest and most effective solution to stop mass murders is TO SHOOT BACK!
Here’s another crazy thought: how about taking action against PEOPLE that are clearly crazy as a shit-house rat BEFORE they pick up a gun and destroy innocent life? LOOK…at the track record on these people. Loughner had students dropping classes to avoid being around him, and he’s just one. It’s easier for some political puke to take a “strong stand against GUN VIOLENCE” than to take a public stand against the kind of person that DOES it. I have personal experience with one case back in my LE days, and after numerous involuntary commitments one of ours murdered a deputy… Read more »
@Morrigan, We used to have a system of insane asylums where the shit house rat crazy people were humanely treated, but it was expensive. The ACLU (founded by two card carrying communists for the purpose of using our freedoms against us.) found a judge that wanted to be famous.
The libtard judge ruled that the shit house rat crazy people can not be detained unless they are a danger to them selves or others. Then the bureaucrats dismantled the humane insane asylums as a tax saving and career boosting measure.
Leaving the insane to become homeless, addicted, and a reservoir of potential violence when they decide to quit medications.
People, the insane, don’t just decide to quit their medicine. They quit because the side effects are worse than the feeling of craziness they have when not on them. Many people could be helped with medical marijuana, and other milder forms of drugs, even natural drugs, but the society frowns on it because we have been programmed, by our government, to believe they are bad, because government knows best.
You may want to remember that Geraldo Rivera, did a video of a NY mental hospital. That changed this nation because of the horror he found and reported. In 1955 there were a couple of hundred thousand in the USA, in 1987 that number fell dramatically. Until deinstitutionalize completely.
@Rip, The cost of supporting the insane in a humane way is expensive. The insane are not capable of being appreciative, much less lovable. Taking care of them is emotionally trying. Keeping them alive is contrary to nature. Bureaucrats and politicians are greedy. Some caretakers were unsat. Families used to take care of their less than capable progeny as best they could, they do not want to do that anymore. Geraldo took advantage of the situation to promote his career. Now things are worse.
There has to be determined and sustained funding and over site. Are we up to it?
Oh, SO TRUE I have been saying that for years, it all started with the ACLU, and the Politicians finished them off, now they don’t have a clue what to do, you could get a person help with not much problem, now it almost takes an act of GOD and Congress to get them help, usually they pull off a mass shooting before they get help ( SANDY HOOK ) comes to mind but the Demo-Rats and press won’t admit to it, his mother was trying to get him help before, he killed her and went on his rampage!!!!!!!!!!!!
@ Will I think anyone who showed positive as being mentally ill should have someone to evaluate them that is determined to be sane. It seems that some of the “professional” shrinks are crazier than their patients, judged by their own actions and thoughts.
Swift pubic hanging of murderers.
@Camo, Yes, why has this society abandoned the things that worked? Lets get back to the constitution.
How about the best way of all? ELIMINATION OF ALL GUN-FREE DEATH ZONES!
It would cost nothing to implement, and its effects would be immediate.
But no, the libtard gun-grabbers are more concerned with disarming the citizens, than just stopping the madness.
Anyone have any data on the correlation between DNC fund raising in the tank and mass shootings?
Now get this published in the big newspapers of America
You are all falling into the trap of the left. If you agree to these provisions they are going to ask for more money to implement them. Also, do you think, with the changes submitted by the psychiatric profession, that there won’t be a time in the near future when wanting to defend yourself might be considered a mental health issue???? Will they then incarcerate you for simply wanting to remain alive, and have the resources with which to do it? The Marxists are very sneaky, and think they have us in a trap, but if we do anything less… Read more »
They need school safety courses to include mandatory firearm safety to be taught in the schools. We also need more and better councilors in the schools. Hospitals, universities and colleges need to get with school districts and schools. When something catastrophic happens like a school shooting they offer trauma counseling. One or more councilors like this should be available all the time depending on the number of students. The counselor should have spoken to every student in the school sometime within that school year. Young school age children have traumatic experiences almost yearly. They move to a new school. Grandma… Read more »
From David Hardy at “Of Arms and the Law” – “The gun/gun control topic of the day is mass killings, and I have a book out on the subject, released on Amazon, which demonstrates that gun control cannot possibly affect these crimes. It cannot “prevent” them; it cannot even reduce them a little. Mass killings are a textbook example of why gun control is useless against crime! But I cannot get anyone to take note of this. I’ve sent copies to just about every pro-gun organization and spokesman I can think of, with no result. Maybe it’s “not invented here,”… Read more »
I read a comment here by “street sweeper” that made a lot of sense, are these mass shooters taking or recently took psychiatric medications? Can Ammoland do an update on the 2013 story about this?
