BREAKING NEWS: Up to 5 shot in possible sniper attack at Omaha mall, WOWT TV rep

[Silent Hunter]

We may not have had a gun massacre in the UK since Dunblane, but gun crime still remains.

[Silent Hunter]

They've released some of the CCTV footage and it definitely looks like an AK-47.

If the kid thought he was a burden on the world, he didn't need to cause an even greater burden by bereaving several people.

It's just sick.

[Silent Hunter]

They've released some of the CCTV footage and it definitely looks like an AK-47.

If the kid thought he was a burden on the world, he didn't need to cause an even greater burden by bereaving several people.

It's just sick.

SKS's are like AK-47's in appearance.  SKS's are only semi-auto's, so I'm ok w/ them (although the dad of the nut should've kept it locked up).  AK-47's are just ridiculous - no civilian needs an automatic weapon.

You can get semi-auto AKs, but the clip makes it look like an AK. Most SKS rifles have a small clip, but he could have got a large capacity one.

[Silent Hunter]

I don't know about Nebraska firearms law (although I did have to research another part of their law yesterday), but you can get semi-auto only AKs.

The standard AK has selective fire (it differs from normal assault rifles in that it goes safe, full-auto, single).

There's no reason for a civilian to own an automatic weapon. I don't much see the point of an AK either.

[Silent Hunter]

Effective and right, like moral and legal, are not automatically the same thing.

[Silent Hunter]

Effective and right, like moral and legal, are not automatically the same thing.

That's my point (I think you're agreeing with me, but I'm not 100% sure).

Yeah, more or less. Shooting a murderer sans trial may stop him or her murdering again, but that doesn't make it right.

[Silent Hunter]

No, I don't think he's saying that at all.

[Silent Hunter]

Ah, so you're suggesting that it doesn't matter too much if victims get punished as well and a society of fear develops, so long they contribute to a low official crime rate?

Well, he's correct that ridiculously harsh punishments for every crime would probably result in a low crime rate.

What this really proves is that a low crime rate by itself is not a very good metric of whether or not a place is desirable.

Concur. Examples: the USSR and apparently East Germany.