Quote:I'm focused on the fact that someone who should not have had a gun got his hands on one. The system failed. Why did it fail? What needs to be done to keep it from failing like that again? Changing laws and/or adding new ones is a valid part of the discussion. Saying that there's no point in revisiting existing laws because a law wouldn't have stopped the shooter is the ultimate cop-out, and I think you know that.

It's not a cop out at all.  It's simply fact.  Revisiting the laws that are currently on the books isn't going to do anything that would have prevented what happened in SC.  All it would do is placate folks such as yourself who demand that government do something, even if it's just revisiting laws (aka paying you lip service). 

 

There were multiple laws broken in the shooting in Charleston.  Laws didn't prevent it from happening, but I'll guarantee you that if someone was in that church carrying a legally permitted firearm (assuming they were willing to defy a law their pastor voted for preventing them from doing so), the casualty count more than likely would have been significantly less, and one name among those would have been the shooter. 

 

At the end of the day, there were laws on the books that should have prevented this and many other mass shootings from happening, yet it didn't make a bit of difference, did it?  If someone is determined to commit a crime like this, I'm pretty sure revisiting the laws on the books won't have any impact on their intentions.  They'll get a weapon and carry out their plan, especially if they've spent 6 months preparing. 

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