Welcome home, fellow Gator.

The Gator Nation's oldest and most active insider community
Join today!
  1. Hi there... Can you please quickly check to make sure your email address is up to date here? Just in case we need to reach out to you or you lose your password. Muchero thanks!

Breaking: School shooting with multiple fatalities in Georgia.

Discussion in 'Too Hot for Swamp Gas' started by tilly, Sep 4, 2024.

  1. WESGATORS

    WESGATORS Moderator VIP Member

    22,629
    1,398
    2,008
    Apr 3, 2007
    Not sure why.

    One of the things we do that is somewhat irrational is assuming responsibility on the virtue of age. With things like driving, voting, drinking, smoking, why does age given you an indication of anything useful?

    What if we required a high school diploma or the equivalent for the "right to own a gun" - it's not that high school would/should teach you about gun responsibility, but maybe encouraging some folks to get an education would limit the amount of people looking to irresponsibly own a firearm. Not talking about any particular case, but just looking at the bigger picture. I would love for the test to be more challenging than that, but I wouldn't be opposed to HS Diploma or the equivalent as a starting point. And for the revolutionaries among us, sure...feel free to add in clauses about when the US is in a state of civil distress or what have you. The people that this applies to are not likely to be the ones hiring attorneys to make their case.

    Go GATORS!
    ,WESGATORS
     
  2. PITBOSS

    PITBOSS GC Hall of Fame

    7,925
    831
    558
    Apr 13, 2007
    Maga has no interest in even discussing congressional action.

    Marjorie Taylor Greene rages at DOJ's new initiative

    Republicans blast Biden admin's 'Red Flag Operation' as one that will 'violate' Second Amendment rights | Fox News
     
    Last edited: Sep 6, 2024
    • Informative Informative x 1
  3. BLING

    BLING GC Hall of Fame

    8,954
    882
    2,843
    Apr 16, 2007
    It reached the level of the FBI. So I’m not even sure we can say it was “missed”. It’s more that the authorities are powerless to really do anything.

    The father was a douchebag who not only ignored the advice to secure HIS weapons, but following the FBI visit he apparantly thought it was a good idea to gift his deranged son with his own gun.

    Not sure how you stop that kind of idiocy. You could temporarily remove the guns from the father and flag the entire household as an emergency measure (I think it would be totally reasonable to do so after a school threat, but gun rights activists/extremists would have none of that), and even if “red flag laws” went that far at some point the guy would presumably get all his guns back after a due process. Sounds like this kid had been planning this for years (despite being only 14), so truly this kid needed to be institutionalized as the only way to stop it.
     
    • Agree Agree x 2
  4. l_boy

    l_boy 5500

    13,051
    1,745
    3,268
    Jan 6, 2009
    I am not opposed to any sort of qualification or test, although I am not sure that a high school diploma really moves the needle. Do we think that this dad who gave the kid this gun had a high school diploma? Probably.

    Guns can be dangerous and as such should be registered, have full background checks, mandatory training, expanded red flag lists. If you have kids or mentally ill residents there needs to be very strict rules as to how they are secured. Things like ar15s either should be allowed at all, or else have very robust requirements, such that they aren’t easily obtained by just anybody.
     
  5. l_boy

    l_boy 5500

    13,051
    1,745
    3,268
    Jan 6, 2009
    what sort of institution are you referring to?
     
  6. l_boy

    l_boy 5500

    13,051
    1,745
    3,268
    Jan 6, 2009
    Totally agree with all of these. These things are really not a hindrance to “responsible gun owners”.
     
  7. WESGATORS

    WESGATORS Moderator VIP Member

    22,629
    1,398
    2,008
    Apr 3, 2007
    I'm sure there's data on that. My guess is you will see a higher level of gun crime committed by folks who didn't graduate high school than those who have. But it shouldn't be hard to identify the data one way or the other. We already know there's a disparity in general violent crime rates between high school graduates and those who have not received that level of education; does it seem unreasonable that the relationship would carry over to firearms?

    Anecdotal. Whether he did or didn't in the case is not the basis for whether or not said policy wouldn't have an overall positive impact.

    I don't know much about any of this stuff, but when I see talk of insurance requirements and registrations. The questions have to be asked...how will these things be enforced? The rest of it sounds good.

    Go GATORS!
    ,WESGATORS
     
  8. PITBOSS

    PITBOSS GC Hall of Fame

    7,925
    831
    558
    Apr 13, 2007
    “the teen’s grandfather, Charles Polhamus, said he wanted Colin Gray charged along with his son. “If he didn’t have a damn gun,” Polhamus said, “he wouldn’t have gone and killed anybody.”

    “A year ago, local investigators interviewed Gray and his son about alleged online threats the teen had made to shoot up a school, accusations that Colt Gray denied at the time. This week, the boy’s aunt, Annie Brown, said the teen had been “begging” the adults around him for mental health support in recent months.

    law enforcement officials across the country who are grappling with gun violence will likely watch the Georgia prosecution closely to see how it plays out, legally and politically, in a state with loose firearms laws and a pro-gun culture.”

