There are no problems with guns.
The problem is the heart of man.

I tend to agree with your assessment.

I just watched the local news and:

1. How did this 7th grader obtain two hand guns??????????????????

2. What has effected our children and grand children that they are shooting each other?

I have my opinions but not ready to say I think they are accurate.

If some of these people are mentally unstable, why? Why are more pills popped for these things now than ever before? Why is having a therapist fashionable in america? Why are steroids put in food that people in poor areas buy, but not more well off areas? Why do poor areas have more liquor, drug and gun stores? This food causes puberty to occur earlier, puberty and peer pressure is hard enough, without having to deal with it at a younger age, in a tough neighborhood where maybe the only way to afford a fashionable pair of sneakers is to get jumped into a gang, you thought was cool at the time. By the time your 20, you've changed your mind but your stuck.

The prohibition of drugs is key I feel. The war on drugs will never be won and is a ridiculous notion. Its just a negative suggestion. Stop smoking signs have been proved to make people want to smoke

See that's where I think you are wrong.
If your opinions matter to you who's place is it to assign their validity.
I would very much like to read your thoughts on it...

Some valid points but I don't think the problem lies in drug control to control gun violence. While effective drug control may curb some of the gun violence the problem is much deeper.
If every single mass shooter were under the influence of drugs it may be significant but, they're not.
Mental instability isn't even an encompassing factor in gun violence.
Right now, the only encompassing factor in gun violence is the fact that it is committed with a gun.
That is why gun control is such a hot topic.
Guns are the predominant reoccurring fact.
The solution doesn't lie in controlling guns, it lies in figuring out how to keep the gun bearer from pulling the trigger.
One side says if you remove guns from the trigger, there will be no trigger to pull but we all know that violence happens without guns.
The real issue at hand is to figure out and stop the violent tendencies that cause the trigger to be pulled in the first place. That is a complicated endeavor mainly because the human mind is a complicated thing.

Thoughts:

1. Our entertainment is based on sex and violence. Forty years ago I said that as these two items become more predominant not only will our morals and ethics go down but we will become so use to them that we will become immune to the real thing when it happens in society. I'm of the 60's generation. Free love (sex) was something my generation desired but it was, more or less, kept in the back room. Our decedents now consider it their absolute right no matter how it hurts marriage,society children from unwanted pregnancies or themself.

2. As technology progresses video ha been able to accurately simulate what it looks like when a person is shot by a weapon. Blood, skin, clothing, etc, is seen being ejected just as it is when a person is really shot. We (especially those under 30) have become desensitised to killing and murder. All the younger generation has ever known is violent video games, music, movies and a legal system has given the entertainment industry the right to proceed. No matter what the outcome. The RIGHTS of Hollywood (to make money this way) are embedded in concrete. Lawyers and judges could care less how it effects society as a whole. Notice that as entertainment becomes more graphically violent it don't take long for the audience to get bored with the level of sex and violence they've gotten use to. So new innovative ways are devised to display sex and violence in even more debase ways both visually and psychologically.

3. When parts of society protest they are verbally mocked, abused and labelled as Nazi's trying to control their rights. Unfortunately it doesn't surprise me that most of these shooters are 30 and younger. It's all they know. Entertainment is what has taught them their ethics, morals and conflict resolution techniques. When parents attempt to intervene some have been taken to court by Child Protection Services or the ACLU. Parents are, either, caught up in this trend or they are afraid to say no to their children because of the courts and societal pressure.

4.Unfortunately I feel things will have to become significantly worse until the courts, politicians, etc, will decide to do anything. The problem is when this stage comes the pendulum will swing way to far the other direction. Constitutional rights will be sacrificed. We can see this already beginning to happen. A month ago several politicians and high level court judges suggesting eliminating the 2nd amendment. We say it can't happen here but then Germans said the same thing in the late 20's. This trend has been slowly forced on the American people but it's happened so slowly that no one thought we'd be where we are now. For the life of me, when I was 18 (1969) never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that we would be where we are today.

5. The Boiling Frog. The boiling frog is a fable describing a frog being slowly boiled alive. The premise is that if a frog is put suddenly into boiling water, it will jump out, but if the frog is put in cool water which is then brought to a boil slowly, it will not perceive the danger and will be cooked to death. The story is often used as a metaphor for the inability or unwillingness of people to react to or be aware of threats that arise gradually.

Our society is in hot water now and can't/won't perceive it or feel powerless to do anything. I sincerely hope we wake up before number 5 happens. Personally our nation needs a spiritual awakening: not forced religion but something that will change the hearts of our people. At the end of the 18th century both France and England were going though social revolutions. England had a spiritual awakening which prevented a major revolution. France did not and we all know the history of the French Revolution.

