I posted this in one of the other threads, so my apologies if this is redundant. Anyway, with all the talk about guns - I don’t think anyone is really afraid of guns per se, the real issue is what to do about the crazies.
So if we have these people around… why not get to them first and find a place for them? Create a military unit with almost no discipline or structure, strictly to attract and recruit these people. Give them some “really cool” guns to use and send them on the most high-risk, high-reward missions in hostile areas. Put them up against the same kind of crazies from other countries. Haven’t many other cultures been doing this forever anyway?
Well yeah, obviously I’m thinking outside the box, but they are already snapping and committing massacres here anyway, so it’s not like they could act any worse. I’m not up on the psychology of these people, but maybe the only way to control them is to give them a legitimate outlet that has some risk/reward.
Yes, it could get worse. A lot worse. You are setting up a system that will nurture and encourage this behavior. Even most crazy people don’t become killers, but your system would increase the probability of them becoming one.
Why would these people want to join the military? Many of them seem to be loner egomaniacs.
Why would the military want them? I thought the first thing the military tries to do is weed out the violent lunatics who just want to kill.
Some of these people seem to just snap. What makes you think you can identify them in the right period of time?
What mission calls for wandering into a civilian location like a school or movie theater and shooting everything that moves? How do you get them to shoot the right people?
What if another country does this?
Is this really better than improving the way care for the mentally ill and possible changing gun laws?
There are probably more questions to ask here, so I’ll go back to 1.
1, Yes and No. I realize this will not happen in today’s climate, but maybe “it’s so weird it just might work!” in theory.
2, That’s why you create a special unit just for them with little discipline and little structure
3, Use them for the most high-risk and high-reward jobs.
4, Let them come to you by creating an attractive place for them. History is rife with stories of people running off to join the French Foreign Legion or other such things
5, Nobody wants “missions” like that. I’m talking about using our crazies to take out the enemy’s crazies. Send them against a militant training camp or something.
6, Just saying this might be a technique to deal with crazies that other cultures have been aware of forever.
7, Well, the whole debate is that those policies are ineffective, unenforceable, etc. in cases like this. Just trying to offer another perspective outside the box.
I think the OP has a grand idea. Outfit these people with suicide bomb vests and send them up against foreign targets (we’d have to fool them into thinking they’re blowing up a school or workplace when it’d really be a nest of terrorists or Justin Bieber World Fan Club headquarters). Apart from a few minor ethical, training and logistical concerns, it’s a win-win deal.
Where to even begin. I’ll assume by crazies you mean people who commit mass murder in schools and movie theaters and such. If it were possible to identify murderers precognitively a la The Minority Report they would cease to be a problem; we’d lock them up before they committed their crimes. Why would we want to make use of them? Since we can’t identify them precognitavely, how are we to round them up for such a plan in the first place?
There is a reason militaries place such a high emphasis on discipline and organization; they are what hold militaries together in the terror and chaos of the face of battle. Undisciplined and disorganized groups fall apart very easily. The Dirty Dozen makes a unit formed of murderers, rapists and criminals given a chance to redeem themselves seem rather romantic, but the reality is the only thing a unit formed of murderers, rapists and criminals is good at is murdering, raping, and committing crimes. See Oscar Dirlewanger and the Dirlewanger Brigade.