I don't know what's happening in this world.... this week has been a crazy week:

Today is the anniversary of the deadly shooting at Columbine

Seung-Hui Cho shot 32 people then himself on monday

In response, the authorities have been called to 10 copy cat threats in Michigan alone..

There was a 4 death homocide of uni students who went to my brother's uni

A man has just killed himself and a hostage at Johnson Space Center

April 19th was the anniverary of the Oaklahoma City Bombing in 1995...

An accountant killed one and wounded 2 others at his company in troy, MI (my city)



what a bizarre coincidence..


I cannot imagine the amount of pain that is being felt this week. But it makes me wonder, what can we do to prevent this. Why is there so much hate in the world??

Edited at 00:41 Sat 21/04/07 (BST)

All the shootings and murders etc... mostly seem to revolve around the USA, i don't know why weapons are not
banned over there, take example from us in the UK.
No wonder a large percentage of murders are commited over there, guns are as easy to get hold of as a bar of chocolate....crazy people (no offence brighty) lol x

i think thats an extremely ignorant statement to claim that the violence in the us is any worse than the violence in the uk. I personally know someone from nottingham and the violence there between gangs and such is ridiculous. I think maybe our gun control should be more strict, but i don't believe people also realize that people who buy guns go through background checks, and often times the gun are bought illegally or off of the black market.

i do not believe that the problem is gun control, i think the problem is that all these people are one time were normal. they were hurt by someone, or developed a psychological imbalance and needed help. None of these people received the help they were in desperate need of. the problem is that there is so many selfish everyday acts, and i solemnly believe that had these people just had someone reach out and help them, a lot of these crimes could have been avoided.

Again I have to mention this figure.... 39 people died because of gun related crime in the Uk last year. In the US it was 30,000. That is only because of the 'right to bear arms' and all sorts of lunatics can easily get hold of weapons - even children die because they get hold of their parents guns.

Yes gun crime is getting worse in the UK - Nottingham, Manchester and parts of London mostly by youth gangs who have nothing better to do than shoot and stab people and sell drugs. Yes they may be psychologically imbalanced, but also perhaps the way they were brought up and looked after in schools by both states is a problem. Perhaps they even feel like being in a gang gains them 'respect' or 'status'
the latter particularly a reason why cho-seung went on a killing spree to become 'famous'.
The US does have a ridiculous amount of deaths though brighteyes and that can only be because ordinary people can get hold of deadly weapons.

Edited at 07:41 Sat 21/04/07 (BST)

Thats true but i live in the Uk and in the town i live in their has been 2 stabbings recently, as much as a problem gun crime is in U.S.A, the U.K has quite a big knife problem

Edited at 15:56 Sat 21/04/07 (BST)

Sorry brighteyes, how ignorant of me...

I'd say that in the case of the recent mass shooting in the US, it was more down to the emotional instablility of the killer rather than the sources that the weapons were bought from.

I live near nottingham and it really isn't that bad. Yes, in the UK there is a sharp and rapid increase in gang related gun crime more than anywhere else. However gang culture is present in many many countries in the world with the UK no where near as bad as some.

In these more 'severe' cases it does happen in the US quite frequently. Mainly due to freedom, terrorism or politics but it doesn't nessesarly mean that the US are the main cause.

No wonder a large percentage of murders are commited over there, guns are as easy to get hold of as a bar of chocolate....

Your overall statement was slightly bold although i understand where you are coming from, so no need to appolgise for your view on things. IMO the ownership of weapons in the US is outstandingly bad. Ideally this law is put in place for defensive reasons or for protection but you can't exclude and ignore the idiots in this world who will take advantage. Although i do not think this is the reason for it. I blame it on the government and the law enforcement some of who are either corrupt or who advertise the weapons themselves. This is bad in any country.

Did anyone here in the UK see the documentory about gang culture in london last monday night? This shown a fantastic insight into the minds of killers and reasons for the culture being in place.

As ffilteg said its not gun crime that is the problem (even though a man was shot dead in Leeds yesterday) its stabbings. Knivings occur everywhere even in affluent areas like Wokingham - showing that it is too easy to get hold of knives in UK just like it is too easy to get hold of guns in the US.

Therefore the killers who are mentally unstable or want to gain some 'respect' (or at least they think so). AS i keep saying the figure i saw in the media recently, last year 39 people died of gun related crime in UK 2006. IN US it was 30,000. That in itself proves they have a problem as Sweden - a country with a high rate of gun ownership has very little problems/deaths.

exactly, its to the point where everyone in this world is so selfish its unebelievable. nobody cares about each other, and no body takes the time to look out for one another. these people are severely mentally unstable, and have been bullied nonstop throughout their life. they could chose a golf club and still commit a massive amount of deaths. the weapon does not matter



Guns are not easy as chocolate to get ahold of. every person who buys a gun is subject to a background check and now i think they may be subject to a mental stability screening.


