No way. If the government really wanted to do something about automatic weapons they could.
The second amendment isn’t even an impediment if the Dems (and I’m using Democrats because they’re ostensible the only people in Congress who would take action). You get 50 Democrats in the Senate to lift the filibuster, expand the court and then fast track a new gun case to the Supreme Court the same way that Republicans fast track test cases on guns, gay rights, voting rights, environmental protections, to the Supreme Court. The newly expanded court reinterprets the Second Amendment to be consistent with pre-Heller decisions and now the Federal government has the power to start wiping these weapons off the map. If the Democrats weren’t such spineless toads they’d do it.
I think you need to change a lot of things though, including getting a lot of guns off the street.
It is true in most countries that if you actually want to acquire a gun you can, but most countries don’t have a culture for shooting each other so it doesn’t happen as much. But I think in order to change the culture you might need to get rid of a lot of guns as part of the culture changing process, it’s not the fix, it’s part of the change I think.
Then you have to look at what’s at stake for people. When you have shit like government performing executions and life time in prison and bad to no social security systems in place you really have nothing to lose in many ways if you’re in a shit place in life. If you have options and a different culture I don’t think you resort to shooting people as often.
The argument that life in prison or execution supposedly scares people into not doing these crimes is also terrible logic, no one who commits a crime think they’re gonna get caught anyway. People in these shitty positions in life need to feel that there are options for it to work I think, and that too is part of the fix.
Have ever thought what the republicans would do with the same power? The last time the dems tried to do something so monumental it end up with a republican major Supreme Court. Before throwing you power around you need to think about what your opposition would do with that same power
I don’t think an average school-going kid in any country (bar US) can get himself 2 AR rifles with seven 30-round magazines, legally or illegally.
That is what the school kid from the Texas shooting used.
The reason that kid was able to purchase them is the guns are
readily available
cheap
If there isn’t a gun culture in your country, you won’t have guns available (legally or illegally).
Even if guns are available via illegal means, they won’t be cheap for a regular school-going kid.
US Kids are not the only bunch of kids who are bullied and I am sure kids in Europe & Asia are also prone to the thought process of blowing up the school. They cannot go out and actually do it.
I mean I agree that fully automatic rifles do more damage, the logic behind them is as dumb as anything. Like, why stop there, why not let people have x y and z.
I kind of kept going on tangent without explicitly saying that I did I mean I think we can aim higher than just getting rid of mass shootings, we could go for no shooting at all, which requires more of a culture change than a more detailed law on specific rifle types. But I agree on that part.
In South Africa as an example, guns are both cheap and readily available (illegally). A kid could without too much money or effort acquire an AK47 but you don’t see mass school shootings or indiscriminate shootings the way you do in America (although there is a lot of other gun violence & crime). America is different, can only think it is a much deeper issue than guns. Take away the guns and you haven’t actually resolved the underlying issues, so you won’t have fixed anything except it won’t be guns it will be bombs or cars driving into crowds or…
I have lived in South Africa on and off in the past and in total for about three years. There is indeed rifles especially plenty around. And other guns including semi-auto ones available for those looking for one. Yet mass shootings are indeed uncommon (I can’t recall hearing about any).
So the idea of mass shooting runs deeper than just guns. It’s also America’s obsession with certain societal aspects and misfits sometimes go nuts and grab the gun to commit mayhem pushed by those societal expectations and indoctrination.
Having said that SA was a rough place to live in in terms of violence and crime. At the same time I met the most wonderful people and made friends for a lifetime over there.
Despite the danger and obvious inequality it pulls me back every year as the country has got something special about it (beautiful) and you navigate the land with common sense.
My mrs has been before and absolutely loves SA. She’s going back in November but for a few days in Johannesburg before CT. Anything she needs to be weary of? Hear so many stories about it
Cape Town is generally a safe place if you avoid the townships. Of course always be alert and use common sense. As a woman I’d say it counts even more, unfortunately.
Johannesburg is a crazy place and unless you have got business to do there I would avoid it. Not much to see in terms of beautiful scenery. Some of my mates go there to shoot crazy cool stories. But they’re generally locals and know the drill.
Johannesburg - stick around Sandton, Bryanston, Fourways and avoid townships. Not much touristy about Johannesburg, but if she can, I would head to Sun City/Lost City, which isn’t too far away
Cape Town is lovely and tourist-centric. Again avoid townships
Generally need to be vigilant but overall in areas tourists would frequent, SA is generally safe.
purely talking about the business part about Musk, it’s hype and being actually able to deliver I think. Hype is a required component for the funding and opportunites/contracts, and delivery to keep it from being a one off.
It might be tempting to think that tesla goes years without profit, rockets crash, building projects get stuck etc. but he is getting shit done at an exceptional rate compared to other projects in this field, he is accelerating many areas in this field enormously, many of the things he does we wouldn’t see in another 20-30 years the way normal projects proceed. He really is driving a technological boom in a sense.
Quite funny to think back on all the people celebrating the news a few months ago. Musk was never serious about this and has just made them all look like pricks really lol
I mean I think we can aim higher than just getting rid of mass shootings, we could go for no shooting at all, which requires more of a culture change than a more detailed law on specific rifle types. But I agree on that part.