[Phalanx]

Drug use would not see a significant increase with the legality of said substances. More people would be apt to try them, sure, but that's a given. Legalizing them would cut down on crime.

Yes...because it wouldn't BE a crime?
Duh.
Are you saying legality is the only driving factor for you to make your decisions on? Oh sure...legalize murder...sure, you can kill someone legally, but yknow it STILL would be something I'd consider a "problem". Just as your "legal" firearms are.
Most people can draw the line between
*I can legally obtain a firearm to protect myself...etc
&
*If it's legal, I can obtain it and use it as I see fit.
...Unfortunately, that doesn't really apply to those that all of a sudden snap and say "fuck it, they're all gonna die".

Do you think if someone wants to pack heat under the radar of the law that they would mind paying a couple hundred more bucks? You underestimate the mind of your common killer, gangster, drug dealer.. whatever.

Maybe if your laws were different, the case would be different. Here, the laws ARE different, and it's not just a matter of a few hundred dollars more, the pricing easily goes up tenfold. Yeah, sure, some people could do this...but it would be far fewer and further between...and I believe it would take most STUDENTS out of the equation at least?
If there's one thing I've known criminals to be, it's notoriously lazy...fits in with their whole deal..."what can I do so I don't have to get a job"...etc They go with what's easy.
You keep referring to the criminal element as though it's mainly them that's the problem? The problem is availability...kids shooting eachother up and everyone says "they were always really quiet, kept to themselves, I'd never expect them to do this" time and time again. Are these people your standard CRIMINAL element? No.
For fucks sake...this guy got through 30+ people! Where were all your fellow citizens with THEIR guns to stop him, hm? didn't happen. A lot of good legal firearms did THIS situation...No staff, no security, nobody stopped them before that high a headcount...and it took place over two hours?
I don't think there's ever been a better case to think about changing certain laws.

Nice, a passive aggressive threat against my family. You lost any sort of credibility you MIGHT have had.

If that's what you think it was...coming from someone over the internet, living in a different country and all:rolleyes: How astute. It wasn't a threat, passive aggressive or otherwise.
Are you saying that if yourself or family fell victim to such an attack carried out by a person who simply did it "because they could", you wouldn't feel a little differently about the easy availability of firearms?
See...you've just illustrated my point about the paranioa. So you've moved on from calling me an idiot to perceiving me a threat? Anything to ignore the validity of the points I've clearly made, sinking so low as to insult sombodies intelligence when what's written here is in no way reprasentative of a persons IQ or smarts...all of this hostility, even though I speak from an outside perspective, from a country that because of anti-gun laws, suffers far less than yours?
What you ignore is before your eyes, and it's sad.
Since we're calling names though, allow me to offer you my take.
You're obviously a dogmatic, self absorbed fool.
It's unfortunate that a discussion had to swing towards an argument...but at least it's clear who turned it that way, I was trying to provide an observation and some imput from an outside perspective, then someone went on the immediate defensive...touch a nerve?
Nothing personal, but I think maybe you ought to be medicated.
Don't bother talking to me again...you're just trapped, and I have no intention of running in circles with someone of such closed mindedness. It's people like you that contribute to the negative perception of your country.
End of discussion.