[Oni]

This kid was clearly troubled and the government had plenty of time to stop him before this happened. California has atrocious laws regarding mental health and they were given F's in 4 out of 5 categories by the Treatment Advocacy Center. It's clear he had mental issues that went unaddressed. He should have been involuntarily admitted somewhere. Clearly California needs to work on its mental health laws and not their gun laws.

Unfortunately, these shootings are used as fodder for gun control advocates, even though they don't account for a fraction of the murders committed in a year. Stupidly enough, you hear about them the most. In 2012, Disaster Center shows there were 1,884 murders in California. Compare 7 to 1,884. That's in California, from a mentally ill kid. There was a Harvard study (link) that examined international statistics between different countries. The conclusion was that there isn't a direct correlation between more gun ownership and violent crime. As much as some people would like to believe, it's not that simple.

If he had been admitted somewhere, 6 people would still be alive. The last mass murder there, 13 years ago, wasn't even committed with a gun. It was committed with a car. If people truly want mass shootings like these to stop, they need to stop worrying about guns, and worry more about mental health. It’s not as simple as just banning guns, as 130-210 million guns don’t just vanish. We’d still have violent crime and they would still be obtainable for people as determined as Rodgers.

@Duubz I see, that's quite a lot of apathy. I'm not really trying to cast a negative light on you or anything, just trying to get a better understanding of things. So you don't value human life as high in regards to others, is that right?


In my personal opinion, I'd rather let the criminal in question rot away in prison for the rest of his life; the fact that they have to sit in a small square box behind bars with nothing left but their thoughts and regrets (if any) seems more anguishing than just having their life end just like that. Let whatever happens, happens, inside that prison, whether they takes their own life, some vigilante inside does it for them, or they deteriorate away in a cell.

Do you know how much it costs to keep a criminal alive and well for that long? A lot of money. I don't believe in the death penalty, but I would argue it's more efficient. You're going to take away that person's life as they know it. They are going to have their rights taken and be forced to live in a cage the rest of their life. One is not much better than the other, but one certainly costs a hell of a lot more.