Just a public service announcement. Lots of people get killed by guns in this country. Please don’t contribute to the problem. Don’t point a gun at yourself and pull the trigger- ask for help if that is your plan, people WILL help you deal with that if you put even minimal effort into asking. If you are Hitler reincarnated and you are contemplating suicide, well ok, but even then, at least run it past some counselor first.
But aside from that, maybe you are a cop who can skip shooting the next unarmed black person. Maybe you are a Mexican drug dealer (in Mexico!) who can refrain from shooting at least one person.
If you can justifiably avoid shooting somebody at least once in your life, do it. You will score moral points, no matter what else you have done.
Never point a gun at anything you do not wish to destroy.
This is a debate?
I strongly suspect that the people who actually DO shoot other people fully intend to destroy their targets.
Now: your anti-suicide message is a separate issue. Your concern is touching, if way out of the normal bounds of polite discourse. You do not have the right to over-ride another’s decision.
So you are presenting the controversial argument that murdering people is bad? That is a daring position to adopt, but I doubt it will get much traction amongst any segment of society.
Seriously, is there a debate here? Is there even any witnessing? Does any sane person think that you *should *shoot people for no reason? You’ve presented a gold plated motherhood statement.
I might also add that if Black people stopped shooting unarmed Black people, that would prevent far more shootings than anything cops could do.
And here are people in the US who will help you if you want to end your life if you just ask? Really? Who are they? And why is that necessarily better than shooting yourself?
And why do you end your post with a bait and switch. You start out talking about shooting people for no reason. Then you close with “justifiably avoid shooting somebody”. That makes no sense. Many soldiers can justifiably avoid shooting someone, that doesn’t score them moral points. Unless you adopt a standard of justifiable that means “with no negative moral consequences”, in which case it’s a bland tautology: if you can avoid shooting someone under circumstances with no negative moral consequences, then you will score moral point. Well, yeah. And if you can avoid going into the ocean you won’t get wet.
The only ones who don’t pause at killing people are psychos. And you left those out. Flippancy aside, shooting to kill as a last resort is almost universal among armed services. The same would be true for individuals who had accredited formal training. There’s nothing wrong with reminding everyone of this rule, but I suspect it will not significantly reduce shootings, lawful or otherwise, intentional or otherwise.
I’m not really sure what the point is you’re getting at. The overwhelming majority of people never even point a weapon at another person, much less do so with malicious intent. I know plenty of people that own guns, and not one of them has ever had to actually use it directly for self-defense; by that I mean brandish or fire as opposed to simply carry or own.
And for those with malicious intent, whether it be because they’re power hungry or bigoted or criminals, I’m not sure what this sort of plea would really mean to them. People who would use violence to these ends aren’t likely to be persuaded by this. After all, many of them see others as inferior or, worse, less than human, so killing them isn’t a big deal or even a net benefit, in their minds.
As for the suicide portion, yes, it’s always good to remind people to seek help, but I’m not sure a broad approach has much effect either. Do you know someone struggling with depression or suicidal thoughts? If so, make the effort to have a personal connection with them, and convince them to get help. They’re often desperately seeking some kind of connection with another person, and a generic “suicide is bad” just does seem like it would do much to make them think twice. Further, even if one does believe one is Hitler reborn, that’s no excuse, all the more reason to seek help, because they’re obviously sick in the head.
I’m taking the other side. I think people have to shoot as many people as possible. What is the point of having guns if not to kill other people? If everybody had a gun and we did it just right everyone could kill someone and be killed all at the same time. Aren’t we always looking for people to come together, to put aside their differences and act towards a common goal? Well this could be it.
100,000 guns used in violence per year …
299,900,000 guns not used in violence per year …
If you’re having thoughts of suicide, please seek help in the Real World, don’t let your internet friends know … and please for God’s sake don’t post here on SDMB about it … you’ll get the wrong kind of help [giggle] …
See! This is the problem, guns don’t discriminate, they kill people from every walk of life. Why do people like you have insert your hateful views into a wonderful concept like everyone killing each other? If you can’t kill people with a blind eye to their ethnicity, religion, or social status then you don’t deserve to kill anyone.
That’s one way of putting it. It comes down to this: I’ve thought about America’s gun violence problem and what to do about it, and I can’t think of a solution at all. Ok, background checks, but that will only do so much. I’m reduced to asking people not to shoot others.
Some people need to get shot- think war. It can be justified, but usually isn’t and we’d all be better off if everyone would just refrain from those instances.
