Quote:
|
...but we as a society can't act like adults so until we can, things like background checks need to be implemented.
|
So say many today. I disagree. And I disagree simply because I can read history. Though, apparently, I understand it differently than many people.
Consider this historical fact,
The St. Valentine's Day Massacre
Fed 14 1929
Made the history books, for the huge number of people killed.
7
SEVEN, and all members of or affiliated with a criminal gang.
Weapons used, two (2) Thompson SUBMACHINE GUNS and two shotguns.
This happened at a time when there were no background checks, no federal prohibited persons no FFL dealers, no records requirements other than perhaps a sales receipt. ANYONE with the cash could buy a machine gun, and walk out the store with it, or have it mailed to their door.
High Capacity magazines (20, 30, 50, and even 100 rounds) existed. FULL AUTOMATIC as well as semi auto existed. There were NO Federal regulations or restrictions on them until 1934, and the NFA only restricted full auto, "sawed off" weapons, and "silencers", not semi autos.
SO, arguments about how these things are a modern phenomena are bogus.
What is a modern phenomena is people's willingness to shoot other people.
Why might that be? Are we fundamentally so different from our forefathers? I don't think WE are but I think society's values have clearly changed.
One thing that HAS changed is the punishment for murder. Compared to even 50years ago, execution for murder is rare, and even when it is done, it is usually years (if not decades) AFTER conviction.
This wasn't the case in earlier times. The gas chamber and the electric chair (and other methods, including hanging) were regularly used, and it might be only weeks, or perhaps a few months until they were. Punishment was considered to be real, and PERMANENT.
Even if a killer escaped the death penalty, they usually spent their remaining life behind bars. There was no 7 years and out with good behavior on a 20 to life sentence. Today, there is.
Another thing that didn't exist back in the Roaring 20s, was constant exposure to people being shot, for hours a day, and 24/7 over the last few decades. People, if well off enough, might go to the movies once a week, and see people being shot for an hour or an hour and a half. The rest of their lives, unless personally exposed to violence, didn't consist of constant "training films" showing how everyone, bad guys and good guys, solved their problems by shooting each other.
I doesn't take endless studies by learned folk to recognize a basic fact, that repeated exposure to anything (not immediately lethal) builds up a tolerance.
Might that not have a bearing on where we are today? I think it does.