Gun Control!

Walking the streets of urban USA is not what I would consider freedom. Far from it.

While you are right about criminals ignoring laws (because punishment laws are not primarily a deterrent, they primarily exist to pay society back for the debt incurred by violations of the social contract), I don't think that increasing enforcement is an effective long-term solution. More enforcement means controlling citizens by fear and fear breeds resentment.

I have NO problem with liberal gun laws. Individuals are ultimately responsible for their own actions. Individual responsibility also means that, as responsible members of our society, we should encourage others not to break the social contract. The best way to do that, in my opinion, is to give them more to lose. -And that doesn't mean increasing punishment or making it more likely that people will be punished. None of that means crap if people don't have much value for their own lives anyway. What it does mean is forcing more ownership and accountability on people from a young age. Giving people something more to lose, perhaps in the form of free, GOOD education (and our education system needs a massive overhaul and rethinking), will give people more to lose in the long term and increase more feelings of responsibility than increasing the funds of enforcement.

If we try to sway the behavior of society with the threat of raw force alone, then we're sending a message that we think our citizens are no better than children. If we trick people into accepting more responsibilities, then they will be more likely to behave like adults.

I agree Chance, with one caveat. It's pretty difficult to access the kids that need this type of education the most. Many of those who engage in criminal activity start quite young and are so far removed from the mainstream that it doesn't take very long before they're out of reach.

It's a very difficult problem to solve, and that frustrates me.

I think the whole damn educational system needs to change. Think about the system we have:

Children, many of whom are latch-key kids with little interaction outside of school, are moved from grade to grade, almost exclusively interacting with kids of the same age and developmental phase, are overseen by adults whose age difference, low pay, and lack of power (school district policies can even take precedence over a teacher's ability to teach) often relegates them to the disconnected position of authoritarian overseer for the recitation of information. Then we expect them to see past all that, see past the 12 key years of emotional, social, and mental development that was restricted to authoritarian social structure, to realize that there's a democratic society that they're supposed TO FEEL RESPONSIBLE FOR?

It's complete nonsense. There's so many alternatives that could be tried, but educational authorities stick to this absurd notion that precedence==right so that they can be sure that their pensions aren't threatened by any crazy changes.

Here's an idea I just thought of right now, for one: Have kids teach other kids. Not all the time, but arrange joint educational projects starting at first grade where once a week kids must tutor kids in the grades below them. This would start the notion at a young age that kids should be responsible for others who have gained less than them, and would also promote stronger community ties. It would also teach kids from a young age that they can learn from their elders. And it wouldn't even cost that much more money because educating others would be considered part of their education.

I'm in total agreement with this statement.

The best way to learn a subject is to teach it. Someone said that before me, but I don't remember who.

In a time when schools were a single room for all grades, often in a church, children did teach the younger students. It helped both students, the teaching student reinforced the information, and when questioned, was forced to examine the information more.

Our system say "More money!" will solve the problem. It never has, it only requires more money later. And the kids learn less in the process.