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/inve...ested-father-georgia-school-shooting-suspect/
     
    Last edited: Sep 6, 2024
  9. BigCypressGator1981

    BigCypressGator1981 GC Hall of Fame

    6,707
    1,374
    3,103
    Oct 11, 2011
    And then we turn around and try the 14 year old kid as an adult.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  10. slocala

    slocala VIP Member

    3,310
    785
    2,028
    Jan 11, 2009
    It might have been already said, but this is another example of radicalization and influence on children through social media gaming sites like Discord. Section 230 needs to be repealed. FBI resources to power through billions of private message and surveillance state is a daunting task. Privacy laws further complicate all of this.

    We spend Trillions on foreign wars. The real war is within our boarders [sic :p]. Flip all that money into citizen supported infrastructure. Let’s face it, Americans suck at walking the walk of the Bill of Rights.

    Possible solutions (yeah, it takes trillions):
    1. Schools should be as protected as an airport. Install a wall, gate, and include a moat around the school full of hippopotamuses. Metal detectors. All bags need to be clear. All access points to the school should have biometric security and manned by a good guy with a gun. Increase LEO school resources.
    2. Social media crackdown. Eliminate Section 230 protections. Require all social media companies to have a minimum capitalization and liquidity from all of their billions in profits that is subject to seizure and paid to family’s of victims. Deep pockets should be scared.
    3. Parents should sign a waiver of rights for child to attend any public school. Actions of the child impact parent’s freedom, property rights, etc.
    4. Student profiling and identification of family issues. Principal should be able to kick a kid out of the public school. Move em out and into private schools if the parent don’t like rules.
    5. Mental heath. Enough of this damn excuse. Crappy parents = crappy kids. Parents should have to interview with the public school subject to an interrogation from the LEO, FBI background check, lie detector test and water torture. You want your kid at the public school, interview like your posh private school where Richy Rich goes. Don’t like it, give up your kid and go into the forest to live with your guns and whatever gripe you have about “the man”.
     
  11. tilly

    tilly Superhero Mod. Fast witted. Bulletproof posts. Moderator VIP Member

    It was multiple democrats.
     
  12. tilly

    tilly Superhero Mod. Fast witted. Bulletproof posts. Moderator VIP Member

    I think what WES is asking is how do you get so much toothpaste back into the tube?
     
    • Winner Winner x 1
  13. PITBOSS

    PITBOSS GC Hall of Fame

    7,925
    831
    558
    Apr 13, 2007
    Not only does maga stop solutions, they encourage a culture of owning weapons of war, to own the libs. especially in Georgia.

    “I’m Congressman Andrew Clyde for Georgia’s 9th District. I hear that this little pin I’ve been giving out on the House floor has been triggering some of my Democrat colleagues…”




     
    Last edited: Sep 6, 2024
    • Informative Informative x 1
  14. GolphinGator

    GolphinGator GC Hall of Fame

    3,744
    4,475
    2,113
    Apr 9, 2007
    Gainesville/ Micanopy
    [
    The problem here is the idiot gave the gun to his mentally ill kid. The dad may have passed a background check, had training but it does not help when the idiot gives the gun to his crazy 14 year old. It is kind of like drivers education. It is great but does not take the stupid out of stupid people.
     
    • Agree Agree x 1
  15. danmanne65

    danmanne65 GC Hall of Fame

    4,023
    855
    268
    Jul 2, 2022
    DeLand
    A well regulated militia doesn’t make it a far leap that training should be required for gun possession.
     
    • Fistbump/Thanks! Fistbump/Thanks! x 1
  16. GatorJMDZ

    GatorJMDZ gatorjack VIP Member

    25,459
    2,719
    1,868
    Apr 3, 2007
    The alternative is to just throw your hands up in the air, surrender and do nothing. Not exactly the American way. We hear the same thing over climate issues...too expensive/big/out of control to do anything about it.
     
    • Like Like x 1
    • Agree Agree x 1
  17. BigCypressGator1981

    BigCypressGator1981 GC Hall of Fame

    6,707
    1,374
    3,103
    Oct 11, 2011
    it would take several decades.
     
    • Agree Agree x 2
  18. BigCypressGator1981

    BigCypressGator1981 GC Hall of Fame

    6,707
    1,374
    3,103
    Oct 11, 2011
    I’m not sure dad would pass a background check. Apparently he was severely abused as a child and then turned into an abuser himself.
     
    • Informative Informative x 2
  19. OklahomaGator

    OklahomaGator Jedi Administrator Moderator VIP Member

    124,088
    164,229
    116,973
    Apr 3, 2007
    Just watched the arraignment of the father. He was under arrest and has several charges against him, could be over 50 years in prison if found guilty on all counts. The charges against the father have come rather quickly. Cruelty to children and second degree murder are two of the charges.
     
    • Informative Informative x 1
  20. WESGATORS

    WESGATORS Moderator VIP Member

    22,629
    1,398
    2,008
    Apr 3, 2007
    The alternative to what?

    Are you saying it's either immediately implement controls like the referenced countries or we just do nothing? I was just making a point that it's oversimplification to just say be like this country. Regardless, I don't think there's a binary that includes one specific set of actions vs. "do nothing." There are numerous actions that can be taken, and I think that's all worth exploring and debating. To me, the goal should be to find common ground to the greatest extent that we can move forward with useful changes.

    Go GATORS!
    ,WESGATORS