“For those who missed the AMMOLAND article detailing the link between mass murderers and psychotropic drugs written in 2013 by Dan Roberts here is a link:”
https://www.ammoland.com/2013/04/every-mass-shooting-in-the-last-20-years-shares-psychotropic-drugs/
@Laredo, I thought that I had lost it. Thank you
Hey there prosecutors, I have a novel idea. Why don’t you prosecute felons who lie on the federal forms for background checks instead of just the usual “decline the sale”. Maybe if enough go to jail they will be unable to make a “street” buy because they will be off the street. Also what ever happen to that group of federal employees that sold and shipped all those weapons to Mexico during obama’s time. Did they go to jail. Of course not because they were DEMOCRAPS. What was their name, oh that’s right Holder and his crew.
@Circ, Those feds? Some are promoted to higher office. Most are enjoying a handsome retirement.
It is because the law was never intended to work, nor to be used for prosecution It’s intended use was to keep as many people as possible from letting government intrude on them, so they simply disarm themselves. They don’t buy a gun because they fear the government, and that is what all these laws are designed to do, They make you fear so you will refrain.
“The mounting pressure to enact “red flag laws” in every state is a misbegotten response to this problem. All the laws necessary to report concerns and for authorities to act are already on the books. The tools are already available for those to use who are more serious about intervening to protect the public than about looking “correct” themselves.” “One-third of the attackers who terrorized schools, houses of worship or businesses nationwide last year had a history of *serious domestic violence*, two-thirds had *mental health issues*, and *nearly all* had made threatening or concerning communications that worried others before they… Read more »
I am going to ditto the statements that the common sense gun control proposals before us are not designed to do anything but harass law-abiding gun owners and make it more difficult to purchase, sell, or possess a firearm.
Nothing proposed will do anything to stop the mass murder problem or the murders in our inner cities. If they are enacted into law, there will be no effect on mass shootings. When these laws fail, the anti-gunners will double-down with more draconian laws until our rights disappear.
More importantly, we must remember what the Soviet Union, and NAZI Germany did with dissenters. If they didn’t outright murder them, or put them in forced labor camps in Siberia, they put them in mental institutions where they experimented on them with drugs, surgeries, etc,. to see if they could make everyone into a compliant automaton who did exactly what the government wanted. What this article does is call up these former policies, and present them as true common sense proposals, but no one truly knows if they will work. Surely, locking someone up indefinitely for something they haven’t done,… Read more »
For those who missed the AMMOLAND article detailing the link between mass murderers and psychotropic drugs written in 2013 by Dan Roberts here is a link:
https://www.ammoland.com/2013/04/every-mass-shooting-in-the-last-20-years-shares-psychotropic-drugs/
@Street, That is the one! I have been looking in my files for it. You get an attaboy.
I really would like to see a 2019 update to that article!
Absolutely, we know the MSM will never voluntarily do so. As responsible gun owners, it is our duty to take up a collection and buy print space. Place the page in the top 5 or 6 papers. Let “social media” or Crowdsourcing do the rest. With our help of course. If the estimated 100 million-plus donated few dollars it could be in place within weeks. If we wait for our representatives and senators all will be lost. During the ’80s and ’90s sport fishing for large tuna, marlin took up my time. In those years all recreational fishermen were pushed… Read more »
S.C.O.P.E., in NY State, bought billboard ads for $7G a pop, which were posted on the Thruway outside Albany. They had no effect. In fact, Cuomo has been re-erected since then, and will likely be re-erected in 2022. Worse, the whole of the state congress went left, and they have been voting for the numerous laws that the Republicans were, for decades, able to stifle, except when their boy Pataki was in, then they went whole hog with his implementation of anti-gun, people control, laws, because hey, he was OK. The left, of course, fell in line, because all along… Read more »
This is an approach that makes sense, addressing the mental health issues. This is what needs to be done but, it does not fit the agenda of a Tyrannical Government backed by a Leftist Media. They do not want solutions only control to dictate over us. Leading to a loss of Freedoms and Liberty. This will not be considered by the followers of the Leftists until it is too late.