U.S. Gun Control Policy Debate Thread

July 20, 2012 4:40 AM

U.S. Gun Control Policy Debate Thread

So that we can please keep the derails out of the "Shooting at Batman Premiere outside Denver" discussion, OK?

posted by Jacqueline to Etiquette/Policy at 4:40 AM (7 comments total)

I don't think we can or should. The availability of high-capacity magazines and semi-automatic weapons is directly responsible for incredible number of casualties. He may have gone on his rampage with a pump-action shotgun and a bolt-action rifle and a handgun with 7 rounds - but it would have been very unlikely he would have been able to do anywhere near as much damage. It needs to be discussed as part of what happened.
posted by Slap*Happy at 4:51 AM on July 20, 2012 [16 favorites]

How is gun control a derail in a post about a shooting?

MeFi isn't supposed to be a live news blog so that shouldn't be the point.

Without gun control all you have is wild speculation about his mental health or political leanings and people saying how sad they are and posting dots.
posted by Reggie Knoble at 4:52 AM on July 20, 2012 [2 favorites]

I agree with Slap*Happy with the caveat that such discussion stay away from assuming what we don't know.

We KNOW the probable gun type, the number of injured or slain, we are beggining to know the aftermath.

We DON'T KNOW his motivations, his politics, how he got his weapon, his mental state, etc.
posted by nile_red at 4:55 AM on July 20, 2012

This is not what Metatalk is for.
posted by 3.2.3 at 4:55 AM on July 20, 2012 [2 favorites]

I would be willing to bet cash money that in the coming weeks we see more hand-wringing over the violence of movies or comicbooks than the availability of firearms or body armor.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 4:56 AM on July 20, 2012 [16 favorites]

Yeah, I don't really get why that discussion is a derail in a thread about a shooting.
posted by OmieWise at 4:58 AM on July 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

I don't think this post is going to work in the way you want it to, Jacqueline, and will really just mean two different busy, probably difficult places for moderators to try to keep up with. I understand the effort, but it's really not a Metatalk thing per se, and is not going to channel all the gun control conversation from that thread. I'm going to go ahead and close this one.
posted by taz (staff) at 4:58 AM on July 20, 2012 [1 favorite]