Guns are not only meant to be for defensive things, but what about the hunters? In michigan, hunting is huge. Although some may claim this is animal cruelty, its unfair to ban ALL guns becuase of some mentally unstable people. Hunting does not harm other human beings, and what is the harm (other than if you're an animal activist obviously, thats a whole nother story).

even if, like in other countries, only the military is allowed to possess firearms, i believe this will create a huuuuge array of problems. you will have to deal with black market gun selling, stealing, etc. people will get guns, whether they are legal or not. and do we really want to turn into china, the soviet union, iraq, etc. (cont..)

our government would turn into just a huge bully. (of course i'm skipping some steps just to prove a point, i realize theyh wouldn't immediatly turn into a communist controller)


the massive amount of crimes and mass killings in the U.S. has absolutely nothing to do with our gun controls. The common link of these killings is not the fact that most were commited with firearms. It's the fact that each one of those people was mentally unstable. I think the main idea here, is that we (as a world) need to start working together, and lose the close minded selfish mindset that we have carried throughout the years.

well how did high school kids at columbine get hold of guns if gun control isnt the problem? theyre kids!

Yes I do realise that they are mentally unstable too but a gun will only increase the death toll, you cant kill 12 or so people with a golf club unless you're superman.

the high school kids STOLE the guns. just like if guns were banned, they would STEAL the guns. if people want guns, they will get guns. no matter what the laws are


a gun may indeed aid people in shooting more people in a short amount of time, but how is one death loss more acceptable than 30. a lost life is a lost life.

if guns were taken away, these mentally unstable people would still kill, and still harm society.

instead of coming up with some half-(insert word that means the same as bum) solution, why don't we try to come up with a deeper more permanent solution.

lol I totally agree, we need to employ more social workers and psychologists in primary schools to tackle the root cause of violence at an early stage.

EDIT: to end the week yesterday as I have already mentioned a man was shot dead in Leeds. Perhaps the gun culture is worsening over here because they want to copy gangs in other countries?

Edited at 21:56 Sat 21/04/07 (BST)

beyond that even, we need to think of it personally. guaranteed each one of us in the world have at one time picked on or bullied someone in our lives. we need to think more open minded and realize that every comment we make, may be the straw that breaks the camel's back

everyone in this world needs a helping hand some time or a shoulder to cry on, instead of pushing those people in to a corner, we need to reach out and support them, before they fall.

we need to stop selling guns to ordinary people who dont go target shooting or hunting as a hobby or as their job throughout the world. In my opinion that would be a major step towards reducing the ridiculous 30,000 figure in the US. Lets face it, what do they need a gun for? Theyre kids will only go and get hold of it while copying action movies and then pull the trigger on an innocent victim. This happens.

yeah so don't send them to prison then! Give them community service and help or something. Sentences for silly little things like burglaries are far too high in the US and goes to show why their prison population is over 2 million people. Now if that is not that turning you backs on them I don't know what is. They are more likely to join a gang or have more hatred and end up killing someone if they get dumped in prison for a bit rather than being supported.

Edited at 22:08 Sat 21/04/07 (BST)

okay you're back to getting severely confused...
Theyre kids will only go and get hold of it while copying action movies and then pull the trigger on an innocent victim

well you uncovered 3 things in that statement, and none have to do with gun control.

1. Parenting: now a days, with many households that have 2 working adults, we often cause our children to grow up far too fast. Leading them to believe they are mature enough to make mature decisions ie. "I can work this gun just fine, I can figure it out, I'm old enough" or "I can take the car out at 14, I feel mature enough"

2. Media: The media is even more guilty for these gun crimes than gun laws themselves! The media rationalizes murders, and exposes children to these things younger than they should. Which leads to the children ignoring the inhumane and morale dilemas behind these crimes

3. Gun SAFETY: unfortunately, i'm not well educated on the safety laws in my country, but i do believe that more safety regulations need to be put in place for not only the household, but for gun stores too. this would lessen the chance of young people getting their hands on even unloaded guns





like i said, gun control is definitely not the biggest problem we're faced it


it is a minor and severely temporary solution



just saw your post crusade: and yes i completely agree, we need to sentence people like drug addicts to serve time in mental institutes and hospitals, not jail cells...

Edited at 22:08 Sat 21/04/07 (BST)

Sorry brighteyes I missed a sentence in my other point. I should have said reducing sales to only those who need a gun as a hobby and job ie hunting will stop the majority of people from having one like in UK and therefore reduce the overall death toll. Manufacturing less guns will also mean there are less in circulation resulting in less deaths.

If the ordinary person cant get a gun and there are significant FBI regulations on the internet/black market etc then these inhumane killing sprees may be reduced in number

Edited at 22:13 Sat 21/04/07 (BST)

but how can you tell if someone's going rabbit hunting.... or people hunting? (sorry thats a little blunt)

it all boils down to outside factors such as social workers, and person to person friendliness

making it virtually impossible to get a gun license like in the Uk would help reduce sales - although this isn't possible in the US because of the gun culture, politicians being easily influenced by the gun lobby and too afraid to bring in controls because they fear to lose their popularity and therefore votes.

Yes I agree with your second point to some extent but lets face it, some people naturally have mental problems. Some acquire them. It is the ones that get mental problems to due neglect etc like Cho that might help result in a reduction on the death toll for murders.

Edited at 22:19 Sat 21/04/07 (BST)