How to Prevent School Shootings

This topic came up recently, so I wanted to weigh in. Generally people squall for gun control. This will not solve the problem. We've been increasing gun control, and it's not helping a whole lot. If you have miserable violent people, they will cause a mess of trouble no matter what you try to take away, because hurting people hurt people. Right now in America they're favoring guns. In India it's acid. They're regulating the hell out of acid. You know what's happening? It's harder to clean things ... and assholes discover bases, which tend to do MORE damage. In Africa it's well-poisoning again, which has a much wider footprint and by the time you even realize there's a problem, scads of people are already affected. At least guns are conspicuous. Metal detectors won't help; they're a sign the school is unsafe, not safe. Violent people will always find a way to hurt others.

To stop people from committing mass violence, you have to identify the root causes and then address those. Ideally, relieve poverty and quit teaching that might makes right. But there are lots of smaller-scale things that could be done at the school (or workplace) level and do not require mobilizing the efforts of an entire unwilling government and populace.

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Half-Price Sale in Shiv

Today is the last day of the half-price sale in Shiv.  So far three poems have been put on hold for the pool, so check the list before sponsoring anything.  The shortest ones are still available, by the way.  If you want to participate in the sale, now's the time.

New verses in "Always Repay the Cost"

Thanks to a generous donation from technoshaman, there are 50 new verses in "Always Repay the Cost."  Dr. Infanta presents options and costs for healing Fiddlesticks.  Who has very, very good friends.