And make it harder for them to access the instrumentalities of murder.
Why is it that people point to prohibition as a fine example of why prohibiting the possession and use of something just doesn't work, and reference that talking about anything they don't want banned, then can turn around and push for a ban on something they don't like as if it will work just fine.
You can't track every 3D printer, every bar of steel, every tool used in the manufacture of firearms, and where there is a market, there will be supplies. In other countries, a clone of virtually any firearm can be made by craftsmen in primitive workshops.
http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2012/07/30/gunsmithing-in-pakistan/Don't think Americans could not do the same and far more.
I haven't even mentioned smuggling, which, if tons of Marijuana, Cocaine, Meth, and other material can be smuggled in daily, will just bring in even more potent weapons from elsewhere, (Real AK-47s, not just the semi-automatic clones and lookalikes) which are readily available in the world market. So criminals will always have access to the tools they want to perform their trade, the jihadis will ever have access to arms through clandestine means.
What' more, in this instance, even the background check did not disclose the nature of the person buying the firearm. None of the tips and complaints which made it to the ears of Law Enforcement agencies were acted upon, and the school itself was complicit in not reporting problems they had had with the shooter (as a matter of policy).
Enacting more legislation might look like '
doing something', even give the appearance of '
doing something meaningful' (again) but the lack of legislation wasn't the problem, it was the way the information given wasn't acted upon by the very agencies who would be tasked with enforcing any additional legislation, legislation which would require the diversion of resources from the tasks that already are not being adequately performed. I have grave doubts that is any solution to the problem.
The whole event class of school shootings is a symptom of deeper cultural problems. Those who do not want to admit those other problems exist, who do not want to acknowledge the real remedies necessary to make shooting up a crowd of innocent people in any venue an unthinkable act again in the popular psyche, will propose and blame and point fingers, but the cultural malaise that folks have commonly attributed to one or more demographics within the US in specific areas has spread to be more commonplace and is manifested a little differently in a different demographic.
I'd also think those in the legal profession would welcome the opportunity to delve into possible relationships between the administration of certain classes of antidepressants and these incidents.