Criminal gun violence has always been an issue; that problem isn't new. "Enforcing the existing gun laws" is something that the pro-2nd camp has been arguing for a while now. Laws should target the criminals, not the law-abiding. As well, you need to be more strict over-all with repeat offenders (who are often the ones most likely to commit a gun crime); the problem is this principle conflicts directly with many advocacy efforts to reduce or even eliminate punishment for the so-called "petty" criminals. That part of the problem has a solution; it remains to be seen whether or not the public will force politicians to act on it.
I roll my eyes every time this "issue" is brought up. Not because I believe that firearm safety isn't important; it is important. But by and large, a lack of firearm safety isn't the main reason we are seeing all of this gun violence. Gun safety and education at the local and community level (think clubs, local law enforcement, parents, ect.) is a good thing, and generally-speaking it's being emphasized quite well. I certainly wouldn't mind if schools pitched in and did some safety courses as well, but given the current political environment I don't think certain advocacy groups would be too happy about that.
Mass shootings and gun violence are one in the same. Stat-wise, all the big newspapers like to lump them together into one category (anything more than 3-4 people shot = a mass shooting according to some arbitrary definition) for obvious reasons. I do agree that the criminal motivation and intent for certain lone-wolf shooters and say a gang gunfight may differ, but at the end of the day they're all criminals and need to be treated accordingly. There is no easy answer to this problem.
Firstly, parents and local community reps (teachers, coaches, ect.) need to take responsibility for their kids and supervise their mental and physical health. As it is, we have way too many kids growing up obese and possibly diabetic because parents are too stupid or unwilling to tell them to get off their butts and play. So it shouldn't come as a surprise that certain adolescent teens and young adults are so alienated and anti-social that they are willing to commit a murder spree.
Secondly, the only reason schools are such a big target for mass shootings is because the shooters know that there will be little to no opposition there. You don't hear of many mass shootings at police station or gun convention. Lone-wolf shooters want to make a statement; they're not looking for a fight. Putting armed security (cops, private security, screened CCW holders) in a school would be the most effective way to significantly reduce school shootings. City schools already figured this out a while ago. For some reason politics has dissuaded many suburban schools from following suit.
It's really hard (arguably impossible) to screen and catch every criminal (whether it be a mentally-ill lone-wolf shooter, a religious extremist, or a criminal seeking retribution). It's not very hard to make their intended targets hard so that these would-be attackers go elsewhere or forgo their planned attack all-together.
That last part right there is truly missing from a large part of this ongoing "gun debate." People, especially parents, need to get involved and police their own.
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