There is a lot of confusion out there. So, let me kind of simplify. Beginning at least with Moses and The Lord, thou shalt not murder was in the Top Ten of laws. It is still, right there at or near the top in our modern-day justice system. Anyone who is a murderer, or intent on murder has already decided that the perhaps number one law of all does not matter. And the difference between murder and other crimes is enormous. Like murder is in a whole new ball park. So, what methods they use, and any laws regarding them are only going to cause them to adjust their method. Each and every one of us knows that the ways to kill people are limited only by imagination. Airliners can become guided missiles. A simple addition of a spring in a butt stock can allow a rifle to fire at an automatic rate. That little adaptation and others will be quickly outlawed. Just so that you know, a belt loop can be used pretty effectively to do pretty much the same thing. Imagination can’t be outlawed. Murder is. Mass murder is outlawed and yet the imagination is endless when it comes to ways to kill lots of people. But, people, even though their brains can think of it do it because murder is just wrong. Murder is so wrong it goes before the Ten Commandments. In the very first societies one of the first thing that had to be agreed upon was to not just kill each other. Those who did, were called murderers. They were dealt with.
The only way to prevent murders, or mass murders, is for murderers to decide not to murder. Those who try to keep murderers from being able to murder play a ridiculous game of whack a mole. Will there always be murderers? Yes. Does it mean that we can do nothing? Nope. The starting point is getting back to convincing fellow humans that murder is more than just against the law. Is that hard to do. Yes, it is, but is is no harder than trying to guess what the next mass murderer will come up with, and then keeping them from being able to carry it out or adapt to whatever changes are needed to do the murdering they want.
“Well, we don’t want you to be able to kill us with a gun!”, you say. Can you hear the stupidity in that. OK. How about this glowing red-hot fireplace poker shoved up your ass? Better? I don’t want you to kill me, isn’t silly at all, though. So, rather than making laws to take from people things they would never use to hurt those people wanting to take them, unless they tried to impose their silliness upon them and tried to take them, that energy should be spent on promoting the original idea that murder is totally wrong and unacceptable.
I would much rather see late night hosts and celebrities spend as much of their time and energy making it clear that MURDER IS WRONG. MURDER IS THE PROBLEM AND NOT THE WEAPON USED! It wasn’t O.J.’s evil knife that slit throats. It was a murderer! That knife was doing absolutely nothing. OJ was! It wasn’t because that knife was a “weapon of war” or an “assault” knife. It would be scary looking to some. But to most, it would simply be a knife. If you are stupid enough to be worrying about flash suppressors, adjustable stocks, rail mounts and such I hope dull knives don’t send you into a closet to hide, too. Because the dull knife is just as dangerous or more so. A pointed rock is an assault rock as opposed to a nice smooth river rock smashing a skull!?