[Buffalo Bob]

A topic that seems to have no middle ground. It seems like most are dug in and won't budge. 40 years ago when mass shootings were rare, that is when I turned 18 and bought my first gun, a 357 magnum. Went in to a Big 5 sporting goods, picked one out of the case, handed over the cash, showed my driver's license, signed by my name and address in a book and gave a thumb print. Out the door with a handgun and a couple 100 rounds of ammunition in less than 10 minutes. That was in California to boot.

Guns are much harder to come by now yet mass shootings are common place, and suicides by young people are way up from decades ago. Probably a little bit of everything is causing it, but it isn't the gun, they have been around for centuries. I would look toward mental health as a big issue, back in the day when suicides were lower and mass shootings were rare you didn't have every other kid diagnosed with ADHD and medicated. I have known people who had 3 kids that were all on pills. I noticed people blame bullying a lot, bullies have been around longer than guns.

The difference in gun and hunting laws between California and Virginia is night and day, California became more and more restrictive as the decades passed. In California you can't even legally kill a rattlesnake that is on your property. In Caroline County Va you can pretty much kill anything on your property that isn't human if it can be considered a pest. My neighbor called the county and said there was a beaver that was damning up a nearby creek which flooded his garden. the guy who answered the phone asked my neighbor if he owned a rifle. Considering the night and day difference between California and Virginia gun laws, the rate of crimes committed by guns are very similar. In California even a private party gun sale has to be brokered through a licensed dealer and held for a waiting period. In Virginia I can meet someone in a parking lot and if they have a state I.D. sell them a gun on the spot.

I think the only gun laws that could lower homicides is a nation wide red flag law, but most people on the right are dead set against that. Wide spread stop and frisk would catch a lot of ex-felons with guns that should not have them, most people are against that. Some people just think government agencies will abuse any extra power they get. Pretty sure cops will be stop and frisking known gang bangers and people suspected of selling drugs, not frisking people leaving church on Sunday.