The US doesn't have a disproportionate share of mental health issues, or disaffected young men, or anything else that will be scapegoated this morning. We just have way too many guns. We can deal with that, or we can keep living in fear. Everything else is horrible, terrible, frightening noise.
@SeanCasten It isn't 'just' a mental health issue, but the R's did vote to make it easier for people with mental health issues to get guns, and harder to get treatment. They clearly want people who might be susceptible to acting on antisocial impulses to get guns and act on those impulses.
Oct 16, 2026, 5:59 PM@maccruiskeen @SeanCasten A guy I argue with scoffs at the idea of gun control, saying it has never worked (has it ever really been tried?) I've had it with these "law-abiding gun owners" who are OK with the status quo, or blame everything on "the gangs."
@KateConnors @maccruiskeen @SeanCasten
The idea of "gun control" is a myth.
For example, Luigi Mangione made his own gun.
I think it's pretty clear that he had psychological problems.
He might have been able to get treatment too, if he didn't need to deal with an insurance company that made its money by denying claims.
That he killed its CEO just oozes with poetic justice.
"We Made Luigi Mangione’s 3D-Printed Gun—and Fired It
In the wake of Luigi Mangione’s alleged killing of a health care CEO with a partially 3D-printed pistol, we built and tested the exact same model of weapon ourselves. And it was entirely legal."
by Andy Greenberg
May 19, 2025 6:00 AM
https://www.wired.com/story/luigi-mangione-ghost-gun-built-tested/
Oct 17, 2026, 5:01 AM@johnlogic @maccruiskeen @SeanCasten So we're all just f*cked, is that it? Unless we all get guns?
@KateConnors @maccruiskeen @SeanCasten
We're screwed if we accept and normalize violence.
The key is telling each other that violence isn't how we are supposed to address our disagreements.
Plenty of places are violent even without guns.
Oct 17, 2026, 6:02 AM@johnlogic @maccruiskeen @SeanCasten I wonder how many gun owners subscribe to that thinking. But, OK for a start.
@KateConnors @maccruiskeen @SeanCasten
I think that surprisingly many gun owners abhor violence.
Some I've met who get guns for self-protection are part of groups that are often victimized, such as women, ethnic/racial minorities, LGBT etc.; I admire the advocacy group Pink Pistols.
@SeanCasten It's not the people who have the most to fear who drive US gun nut culture. It's specifically the most racist people doing this, going back to the #MAGA era of genocide, slavery & apartheid. If you want to go around being an a$$hole, you have to be a gun nut to avoid getting killed immediately.