Thank you

Y'know, people balk at a spiritual awakening but when religion was important, parents found the time to teach their children.
Do we need religion to make us social or can we find that on our own?
It doesn't seem like we can.
Problem is, the parents now are the children of the old ways.
Religion breeds contempt. Especially forced religion.
Perhaps the parents of today need to adopt the values of their parents but without causing the contempt.
How that might be accomplished is anybody's guess.

I'm sure the value of good parenting will need to be reinforced in our current media-overload exposure. How do we convince big business that it can be profitable to their bottom line?

How do we cause a whole generation to find parents cool?

Why do richer countries import and consume most of the drugs, which generally come from poorer countries. Is it just a form of economical and psychological control. Mass shooters may not be on drugs, but if 80 % of gun crime is drug related, then legalise them and free resources for other issue's, or would that mean poorer countrys would get a fairer price for their produce
In the end unfortunately it all boils down to economics. We were encouraged to stop using plastic bags from shops as they are bad for the environment, few did. Then they started charging 5p for them, practically overnight the usage of them halved. Whilst I'm pleased they are used less, I wonder what this says about people, when economics not the environment is their motivating factor. Too much money changes through too many hands for drugs to be legalized, thus gun crime will continue. It helps people control others while shifting the focus away from themselves onto others thus helping them tighten their grip on power.
Also regarding these mass shooters, I wonder if any of them are Manchurian candidates like mark Chapman, who shot poor old john lennon, or siran siran

I worked for a manufacturing firm for 35 years. The fastest way to get their attention is through their bottom line.

If people stopped buying drugs illegally the drug black market would dry up.

If people stopped watching sex/violent filled movies Hollywierd's profits would plummet and they'd scramble to produce an acceptable format.

Unfortunately it seems our countries people don't have the backbone or desire yet to go there.

As I stated previously a spiritual awakening is something that has to happen willingly. FORCED RELIGION never works and I say this as a firm Christian believer. A spiritual awakening has to change the hearts and minds of the people. This is where the American church has failed society.

The attitude of our nation is such that Godly spiritual intervention seems to be the only hope. History is repeating itself as it always has and (most likely) always will.

Great empires usually fall from within.

I admire your views but I'm not sure its the answer. That old saying that religion and politics cause more wars and arguments than anything else. Simple reciprocity, would be fine, I always took this as meaning do unto others as thou would have them do unto you. Or maybe smite, I always thought this was a bad thing, but apparently it means pretty much the same thing, cross like for like, good for good and bad for bad, which is kinda karmic.

No offense but the god squad I find are far too divided and divisive, everyone has the answer. And as for spiritual awakening, well we used to burn witches. Epiphany is one of the biggest things that will get you thrown into a mental institution

Makes me think of that smiths song,bigmouth strikes again

As the flames rose, to her roman nose
And her Walkman, started to melt
Now I know how Joan of arc felt

Forced religion (as practiced by Roman Catholicism during the middle ages) never produced spiritual awakening. It only produced fear. As is so common in history, history records are written by the conquerors and not the conquered.So many spiritual awakenings were persecuted and destroyed by Roman Catholicism.

It's sad that biblical Christianity is lumped together with religious institutions that do not practice the teachings of scripture:

“I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”

― Mahatma Gandhi

So unfortunate that the world chooses to focus on the man made organizations that sacrifice scripture for power and material gain:

... the venerable theologian Thomas Aquinas once visited Pope Innocent II at his palace in Rome. Aquinas was stunned by the opulence. The Pope was counting out a rather large mound of gold coins and turned to Aquinas and glibly quipped, “You see, Thomas, the Church can no longer say, ‘Silver and gold have I none.'” To this Thomas solemnly replied, “True, holy father, neither can she now say, ‘Rise and walk.'”

One is man's religion the other is true Christianity.

Aa, maybe, but what about, polytheism, or is that unchristian

I just watched the trailer for the latest Muppet movie (may 27, 2018):

THE HAPPYTIME MURDERS

There is a small qualifier up front about "The Muppet audience 30 years later". However, one wonders how many children will end up seeing this violent movie with scenes of guns being fired at Muppet characters? Muppet heads being blown off.

And we wonder why our children are becoming so violent.

I can hear Kermit weeping on his lily pad, singing rainbow connection

We are teaching that standards should be rejected in favor of everyone living by their own subjective boundaries and rules ...

there is only so much materialism and egotism that a 'society' can stand before it turns to chaos instead of community.

Not the order out of chaos quote.

fortunately no quote, just a personal opinion