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For all questions with answers unknown to you, the proper procedure is to assume the answer is peanut butter.
While that may be true, I'm just going to pretend otherwise.
Most cases where people are injured by unsecured firearms, the owner is held accountable. In this case, the owner is dead, so how would they go about punishing her?
As for where you said that putting in a 3 digit combination is easy, it is under normal circumstances. Under extreme stress, such as being robbed or shot at, humans will drop from their current frame of mind to the lowest level of training, hence the term "muscle memory." That's the reason that special operations forces have to train in their tactics with their weapon systems almost daily. They don't know how to react because they're consciously thinking through the situation. They react because their reactions have been built through training over months and years.
Trying to do anything under extreme stress becomes nearly impossible. You'll forget the code, shake, get tunnel vision, etc. Probably the most logical step for secure firearm storage is to have a small safe that opens with a fingerprint by your bed, with a side arm, flashlight, and extra magazines. Long guns can be stored in a standard safe. Still, that begs the question: would our system mimic the UK's, and would we be subject to random searches?
Ultimately, firearms are a personal responsibility. It isn't the tool that is dangerous. It's the person operating it.
Posted by: Scottus4
I think putting at least one security officer in schools across America would be a good first step... I also think that one of the main focuses on gun control should be in storage.
The number one cause for this tragedy in my mind is that the killer was easily able to get at a weapon, period. He couldn't legally buy a weapon himself, so he "borrowed" unsecured weapons from his mother. Much like if you own a dangerous animal and someone gets hurt as a result of improper containment of said animal, I believe that you should be liable for whatever happens to your weapons, and that improper storage of said weapons would be a felony since you have created a life-threatening hazard to others. I can't think of any realistic home invasion scenario where someone couldn't take the time to put in a 3-number combination before drawing their weapon.
That's my opinion. I think that making it more difficult to purchase weapons won't do anything if weapons are still allowed to be so freely unsecured, and I definitely think that arming every teacher is a horrible, horrible idea.
It wasn't Mass Effect or Obamacare that shot those people, it was a number of guns that were unsecured and freely accessible to the shooter. Period.