Man murders six, incites name calling in a forum

I was reading 'The Stranger' forum, where the horrible news from Seattle has been breaking. Kudos to 'The Stranger' for doing journalism right.

The predictable happened. Eli Sanders suggested that the gun-show loophole be closed

I wonder: When they trace the weapons used in the Capitol Hill shooting back to their original source, will the original source be an under-regulated gun show?

Which caused a flurry of hatred, name calling and general bad feelings in the comment thread.

I support total gun control.... this might help get some measure or two passed next legislature. We can hope.

Mind you we don't know where Kevin Huff got the weapons he used. Or that gun control would have deterred him much.

I suggested

If anyone at the party had been carrying the guy could have been put down before he killed so many.

There are two sides to the issue - keep that mind.

and was denounced as a nut

It amazes me how idiotic gun nuts are. Clearly the guns were the problem in this issue not the lack of guns by other parties. Ask the cops if they would've prefered more people at the party carrying guns.

Clearly the guns were the problem, not the shooter. How un-nuanced of me.

There is name calling and some crap from left field

So maybe you'd like to take your repulsive Wild West fantasies of defending the homestead back to Montana or Texas, someplace where you won't bother anybody. We've got a city here, and we're suffering through a horrifying tragedy, and all you want to talk about is what kind of ammo your cock substitute takes. Well, we don't want to hear it.

Unh hunh. The fellow also misses the point

This guy wasn't crazy and he didn't "snap". He was a nice normal responsible gun owner, liked to hunt, polite to old ladies. But he had a huge arsenal. And any hint of a suggestion that maybe there ought to be some way to prevent people from amassing arsenals like that brings out the Second Amendment die-hards, the Dick Cheneys and the Charlton Heltons.

I'm not sure what you call multiple murder plus suicide if not 'snaping'. Surely not part of your normal routine? How all people with 'arsenals' handle stress related events?

Let me put out my .two cents here. I am not ideological - I go with what works. If what works goes against my own belief system, too bad for that system because the practical always trumps ideological.

In a word - ideology sucks.

You simply cannot control what people want to have. It's been tried. People have also in various times and places tried to control sex, booze, drugs and pornography. Yet all of those are still around.

However the polar opposite of gun control would be open carry and unlicensed fireams. This would be suboptimal for a place like Seattle, probably.

What is the best way to keep people like Kevin Huff from multiple murder and suicide? I have no idea. But I do know what doesn't work.