B
BErt
Was just listening about this on the radio. I don't think any of us are that far west. Still a scary and sad situation.
*sighs, turns over "DAYS SINCE LAST MASS SHOOTING IN AMERICA" sign to 0*
- Thread starter Charlie Don't Surf
- Start date
B
BErt
For some reason I thought you were WAY the other way of the state
Dave
Staff member
Dude that did this is a real freak, man. He's an Uber driver who picked up and dropped off people in between shootings. He was calm and emotionless during the entire thing. He didn't hurt his customers - that would be bad business - but he would drop them off and then go shoot some people, then pick up some more passengers. No priors. No criminal history. No history of mental illness. There's no way anyone could have prevented this. He was legally and rightfully allowed to own guns and no laws would have flagged him.
Some people just want to watch the world burn.
Some people just want to watch the world burn.
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...ls-3-injures-14-kansas-shooting-spree-n526316
A gunman who rampaged across two Kansas towns, killing three and wounding 14 others, was served with a restraining order at his workplace just 90 minutes before the attack ended in bloodshed there, officials said Friday.
A gunman who rampaged across two Kansas towns, killing three and wounding 14 others, was served with a restraining order at his workplace just 90 minutes before the attack ended in bloodshed there, officials said Friday.
Yes there was.
Educating the masses on and funding mental health facilities (reducing stigma), and providing a single payer healthcare system could significantly reduce the number of incidents like this. Americans in general suffer from a lot of of mental health issues due to various things associated with our culture (violence, insane consumerism, fear), which culminate in shit like this.
Dave
Staff member
No, the guy had never been seen (that I've read) for anything mental health related. While I agree that he might have sought treatment whereas he wasn't able to afford it now, that's nothing but speculation. Dude had no priors, no criminal history, no history or issues with mental health. He went from 0 to mass murder in seconds and there's not much anyone could do about that.
Updated numbers. 5 dead, 3 wounded. Multiple shooters opened fire on a backyard party.
ETA: It's made news overseas now.
Up to 40 shell casings recovered at the scene.
ETA: It's made news overseas now.
Up to 40 shell casings recovered at the scene.
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That sounds more like a gang hit, the way you describe it.Updated numbers. 5 dead, 3 wounded. Multiple shooters opened fire on a backyard party.
ETA: It's made news overseas now.
Considering the location, that's the most likely explanation.
That still makes it Domestic Terrorism.
GasBandit
Staff member
I lost track of where the thread was where we talk about bad stuff happening in places where we used to live, so I'll just put it here...
A few days ago there was an ex-Fed in Maryland who shot his wife then went to a mall and shot two more people, perhaps in an attempt to suicide-by-cop. The mall where he went was 20 minutes away from the house I lived when I was in elementary school. The guy's wife AND the school where he shot her both had restraining orders against him. Didn't help, apparently.
A few days ago there was an ex-Fed in Maryland who shot his wife then went to a mall and shot two more people, perhaps in an attempt to suicide-by-cop. The mall where he went was 20 minutes away from the house I lived when I was in elementary school. The guy's wife AND the school where he shot her both had restraining orders against him. Didn't help, apparently.
How is it I'm only now hearing about this? I need to come to the politics subforum more. I used to hang out in that mall when I was a teenager, it was within walking distance of my house. It had a great arcade, always got the newest games first.
GasBandit
Staff member
Hah, Paint Branch High represent, eh?
Sorry, Walter Johnson here.
BananaHands
Staff member
And the damn thing about it was that some professors just kept on lecturing and administering exams like nothing.
GasBandit
Staff member
It is a murder-suicide (not a mass shooting), but of course the article is calling it a "campus shooting," and quoting "campus shooting" statistics, which if you ask me is intellectually dishonest. Plainly this was not a gunman intent on killing lots of students (which is the imagery conjured when one says there is a "campus shooting"), this was a single target murder at the victim's place of work, which happened to be UCLA.
Still a sad event (as any murder would be), but even if it sounds cold, not a national tragedy that warrants yet another deep, soul-searching "why do we even guns" discussion - which of course is what the LA Times is trying to kick off with its "Echoes of Sandy Hook" angle.
Still a sad event (as any murder would be), but even if it sounds cold, not a national tragedy that warrants yet another deep, soul-searching "why do we even guns" discussion - which of course is what the LA Times is trying to kick off with its "Echoes of Sandy Hook" angle.
I agree. If the murderer had used a knife, this would have only made the local news. It's a tragedy, yes, but it doesn't help the national debate in gun control when news outlets try to shoehorn in crimes like this.
I've come to the conclusion that there really is no "he's gonna take our guns!" conspiracy beyond the tinfoil headwear community. This mantra has been spouted for years about every president since the 70s at least. It's just gotten louder as the internet came into prominence.
