Weapons manufacturers target crazies and extremists like big tobacco targeted children for years.

@kimberly Which communists?

@kimberly 🙄

@Quetzalcoatlus Oh you know, those evil "Communists" who want to prevent children from being shot 😖

@Heartlander

In Northeastern Nevada, where I grew up, my high school classmates always had shotguns in their pick up trucks too. However, never saw one assault rifle. And every one of those 'kids' were taught how to use them, care for them, in hunter safety classes. You could not buy an assault rifle. Now, we are saturated with assault rifles, we weren't back then. There wasn't 'dark money' from the NRA as much as there is today. We didn't have the stress that these kids today have either. You and all of your classmates, me and all of my classmates grew up and had children, some gave guns to their kids, some didn't. Some were taught properly, some weren't. But, we did not have as much access to guns as there is now.

@WalksWith at my high school, guys had rifles on display in racks inside their trucks. No one ever even brandished their firearm at someone at school, let alone shoot anyone. All that was pre-Columbine. Things changed since then. But here's the thing...no one had assault rifles then, nor do they have them now. Assault rifles are mid-powered, centerfire arms with select fire capabilities. Assault rifles are machine guns, and are heavily regulated by the gov't. You cannot purchase one manufactured after 1986. In the event you are able to pass the feds background check and qualify for the tax stamp allowing you to purchase such a firearm, a Viet Nam era M-16 will set you back $30K or more. Very few people own them...typically very wealthy collectors. Though, there are cartel members with some pretty nasty firepower, but they aren't getting their guns legally. The AR-15 you are referring to is not assault rifle. It's a magazine fed semi-automatic firearm. It's been available to the public since 1963, and the semi-automatic technology, of which 75% of the 400 million firearms in the US operate, is more than 100 years old. Regulations around gun ownership are more stringent today than they were in 1963, so access isn't the issue. It's always been there, with the exception of the ban between 1994 and 2004. On April 20th, 1999...Columbine changed things for the worse. It should be noted, that mass shooting occurred during the "Assault Weapons Ban" Dylan Klebold used a ban compliant Highpoint 995 and 10 round magazines. He fired 96 rounds before turning a gun on himself. The worst school mass shooting in US history was perpetrated by the Virginia Tech shooter, Seung-Hui Cho, who used a Glock 19, 9mm handgun to slaughter 32 innocent people before turning the gun on himself. He fired 170 rounds, emptying 17 magazines. Both cases highlight the point that the type of firearm is irrelevant. Each of the weapons used to murder these students are semi-automatic and all function the same way. What makes these shootings so lethal is the victims are trapped. They can't run. They can't hide. Fighting back is practically suicidal. And it's not exactly in our nature as humans to charge at someone with a gun when we're unarmed.