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**anolbom** · 07-23-2012, 08:41 PM

We could legislate waiting periods, background checks, restrictions on certain types of weapons such as assault weapons, types of ammunitions etc...

In the wake of Heller and McDonald, a lot of these that are in place will be challenged. More likely than not, they'll go down. So from an LE standpoint, as tools, these will likely be unavailable.

That is not the point. We focus tremendously high amounts of resources policing activity that is illegal but harmless at the expense of activity that is legal but harmful. Our society has lost its compass. We have no idea why we don't like people smoking pot but we outlaw it. We have no idea why people need assault weapons, but that is OK.

Not quite. The SCOTUS decision was very focused on people owning hand guns to protect their property. Scalia went out of his way to define the parameters of his decison in very narrow terms and to not address issues such as waiting periods, registration requirements, assault weapons and certain types of ammo. In terms of dealing with the narrow questions that that were the basis of the suits, they established that the 2nd amendment confers a right directly to individuals, and that it applies to laws passed at any level of government. Other that that, they didn't determine much else. How these rulings will apply to other gun laws will be determined by future president. But no one in the antigun community thought these rulings would go the way the did, so I think predictions that they won't be used to remove other gun restrictions sound pretty hollow now.

But getting away from specific gun issues, the question seems to be how could this have been stopped beforehand. Really, I don't think it could have been. This was one guy acting alone, who had essentially no prior interactions with the criminal justice system, who was never judged mentally ill, and who had significant scientific/technical skill. If all the antigun measures you'd love to see imposed were in place, he'd simple find someother way to commit his massacre, most likely some sort of bomb and/or incendiary device (which is what he rigged at his apartment.)

07-23-2012, 08:41 PM	#16
anolbom Join Date Nov 2005 Posts 429 Senior Member	We could legislate waiting periods, background checks, restrictions on certain types of weapons such as assault weapons, types of ammunitions etc... In the wake of Heller and McDonald, a lot of these that are in place will be challenged. More likely than not, they'll go down. So from an LE standpoint, as tools, these will likely be unavailable. That is not the point. We focus tremendously high amounts of resources policing activity that is illegal but harmless at the expense of activity that is legal but harmful. Our society has lost its compass. We have no idea why we don't like people smoking pot but we outlaw it. We have no idea why people need assault weapons, but that is OK. Not quite. The SCOTUS decision was very focused on people owning hand guns to protect their property. Scalia went out of his way to define the parameters of his decison in very narrow terms and to not address issues such as waiting periods, registration requirements, assault weapons and certain types of ammo. In terms of dealing with the narrow questions that that were the basis of the suits, they established that the 2nd amendment confers a right directly to individuals, and that it applies to laws passed at any level of government. Other that that, they didn't determine much else. How these rulings will apply to other gun laws will be determined by future president. But no one in the antigun community thought these rulings would go the way the did, so I think predictions that they won't be used to remove other gun restrictions sound pretty hollow now. But getting away from specific gun issues, the question seems to be how could this have been stopped beforehand. Really, I don't think it could have been. This was one guy acting alone, who had essentially no prior interactions with the criminal justice system, who was never judged mentally ill, and who had significant scientific/technical skill. If all the antigun measures you'd love to see imposed were in place, he'd simple find someother way to commit his massacre, most likely some sort of bomb and/or incendiary device (which is what he rigged at his apartment.)
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