My reasoning is this. If they really wanted your guns, as in REALLY wanted to take everyone's guns, do you think you'd be given a choice? Or a choice other than a) comply, or b) get turned into pink mist?
If they wanted them, they would have already taken them. That they haven't is reasonable proof that they don't.
Except for the, you know, TENS OF MILLIONS of guns in civilian or otherwise private hands. There is a reason that the militia guys and white power crowd get treated with the kid gloves and it's ENTIRELY because the government doesn't want to deal with those groups taking their hidden stockpiles of weapons and unleashing them on public and government targets. It's not an issue of if they would win or not, it's an issue that it would leads to hundreds, if not thousands, of deaths on both ends of the spectrum. Not only would it make the government look incompetent for trying to seize them, it would make them look authoritarian when they had to send soldiers in to clean up the mess.
Basically, the only reason no one is coming after civilian weapons at this point is that no one is willing to deal with the repercussions of it and because it keeps the domestic arms companies (that give our military all the best toys in the world) in business.
Dave
Staff member
The shooter - as usual - knew the victim really well. He accuses the professor of stealing computer code and giving it to someone else. He's apparently been railing about this publicly on Facebook for a month or so. So he took matters into his own hands and then took his own life. And guns don't stop people from killing, but it sure makes things easier.
But yeah, not a mass shooting.
But yeah, not a mass shooting.
That's... kinda my point. The crazies make the myth self-perpetuating. The government doesn't want to deal with the PR nightmare that blasting these groups out of existence would cause, so they don't. That lasts as long as the government *doesn't* care about what other people think. Once that changes, (*cough*Trump*cough*), all bets are off.
GasBandit
Staff member
It's not that any one president is "gonna take our guns," it'd be stupid and dangerous to try to ban guns all in one fell swoop - that's why they never have, even though they'd like to. No, the 2nd amendment is always chipped away at piece by tiny piece, boiling the proverbial frog slowly in hopes that we never catch on that our rights are being eroded away. It's that they will continue to perpetuate and push the "we need 'common sense' gun legislation because sad sad sad" angle that will spur more legislation, court decisions, and public handwringing on the part of soccermoms and the constitutionally illiterate so that the "why are guns even a thing" narrative gets louder and louder.
But the first step will always be "ok, guns are a right, but you don't need THESE particular guns, they're beyond reasonable... so let's just ban, oh, I don't know, banana clips, bayonet mounts, folding stocks, pistol grips, barrel shrouds, and parts that are black instead of woodgrain, because scaaaaawy." Then once the first arbitrary restrictions have been "accepted as normal," the next round can begin, and the cycle repeats.
Talking about Them and Their secret agenda really makes you sound more like a conspiracy cook than an informed person talking about politics.
That said, obviously, I'm pretty much 100% in favor of slowly but surely eliminating guns from regular people.
Slap a $100 yearly tax on each gun, make every gun require one, unlicensed/taxed guns are caught and destroyed upon control, boom. But that's just me and my Europeans boobs-are-more-fun-and-less-dangerous-than-guns view
That said, obviously, I'm pretty much 100% in favor of slowly but surely eliminating guns from regular people.
Slap a $100 yearly tax on each gun, make every gun require one, unlicensed/taxed guns are caught and destroyed upon control, boom. But that's just me and my Europeans boobs-are-more-fun-and-less-dangerous-than-guns view
GasBandit
Staff member
It's not a "secret agenda," it's just the same shit that's gone on in plain view for years. They make speeches about using exactly this tactic because of how effective it is. They just couch it in terms that make you sound bad for arguing against it. Kind of like how "MADD" calls itself "mothers against drunk drivers" so they can call for whatever draconian thing they want, because what kind of monster is against "mothers?"
That's a terrible example... MADD was created by a mother of a drunk driving victim. It's just a catchy name and one that perfectly encapsulates who originally made up the organization. IT certainly doesn't reflect it NOW, but that's another problem all together...
A better example would be something like the PATRIOT Act, which basically did the same thing but with other civil liberties.
Uh, no no no , fuck this right away right here. The only thing worse than everyone being able to buy a gun at Wal*Mart drive thru is if only the fucking rich can own a gun.Slap a $100 yearly tax on each gun, make every gun require one, unlicensed/taxed guns are caught and destroyed upon control, boom. But that's just me and my Europeans boobs-are-more-fun-and-less-dangerous-than-guns view
Statistically, the majority of violence in the US is perpetrated by and against those at lower socioeconomic levels. It would be stupid not to take this into account when drafting gun legislation. We may not be able to act on it due to our constitution, but we shouldn't simply ignore the facts.