The agnostic perspective on Guns in America

[Multicolored Lemur]

And keep in mind that law enforcement has a high percentage of gun ownership, as required by their job, yet we don't see them having a mass shooting problem.

A right-winger I used to know said, This is because mass shootings themselves are rare [Thank Goodness!]. And it’s hard to prevent something if it’s already rare. Okay, he probably has a logical point as far as it goes.

But—

It may happen often enough to be worth doing something about it. Especially if we can figure out some wise things to do, including feeling okay about the trade offs.

 

[AgnosticBoy]

5) change the law so that 18 to 20 year-olds are no longer allowed to buy assault weapons ? ?

Even alcohol is 21...

 

[Multicolored Lemur]

Wide differences on most gun policies between gun owners and non-owners, but also some agreement

U.S. gun owners have long favored more permissive gun policies while adults who do not own guns have tended to favor more restrictive ones.

www.pewresearch.org

Look at the second one from the top. Both gun owners and non-owners, both Democrats and Republicans are in favor of background checks at gun shows.

And the first item in the above is stopping a person with mental illness from owning a gun, but there is only so much we can do in that area. And the average person with schizophrenia is more likely to be a victim of a crime than a perpetrator.

 

[Multicolored Lemur]

If it's legal for law enforcement to undergo psychological evals and stringent background checks,

Like the character “Counsellor Troi” on Star Trek, a person can’t simultaneously have confidential conversations with a client, and give advice to the Captain on crew fitness. Even though Troi does both all the time.

I’m guessing law enforcement does a multiple-choice psych eval at hiring, and maybe after an incident. I’m guessing they don’t do it on a regular yearly basis or anything like that, not even for older employees [ who realistically might have early-onset Alzheimer’s or some brain damage from minor strokes, etc]

For example . . .

* this is called something like Rational Emotive Therapy

And this is probably a good idea, and I am in favor of self-talk and self-coaching. But not if a person makes a blasted religion out of the whole thing.