When you expect the police to save your butt during a mass shooting and they don’t.

@RedBaron No one has "forgotten" but that was just a bunch of black people who got killed, "think of the children" first and foremost, of course! 😥

@spjennifer Doesn't matter who the victims were. It's just the news cycle. People will forget about this one within maybe 10 days when the next crisis or other story comes along.

Every time one of these shootings occur, people get all worked up for about a week, wringing hands about gun laws and such, but nothing is done or even initiated. Then they go back to sleep until the next one happens. They get freshly worked up, wringing hands about gun laws and such, but nothing is done or even initiated. Then they go back to sleep again. The cycle repeats over and over and over and over and over and over again. Nothing ever gets done, though there may be nothing that can be done, and that's scary. To give two examples, here we are, almost 10 years since Sandy Hook Elementary School and 23 years since Columbine High School, and nothing has changed.

@RedBaron Agreed and that is the saddest thing, nothing ever gets done, but we have to ask ourselves why, when 80-90% of our adult population, including most gun owners agree that some things can be done such as Background checks and red flag checks, has nothing been done yet?

@spjennifer I believe background checks are required, but that's only for legal sales. None of that on the black market, which is illegal to begin with. Illegal sales can't be regulated or stopped.

@RedBaron Not in Texass they aren't required, only need to be 18. Gov. Abbott banned all that last year and was so proud to announce it to all! Most sales at gun shows don't require it either😖

@spjennifer But anyone intent on shooting a bunch of people isn't concerned with laws or background checks. They're just as likely to get guns on the black market, so that wouldn't change anything. Also, how do you know any particular gun is bought in the state where it's used?

@spjennifer If the seller is a licensed dealer then yes a background check is required regardless of where the sale takes place.

If the seller is not a licensed dealer then no background check is required (nor can they even if they wanted to) regardless of where the sale takes place.

Once upon a time it was easier to get a dealers license than it is now and I'm quiet sure there were a lot of people selling guns as a hobby or a side business and those people were required to go through all the paperwork and background checks any other licensed dealer was required to. One of our past presidents, I forget which one (I'm thinking Clinton) "fixed" that and made it more difficult to become a licensed dealer. If I had to guess, some of those part time dealers kept selling guns on the side after they were no longer licensed but now they can no longer, nor are they required to perform background checks. I don't know that that is necessarily a problem, just pointing out that if it had not been for that particular president "fixing" something that wasn't broke more of the gun sales taking place would require background checks than they are currently.

@robb65 Perhaps I misunderstood the info I read but that must have been some background check for the kid to be able to walk in on his birthday and walk out with an AR15 and then 2 days later buy another one??? Teachers or anyone who works with children must undergo a pretty stringent verification but an 18 year old kid can walk out of a gun store within minutes with an AR15, tells us what our priorities are doesn't it... 😖

@spjennifer How do we know how he actually obtained the gun?

@RedBaron They know where he bought them and all they have to do is look at the federal from on file at that gun shop. I imagine he had no criminal history and passed a background check or he would not have been able to buy them.

@spjennifer There would have been background checks for both guns, but if he passed the first one there would be no reason to believe he wouldn't have passed the second. He could have just as easily bought both guns at once with the same background check, but if he had passed and five minutes later found another gun he wanted he would have had to start all over with a separate check and another background check.
If he had ever done anything that could have prevented him from owning a gun it "should have" caught it. He was only 18, it's possible he had never done anything to prevent him from owning a gun. It's also possible he had done something but whatever law agency involved looked the other way and didn't report it. If there's no record there's no record to be found no matter how close you look. Everything is digital, IF he did something and IF it was reported the record is there and it only takes minutes to find.

Even in Chicago where an actual license is required to buy a gun there have been cases where a felon managed to slip through the cracks because someone didn't report something properly. I'm remembering a specific case, as I remember it there were multiple points in the process where there were problems with the paperwork that should have raised a red flag but no one followed up on it. No matter what system is in place there's always going to be a chance that someone will slip through the cracks because someone failed to do their job.
Another issue with the system is that people who can't pass a background check almost always know they can't before they ever try to purchase a gun. Basically they they commit a felony by lying on the form and then it gets kicked out. These cases are almost never prosecuted. How many of these people keep trying until they find a way to beat the system? It's probably a small number but who knows if it is never looked into. I think this was part of the case I'm remembering from Chicago.

It's hard for me to believe anyone just wakes up one day and decides to shoot their grandmother and then go kill a bunch of kids without there being some previous signs that something wasn't right. Had he even been in any kind of trouble? Had he ever seen any kind of therapist? Was he on any kind of medication or did he have a history of substance abuse? I honestly don't know the answer to those questions. Maybe he had done something that he should have been reported for, and maybe if someone had reported him this would not have happened. At this point we really don't know, and until we do it's hard to figure what changes can be made that will actually make a difference..