Nine killed in Dayton, Ohio

[Rev. Rye]

Yeah, no shit, the vast majority of gun owners are actually responsible and not likely to actually commit a homicide with those guns, and there is so much of the problem that lies in our culture (just look at Trump and his voter base for an illustration of that) that saying it’s just guns is facile, but that said, well, it’s really a testament to how little has changed on this front that Bill Hicks, who’s been dead for a quarter of a century remains spot on:





There’s a lot of toxic elements in our culture that’s contributing to these mass shootings, but it’s clear that the fact that, among developed nations, very few have the sort of levels of gun crime we do, and very few make it as easy as we do to get a gun. If someone’s a danger to themselves or others, you don’t let them near anything they can use to hurt themselves or other people (at least, if you give a shit), and, as far as entire countries go, Americans pretty much are that.

And, since you said you’d support reasonable gun restrictions, I feel I should ask: what sort of restrictions would you be in favor of? Personally, I’d make it so that people who wanted a firearm needed to have a license, although, that said license should theoretically be as easy to get as a driver’s license (provided you don’t have violent crimes on your record) with the written exam focusing on the sort of dos and donts of actually using the damn thing properly. More restrictions may come if needed. Of course, bear in mind, the NRA has done their damnedest to make sure even the most reasonable restrictions are either repealed, not passed at all, or watered down so thoroughly that they’re virtually meaningless. Here’s a good enough place to start with your investigations, and there’s a lot more where that came from.