I just finished reading On Killing by Dave Grossman yesterday. I highly reccomend it to anyone involved in martial arts. In the early sections he goes through some interesting stuff about the parts of the brain and how they react in terms of learning and conditioning that is very relevant to anyone involved in teaching people to survive a violent attack.
But the bulk of the book is about how people can be conditioned to overcome their natural reluctance to take another's life. And the last part is devoted to the impact on society as a whole.
He points out that people are worried now about kids bringing guns to school. But kids have always lived around guns. There were more guns in the homes of kids in the past, and yet it is only now that we are so worried about the problem that we are putting metal detectors at the entrances to school.
He says the question is not where kids are getting the guns, but why now they are doing things prior generations would not.
I can't condense a 300+ page book here, so I really think people should get the book. But his co-author on his later book, Loren Christianson (who is registered here BTW) wrote the following piece that kind of deals with a lot of the same points.
http://www.lwcbooks.com/articles/Kidskillarticle.html
Read the above article and ask yourself what we would need to do to change the situation. Some of what he writes about has a bearing on the first ammendment. Can you imagine the ruckus that would explode if any politician dared to try to take on some of these things in a meaningfull manner? I myself would have a huge problem with the idea.
Grossman also points out all the other factors that makes American society so prone to violence now as compared to in the past. We have increased the amount of people behind bars about four times since the 70s and that seems to be the only reason the figures are actually not that bad. The worst offenders are out of circulation for now.
People in this thread have tried to point to Japan as a country that does not have guns and has less murders by guns. They try to say that a lack of guns means less gun violence. But you don't have to worry about things like people trying to attack you with a knife in comparison to the US. How does a lack of guns explain the lower number across the board of violent crimes? It doesn't. There are a lot of factors involved in the problem. And any US politician that tries to even bring up some of them will get raped in the media and have to find a new job.
You want an example? I can tell you that in Japan the norm is that a woman stops working and stays at home after she has child. Contrast that with America. Do you think that people are going to sit still while someone even tries to raise the issue of there maybe being a link?
Oh, and the cultural thing with some sub cultures of America is just another death trap for anyone willing to touch it. You would be called a racist as if it were fact even if you are a member of that race.
And can a politician really show to the voters that he has done something against violence and school shootings by tackling all the various issues that really have an impact?
So instead of dealing with all the numerous factors that make up the situation, the best route for the politicians to do after yet another school shooting is to require having a trigger lock sold with firearms. Gee, I feel so safe.
But the bulk of the book is about how people can be conditioned to overcome their natural reluctance to take another's life. And the last part is devoted to the impact on society as a whole.
He points out that people are worried now about kids bringing guns to school. But kids have always lived around guns. There were more guns in the homes of kids in the past, and yet it is only now that we are so worried about the problem that we are putting metal detectors at the entrances to school.
He says the question is not where kids are getting the guns, but why now they are doing things prior generations would not.
I can't condense a 300+ page book here, so I really think people should get the book. But his co-author on his later book, Loren Christianson (who is registered here BTW) wrote the following piece that kind of deals with a lot of the same points.
http://www.lwcbooks.com/articles/Kidskillarticle.html
Read the above article and ask yourself what we would need to do to change the situation. Some of what he writes about has a bearing on the first ammendment. Can you imagine the ruckus that would explode if any politician dared to try to take on some of these things in a meaningfull manner? I myself would have a huge problem with the idea.
Grossman also points out all the other factors that makes American society so prone to violence now as compared to in the past. We have increased the amount of people behind bars about four times since the 70s and that seems to be the only reason the figures are actually not that bad. The worst offenders are out of circulation for now.
People in this thread have tried to point to Japan as a country that does not have guns and has less murders by guns. They try to say that a lack of guns means less gun violence. But you don't have to worry about things like people trying to attack you with a knife in comparison to the US. How does a lack of guns explain the lower number across the board of violent crimes? It doesn't. There are a lot of factors involved in the problem. And any US politician that tries to even bring up some of them will get raped in the media and have to find a new job.
You want an example? I can tell you that in Japan the norm is that a woman stops working and stays at home after she has child. Contrast that with America. Do you think that people are going to sit still while someone even tries to raise the issue of there maybe being a link?
Oh, and the cultural thing with some sub cultures of America is just another death trap for anyone willing to touch it. You would be called a racist as if it were fact even if you are a member of that race.
And can a politician really show to the voters that he has done something against violence and school shootings by tackling all the various issues that really have an impact?
So instead of dealing with all the numerous factors that make up the situation, the best route for the politicians to do after yet another school shooting is to require having a trigger lock sold with firearms. Gee, I feel so safe.
